#circular 2021

[lemonisntreal]

Oh bOy-

-more alcohol marker sketches that I actually lined and finished, I love a good futile attempt at trying to have an aesthetic sketchbook :D

I want to draw him in so many outfits, I have a list going right now ooga booga.

Note: I need to draw him with more funky mugs

Also here're some alt ideas + pictures I took of the process for once, which is kinda neat I guess

[dubmill]

Muswell Hill, London; 4.9.2021

[germancarssince1946]

2021 BMW iVision Circular Concept

My tumblr-blogs:

www.tumblr.com/germancarssince1946 & www.tumblr.com/frenchcarssince1946 & www.tumblr.com/englishcarssince1946 & www.tumblr.com/italiancarssince1946 & www.tumblr.com/japanesecarssince1947 & www.tumblr.com/uscarssince1935

[danothan]

rebirth vol 4 is affecting me to the point that i’ve been calling my friends so i could read the entire thing to them like a bedtime story. the themes, the parallels, the horror and camp and campy horror…. i keep finding new things in every reread, it’s the gift that keeps on giving

i thought that finally finishing it would be the running start to reading more comics, i even got another flash comic as a reward for myself, but i just end up reading rebirth again 😭 i’m in a damn timeloop w this thing

and i got another readalong call tmrw too, so i better get my thawne voice ready 😓

[reasonsforhope]

"A team at Northwestern University has come up with the term “dancing molecules” to describe an invention of synthetic nanofibers which they say have the potential to quicken the regeneration of cartilage damage beyond what our body is capable of.

The moniker was coined back in November 2021, when the same team introduced an injection of these molecules to repair tissues and reverse paralysis after severe spinal cord injuries in mice.

Now they’ve applied the same therapeutic strategy to damaged human cartilage cells. In a new study, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the treatment activated the gene expression necessary to regenerate cartilage within just four hours.

And, after only three days, the human cells produced protein components needed for cartilage regeneration, something humans can’t do in adulthood.

The conceptual mechanisms of the dancing molecules work through cellular receptors located on the exterior of the cell membrane. These receptors are the gateways for thousands of compounds that run a myriad of processes in biology, but they exist in dense crowds constantly moving about on the cell membrane.

The dancing molecules quickly form synthetic nanofibers that move according to their chemical structure. They mimic the extracellular matrix of the surrounding tissue, and by ‘dancing’ these fibers can keep up with the movement of the cell receptors. By adding biological signaling receptors, the whole assemblage can functionally move and communicate with cells like natural biology.

“Cellular receptors constantly move around,” said Northwestern Professor of Materials Sciences Samuel Stupp, who led the study. “By making our molecules move, ‘dance’ or even leap temporarily out of these structures, known as supramolecular polymers, they are able to connect more effectively with receptors.”

The target of their work is the nearly 530 million people around the globe living with osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease in which tissues in joints break down over time, resulting in one of the most common forms of morbidity and disability.

“Current treatments aim to slow disease progression or postpone inevitable joint replacement,” Stupp said. “There are no regenerative options because humans do not have an inherent capacity to regenerate cartilage in adulthood.”

In the new study, Stupp and his team looked to the receptors for a specific protein critical for cartilage formation and maintenance. To target this receptor, the team developed a new circular peptide that mimics the bioactive signal of the protein, which is called transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGFb-1).

Northwestern U. Press then reported that the researchers incorporated this peptide into two different molecules that interact to form supramolecular polymers in water, each with the same ability to mimic TGFb-1...

“With the success of the study in human cartilage cells, we predict that cartilage regeneration will be greatly enhanced when used in highly translational pre-clinical models,” Stupp said. “It should develop into a novel bioactive material for regeneration of cartilage tissue in joints.”

“We are beginning to see the tremendous breadth of conditions that this fundamental discovery on ‘dancing molecules’ could apply to,” Stupp said. “Controlling supramolecular motion through chemical design appears to be a powerful tool to increase efficacy for a range of regenerative therapies.”"

-via Good News Network, August 5, 2024

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Circular battery self-sufficiency

I'm coming to DEFCON! On FRIDAY (Aug 9), I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On SATURDAY (Aug 10), I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

If we are going to survive the climate emergency, we will have to electrify – that is, transition from burning fossil fuels to collecting, storing, transmitting and using renewable energy generated by e.g. the tides, the wind, and (especially) the Sun.

Electrification is a big project, but it's not an insurmountable one. Planning and executing an electric future is like eating the elephant: we do it one step at a time. This is characteristic of big engineering projects, which explains why so many people find it hard to imagine pulling this off.

As a layperson, you are far more likely to be exposed to a work of popular science than you are a work of popular engineering. Pop science is great, but its role is to familiarize you with theory, not practice. Popular engineering is a minuscule and obscure genre, which is a pity, because it's one of my favorites.

Weathering the climate emergency is going to require a lot of politics, to be sure, but it's also going to require a lot of engineering, which is why I'm grateful for the nascent but vital (and growing) field of popular engineering. Not to mention, the practitioners of popular engineering tend to be a lot of fun, like the hosts of the Well That's Your Problem podcast, a superb long-form leftist podcast about engineering disasters (with slides!):

https://www.youtube.com/@welltheresyourproblempodca1465

If you want to get started on popular engineering and the climate, your first stop should be the "Without the Hot Air" series, which tackles sustainable energy, materials, transportation and food as engineering problems. You'll never think about climate the same way again:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/06/methane-diet/#3kg-per-day

Then there's Saul Griffith's 2021 book Electrify, which is basically a roadmap for carrying out the electrification of America and the world:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/12/09/practical-visionary/#popular-engineering

Griffith's book is inspiring and visionary, but to really get a sense of how fantastic an electrified world can be, it's gotta be Deb Chachra's How Infrastructure Works:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/17/care-work/#charismatic-megaprojects

Chachra is a material scientist who teaches at Olin College, and her book is a hymn to the historical and philosophical underpinnings of infrastructure, but more than anything, it's a popular engineering book about what is possible. For example, if we want to give every person on Earth the energy budget of a Canadian (like an American, but colder), we would only have to capture 0.4% of the solar energy that reaches the Earth's surface.

Now, this is a gigantic task, but it's a tractable one. Resolving it will require a very careful – and massive – marshaling of materials, particularly copper, but also a large number of conflict minerals and rare earths. It's gonna be hard.

But it's not impossible, let alone inconceivable. Indeed, Chachra's biggest contribution in this book is to make a compelling case for reconceiving our relationship to energy and materials. As a species, we have always treated energy as scarce, trying to wring every erg and therm that we can out of our energy sources. Meanwhile, we've treated materials as abundant, digging them up or chopping them down, using them briefly, then tossing them on a midden or burying them in a pit.

Chachra argues that this is precisely backwards. Our planet gets a fresh supply of energy twice a day, with sunrise (solar) and moonrise (tides). On the other hand, we've only got one Earth's worth of materials, supplemented very sporadically when a meteor survives entry into our atmosphere. Mining asteroids, the Moon and other planets is a losing proposition for the long foreseeable future:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/09/astrobezzle/#send-robots-instead

The promise of marshaling a very large amount of materials is that it will deliver effectively limitless, clean energy. This project will take a lot of time and its benefits will primarily accrue to people who come after its builders, which is why it is infrastructure. As Chachra says, infrastructure is inherently altruistic, a gift to our neighbors and our descendants. If all you want is a place to stick your own poop, you don't need to build a citywide sanitation system.

What's more, we can trade energy for materials. Manufacturing goods so that they gracefully decompose back into the material stream at the end of their lives is energy intensive. Harvesting materials from badly designed goods is also energy intensive. But if once we build out the renewables grid (which will take a lot of materials), we will have all the energy we need (to preserve and re-use our materials).

Our species' historical approach to materials is not (ahem) carved in stone. It is contingent. It has changed. It can change again. It needs to change, because the way we extract materials today is both unjust and unsustainable.

The horrific nature of material extraction under capitalism – and its geopolitics (e.g. "We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.") – has many made comrades in the climate fight skeptical (or worse, cynical) about a clean energy transition. They do the back-of-the-envelope math about the material budget for electrification, mentally convert that to the number of wildlife preserves, low-income communities, unspoiled habitat and indigenous lands that we would destroy in the process of gathering those materials, and conclude that the whole thing is a farce.

That analysis is important, but it's incomplete. Yes, marshaling all those materials in the way that we do today would be catastrophic. But the point of a climate transition is that we will transition our approach to our planet, our energy, and our materials. That transition can and should challenge all the assumptions underpinning electrification doomerism.

Take the material bill itself: the assumption that a transition will require a linearly scaled quantity of materials includes the assumption that cleantech won't find substantial efficiencies in its material usage. Thankfully, that's a very bad assumption! Cleantech is just getting started. It's at the stage where we're still uncovering massive improvements to production (unlike fossil fuel technology, whose available efficiencies have been discovered and exploited, so that progress is glacial and negligible).

Take copper: electrification requires a lot of copper. But the amount of copper needed for each part of the cleantech revolution is declining faster than the demand for cleantech is rising. Just one example: between the first and second iteration of the Rivian electric vehicle, designers figured out how to remove 1.6 miles of copper wire from each vehicle:

https://insideevs.com/news/722265/rivian-r1s-r1t-wiring/

That's just one iteration and one technology! And yeah, EVs are only peripheral to a cleantech transition; for one thing, geometry hates cars. We're going to have to build a lot of mass transit, and we're going to be realizing these efficiencies with every generation of train, bus, and tram:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/29/geometry-hates-uber/#toronto-the-gullible

We have just lived through a massive surge in electrification, with unimaginable quantities of new renewables coming online and a stunning replacement of conventional vehicles with EVs, and throughout that surge, demand for copper remained flat:

https://www.chemanalyst.com/NewsAndDeals/NewsDetails/copper-wire-price-remains-stable-amidst-surplus-supply-and-expanding-mining-25416#:~:text=Global%20Copper%20wire%20Price%20Remains%20Stable%20Amidst%20Surplus%20Supply%20and%20Expanding%20Mining%20Activities

This isn't to say that cleantech is a solved problem. There are many political aspects to cleantech that remain pernicious, like the fact that so many of the cleantech offerings on the market are built around extractive financial arrangements (like lease-back rooftop solar) and "smart" appliances (like heat pumps and induction tops) that require enshittification-ready apps:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/26/unplanned-obsolescence/#better-micetraps

There's a quiet struggle going on between cleantech efficiencies and the finance sector's predation, from lease-back to apps to the carbon-credit scam, but many of those conflicts are cashing out in favor of a sustainable future and it doesn't help our cause to ignore those: we should be cheering them on!

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/12/s-curve/#anything-that-cant-go-on-forever-eventually-stops

Take "innovation." Silicon Valley's string of pump-and-dump nonsense – cryptocurrency, NFTs, metaverse, web3, and now AI – have made "innovation" into a dirty word. As the AI bubble bursts, the very idea of innovation is turning into a punchline:

https://www.wheresyoured.at/burst-damage/

But cleantech is excitingly, wonderfully innovative. The contrast between the fake innovation of Silicon Valley and the real – and vital – innovation of cleantech couldn't be starker, or more inspiring:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/30/posiwid/#social-cost-of-carbon

Like the "battery problem." Whenever the renewables future is raised, there's always a doomer insisting that batteries are an unsolved – and unsolvable – problem, and without massive batteries, there's no sense in trying, because the public won't accept brownouts when the sun goes down and the wind stops blowing.

Sometimes, these people are shilling boondoggles like nuclear power (reminder: this is Hiroshima Day):

https://theconversation.com/dutton-wants-australia-to-join-the-nuclear-renaissance-but-this-dream-has-failed-before-209584

Other times, they're just trying to foreclose on the conversation about a renewables transition altogether. But sometimes, these doubts are raised by comrades who really do want a transition and have serious questions about power storage.

If you're one of those people, I have some very good news: battery tech is taking off. Some of that takes the form of wild and cool new approaches. In Finland, a Scottish company is converting a disused copper mine into a gravity battery. During the day, excess renewables hoist a platform piled with tons of rock up a 530m shaft. At night, the platform lowers slowly, driving a turbine and releasing its potential energy. This is incredibly efficient, has a tiny (and sustainable) bill of materials, and it's highly replicable. The world has sufficient abandoned mine-shafts to store 70TWh of power – that's the daily energy budget for the entire planet. What's more, every mine shaft has a beefy connection to the power grid, because you can't run a mine without a lot of power:

https://www.euronews.com/green/2024/02/06/this-disused-mine-in-finland-is-being-turned-into-a-gravity-battery-to-store-renewable-ene

Gravity batteries are great for utility-scale storage, but we also need a lot of batteries for things that we can't keep plugged into the wall, like vehicles, personal electronics, etc. There's great news on that score, too! "The Battery Mineral Loop" is a new report from the Rocky Mountain Institute that describes the path to "circular battery self-sufficiency":

https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/07/the_battery_mineral_loop_report_July.pdf

The big idea: rather than digging up new minerals to make batteries, we can recycle minerals from dead batteries to make new ones. Remember, energy can be traded for materials: we can expend more energy on designs that are optimized to decompose back into their component materials, or we can expend more energy extracting materials from designs that aren't optimized for recycling.

Both things are already happening. From the executive summary:

The chemistry of batteries is rapidly improving: over the past decade, we've reduced per-using demand for lithium, nickle and cobalt by 60-140%, and most lithium batteries are being recycled, not landfilled.

Within a decade, we'll hit peak mineral demand for batteries. By the mid-2030s, the amount of new "virgin minerals" needed to meet our battery demand will stop growing and start declining.

By 2050, we could attain net zero mineral demand for batteries: that is, we could meet all our energy storage needs without digging up any more minerals.

We are on a path to a "one-off" extraction effort. We can already build batteries that work for 10-15 years and whose materials can be recycled with 90-94% efficiency.

The total quantity of minerals we need to extract to permanently satisfy the world's energy storage needs is about 125m tons.

This last point is the one that caught my eye. Extracting 125m tons of anything is a tall order, and depending on how it's done, it could wreak a terrible toll on people and the places they live.

But one question I learned to ask from Tim Harford and BBC More Or Less is "is that a big number?" 125m tons sure feels like a large number, but it is one seventeenth of the amount of fossil fuels we dig up every year just for road transport. In other words, we're talking about spending the next thirty years carefully, sustainably, humanely extracting about 5.8% of the materials we currently pump and dig every year for our cars. Do that, and we satisfy our battery needs more-or-less forever.

This is a big engineering project. We've done those before. Crisscrossing the world with roads, supplying billions of fossil-fuel vehicles, building the infrastructure for refueling them, pumping billions of gallons of oil – all of that was done in living memory. As Robin Sloan wrote:

Did people say, at the dawn of the automobile: are you kidding me? This technology will require a ubiquitous network of refueling stations, one or two at every major intersection … even if there WAS that much gas in the world, how would you move it around at that scale? If everybody buys a car, you’ll need to build highways, HUGE ones — you’ll need to dig up cities! Madness!

https://www.robinsloan.com/newsletters/room-for-everybody/

That big project cost trillions and required bending the productive capacity of many nations to its completion. It produced a ghastly geopolitics that elevated petrostates – a hole in the ground, surrounded by guns – to kingmakers whose autocrats can knock the world on its ass at will.

By contrast, this giant engineering project is relatively modest, and it will upend that global order, yielding energy sovereignty (and its handmaiden, national resliency) to every country on Earth. Doing it well will be hard, and require that we rethink our relationship to energy and materials, but that's a bonus, not a cost. Changing how we use materials and energy will make all our lives better, it will improve the lives of the living things we share the planet with, and it will strip the monsters who currently control our energy supply of their political, economic, and electric power.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/06/with-great-power/#comes-great-responsibility

[cityof2morrow]

NetworkMAT: Street Planters 001

Published: 3-08-2024 | Updated: N/A SUMMARY The Network Materials (NetworkMAT) (Simmons, 2023) series includes assets for building modern road networks in Sims 2. Use these items to enhance your city’s streets, walkways, highways, skyways, bridges, and so on. Enjoy 10 planters in various shapes and sizes. The larger landscaping blocks are designed to fit builds on 2-click/step foundations but will work with just about any space in general.

DETAILS Requires all EPs/SPs. §250 | Build > Architecture You need the BBNiche1Master (Buggybooz, 2012) and Element Repository - both are available in the Repository Pack (Simmons, 2023). Any recolors you have for these can be applied to items in this set (see #ts2rcolors, #co2recolors, #co2repo, and #co2repopack). If the 3x3 Grassy Round is too high poly for your liking, the Large Circular Landscaping Block is a great substitute. ITEMS Landscaping Blocks (141-284 poly) Nol22, 2x1 Grassy Strip (61 poly) Nol22, 2x2 Grassy Strip (73 poly) Nol22, 3x3 Grassy Round (1150 poly) DOWNLOAD (choose one) from SFS | from MEGA

CREDITS Thanks: Simming/Sketchfab Communities. Sources: Beyno (Korn via BBFonts), EA/Maxis, Grass Strip (Nol22, 2023; 2021), Grassy Landscaping Blocks (Gruny, 2019), Nooks & Niches (BuggyBooz, 2012), Offuturistic Infographic (Freepik), Stair Cover(s) (Khakidoo, 2013; 2007).

Converted content is for non-commercial use only. EA/Maxis own all content derived from their games, as do other game/content publishers whose work appears on this site in derivative form. Per the Valve Developer Community TOU, CS creators control their custom content – contact this site via private message re: TOU violations.

[blueiscoool]

A Major Tomb With Gold and Ceramic Artifacts Discovered in Panama

In an archaeological find in the El Caño Archaeological Park, located in the district of Natá, province of Coclé, in Panama, a tomb has been discovered that sheds light on the sophisticated Coclé society of pre-Hispanic times.

The tomb thought to belong to a Coclé lord and dating back to 750 CE, was found to contain a wealth of funerary offerings, including ceramic and gold artifacts.

The El Caño Archaeological Park is well-known for its necropolis of tombs and stone monoliths that date back to 700–1000 CE. American explorer Hyatt Verrill first realized the importance of the site in 1925 when he discovered ancient monoliths beside the Rio Grande River.

Linette Montenegro, National Heritage Director of the Ministry of Culture (MiCultura), explained that this discovery is part of the ongoing archeological project in the park.

The project, started in 2022 and financed through a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Culture and the El Caño Foundation, aims to thoroughly explore Tomb No. 9 during the 2021-2024 campaigns.

The tomb’s contents, consisting of 5 pectorals, 2 belts of gold beads, 4 bracelets, 2 earrings in the shape of human figures, an earring in the shape of a double crocodile, 1 necklace of circular beads, two bells, bracelets, and a skirt made with dog teeth, and a set of bone flutes, is testimony to the cultural and social wealth of the Coclé society.

Dr. Julia Mayo, director of the El Caño Foundation and leader of the archaeological project since its inception in 2008, highlighted the importance of this discovery.

The collection, which probably belonged to a high-status adult male, represents a window into life and death in the Rio Grande chiefdom. The tomb, built around 750 A.D., is especially intriguing due to the presence of sacrificial attendants buried alongside the lord, indicating multiple and simultaneous burial practices.

Dr. Mayo noted that the excavation process is ongoing, making it difficult to determine the exact number of individuals buried within the tomb. She said that this type of burial, known for burying a variable number of people in the same tomb, provides valuable information about the beliefs and funerary rituals of the Cocle society.

Dr. Mayo explained that the Coclé lord was buried in a face-down position, a customary practice in this culture, often atop the remains of a woman.

El Caño Archaeological Park, built around 700 A.D. and abandoned around 1000 A.D., has yielded significant archaeological discoveries. In addition to the known monoliths, the site includes a cemetery and a ceremonial area with wooden structures. This discovery stands out for its uniqueness and the insight it provides into Cocle society’s funerary practices.

By Oguz Buyukyildirim.

[rabbit-flaying]

A Taste of Paradise chapter one

Content Warnings: pet whump, drugging, kidnapping, carewhumper, emotional manipulation, manipulative whumper and whumpee, dubiously consensual intimacy (nonsexual), mild xenophobia

Note: Thanks a million to @kira-the-whump-enthusiast for being my editor a few months ago. And I am once again apologizing for my disappearance.

Ezra roused himself from a deep sleep. He didn't feel all that well rested, but foggy in the mind and disconnected from any sense of physical touch.

The first thing he noticed was the lavender. A sweet but bitter edged smell, too natural to be a common fragrance yet too strong to come from a growing plant.

It reminded Ezra of a field trip he had taken as a teenager. They had gone to see a lavender farm, which had been a snooze fest until fire caught a tree on the farm and they had to evacuate.

He realized, then, he was laying with his head on someone's lap.

Someone was playing with his hair.

Ezra's eyes shot open, revealing that he was anywhere but his apartment. Rather, he was laying on a sofa in a cozy sort of living room, in the snug embrace of a knit blanket.

A fire flickered in the hearth, despite all evidence of the home's electricity like overhead lights and electrical switches on the walls. The lights weren't in use, for more than enough sunlight streamed in through the windows.

He had never been so comfortable.

"Ah, awake at last. How lovely."

The voice evidently belonged to the man playing with Ezra's hair. His tone was calming, despite bearing a Russian accent which Americans were conditioned to distrust immediately. Ezra felt this gut reaction to be unfair, but he wasn't in any mental state to start unpacking it.

Ezra sat up and rubbed his eyes, bringing the world further into focus. But all he could comprehend was the firm hand on his shoulder, holding him still and showing affection in the same instance.

His company looked familiar, despite Ezra's certainty that they had never met. He looked to be about forty, maybe older, smile lines etched on his skin and gray streaks in his mousy brown hair. His glasses were circular, in a style that hadn't been popular for a long time.

Ezra had never missed time or lost memories before, and was suddenly sympathetic to people with regular dissociation. Maybe this was what his online friend Isadora was always joking about.

"Where am I?" he asked. "Sorry, sorry, that's rude, isn't it? I've never woken up in some guy's house before. Not that kind of a person- Wait, sorry again. Who are you?"

"It's quite alright," the man said. "My name is Christopher Vadimevich. And I already know who you are, my dear Ezra."

"Christopher Vad- what?" The need for clarification embarrassed him. He always gave people hell for not being able to pronounce Arabic names, but now he was stumped on a Russian one.

"My apologies. Most Americans don't use patronymics, do they? My name is Christopher Kotev. But just Christopher will do."

Ezra tried for politeness. "Nice to meet you, sir. I don't know what's happening here. But my job at Safeway probably isn't going to give me more sick leave just for having amnesia. So I'd better go now, if that's alright with you."

"Oh, stay awhile." Christopher's smile reached his light brown eyes, looking perfectly genuine despite his strange words. "I'll make you some tea, and I have borscht almost done cooking."

Ezra inhaled deeply through his nose, the smell of lavender proving nearly as overwhelming as his confusion. He definitely had amnesia.

Was this Christopher taking care of him?

On that note… What year was it? Covid came with awful time loss, of course, but surely it still had to be 2021.

He would just have to play along. Every problem had a solution. His whole life had been spent finding them, no matter how tough things got. And besides, no horror movie was ever set in a cozy home with Tchaikovsky playing from a vinyl record.

This couldn't be too unpleasant, now could it?

"Well?" Christopher asked. "Won't you stay for lunch?"

"Yes, I sure will." Ezra forced a smile, mentally rewinding their conversation. "Um, what's borscht? I'm totally pronouncing that wrong, but anyway. What is it?"

This was just like him. Missing the forest for the trees, and in turn even missing the trees themselves in favor of their leaves. He had always been one to fill in the center of jigsaw puzzles before doing the edges. If he was eating with a stranger, he may as well ask what's on the menu.

"It's a sort of stew," Christopher readily explained. "Very popular in Russia after potatoes were brought over from Americas. Everyone makes it differently, but all with beets and cabbage and such things."

"That sounds nice. I can't remember the last time I had stew."

"Come along to the kitchen then. It's almost done."

Christopher stood up, and Ezra automatically did the same. He didn't complain when Christopher put a hand on his shoulder and guided him to the kitchen. 'Sit still and look pretty' was second nature, especially in confusing predicaments. And besides. What choice did he have?

The dining room looked straight out of an edition of Home and Garden. It got put to proper use, with ceramic plates in the sink and children's crayon drawings held to the fridge with magnets.

But still, it was squeaky clean, not a speck of dirt in sight. Ezra hadn't mastered the art of making soup without spilling on the stovetop, but Christopher evidently had.

A light blue cloth draped over the table, and on it was a centerpiece of a golden angel standing on a lace doily and holding two unlit candles in her hands. Flowerpots sat on every windowsill and other available flat surface. Mostly lavender, of course, alongside forget-me-nots and jasmine.

Ezra felt painfully out of place. But he sat at the table anyway, with his back against the wall so he could watch Christopher busy himself in the kitchen.

"It's so nice to have company for lunch," he was saying. "I get lonesome by myself."

"Well… I'm happy to be here," Ezra lied, taking a stab at lightening the mood. "I mean, I can't complain as long as you're feeding me, right?"

Christopher chuckled. He was filling his tea kettle with tap water. "You sound like my family. About only time I see them is for Sunday lunches."

Ezra didn't hesitate before baiting his line to fish for any information he could reel in. "Your family? I don't know anything about them."

"Oh, you know." Christopher set the kettle on a burner, and lit a petrol flame beneath it. "I immigrated with my parents when i was ten years old. From Soviet Union, of course. I have five- I mean four siblings. Lots of nieces and nephews, as you can tell by the front of my fridge. And a husband who forgets I exist if I'm not in his direct line of sight. But no kids myself. Very normal sort of family."

"I don't really talk to my family, you know. But yours sounds nice." Ezra cleared his throat. "You have a husband? Sorry, I don't mean it like that. It's just surprising." He could feel his cheeks warming unbearably. "Wait no- I- I'm gonna shut up now."

Christopher turned around, giving Ezra his full attention and a warm smile. He seemed to understand what it meant to a young man with no offline friendships, to meet another queer person.

"Nothing you could possibly say could compare to my mother," he said. "Believe me, I've heard it all. So, to answer your question, that's right. I was married seventeen years ago."

"That's nice." Ezra decided to change the subject. This wasn't going anywhere. "Can I admit something?"

"You may tell me anything you like."

"I don't know who you are. I think I hit my head or something. Maybe you should take me to the hospital." His voice was growing shrill. "I already joked about amnesia, but I was trying to wait for my memories to come back and they're not."

"Oh, my dear Ezra," Christopher said softly. "We've never met."

Christopher set a steaming bowl of stew in front of Ezra. The broth was bright red, and chunks of potato swam in it along with shredded vegetables and beef. Christopher set his own plate across the table from Ezra, and returned to the kitchen for what he had missed.

Ezra processed the revelation, trying to make it fix all the problems that had started when he woke up. But it didn't work. Instead, he was left with more questions to sort out.

The longer he tried to solve this puzzle, the more pieces he lost sight of.

Now there were glasses of water on the table. He watched Christopher scrape sour cream into his borscht, turning the broth a milky shade of pink.

"Then why am I in your house?" Ezra had apologized for being rude so many times already, and didn't feel like repeating himself again. "Who are you?"

"My name is Christopher Vadimevich Kotev. Yours is Ezra al Farrah. I've known you for a long while. So I am finally making our introduction. You are in my home, of course. And you have nothing to fear."

"You know that saying I shouldn't fear makes me more afraid, right?" Ezra fidgeted with the hem of the tablecloth while he spoke, trying not to relapse into his old habit of nail biting. "You do know that? Don't you?"

"What I mean is that I'm not going to hurt you. Enjoy the stew, and I'll make tea when the kettle starts singing."

"Then I can go home?"

"Why would you possibly want that?"

Ezra wanted to call Christopher stupid. Of course he wanted to go home. Who wouldn't?

But the question begged to be answered. Ezra hated his apartment. And his roommates. And his job. Not to mention every other cord that made up the tapestry of his life.

"Because I don't trust you." The only conceivable answer. "And you probably kidnapped me. What more do I need?"

Christopher took a sip of water before responding. "Well, I am a doctor. So if the drugging has any long term effects, please tell me. I know how to treat such things. You're in good hands."

"I don't remember being drugged. But I guess they fucked with my memory. That's the point. I'll let you know about any nausea or dizziness."

"Good good. Other things to look out for are headaches, muscle soreness, and a sensitivity to light."

Ezra finally realized just how similar he and his captor were when a problem needed to be solved. He had been roofied, so now they had to deal with lingering symptoms. It was only logical. If only he could figure out how to use their shared attention to details above the big picture to his advantage.

"I know that you're allergic to onions, so I left them out of the stew." Christopher shook salt into his own. "You should try eating. I know you must be hungry. And drink some water. It'll help flush the drugs from your system."

Ezra did as he was told, tilting back the glass to drink from. Drinking water seemed much easier than eating, at least for the time being. He found himself parched as though he had never tasted water before. He finished the glass, which barely satisfied him. Christopher proved nice enough to refill it at the sink.

"You know everything about me, apparently," Ezra said bluntly, refusing both to make eye contact. "From my preferred name to my allergies. So now I get to ask you some questions."

"I'll answer your questions as long as you eat. Would you like sour cream or salt?"

"No thanks. And you sound like my grandmother, by the way."

Despite his complaints, Ezra found his first bite of borscht very pleasant. He had never tried beets, and figured they must be the source of its unusual flavor.

He wolfed half the bowl down before giving himself any opportunity to talk. Maybe he was hungry after all.

"How long have you been stalking me, anyway?" He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "And how have you been doing it?"

"A few months now. Since last February. And my methods were rather traditional. Following you around, eavesdropping, and all like that."

"You're very calm about this, aren't you? Ugh, nevermind. Next question. Why me?"

"People watching is a hobby of mine, and we frequent the same library. I've never been so invested in someone as I became with you. You were always going out of your way to be helpful and kind. Yet no one around you ever showed appreciation. It seemed so unfair, watching you struggle to make ends meet but still tipping cashiers and waiters whenever you could.

"I wanted so many times to help you, but I never knew how." Christopher reached across the table and held Ezra's hand. "This is my solution. I am going to give you a taste of paradise. Our own little Eden."

Ezra marveled at the butterflies in his stomach. He must have been crazy, the way he smiled at the man who had kidnapped him.

But in a perverse way, this was everything he had ever wanted to hear. He had always hated himself for the way he chased after attention. Now those feelings had increased sevenfold. No good deed went unpunished. He knew that fully well.

But maybe this punishment wouldn't be too unbearable.

"You're insane," he managed, forcing the smile off his face. "I mean, have you gotten checked out? This isn't… normal."

"I have 'gotten checked out'. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Nothing that disconnects me from reality. I'm not unstable. This was all very well thought out."

Ezra had to laugh as he pulled his hand away from Christopher's. It was a strung out and shrill sort of noise. "Right, of course you have the same personality disorder as me. I bet you knew about our twin diagnosis already. Explains so much."

"What do you think it explains?" Christopher was finished with his stew, and folded his hands politely on his lap.

"I know what you're doing, so don't act sly. You're being nice to me. Nobody else does that. They just call me annoying. You're screwing with my unstable ego to get me to like you. Why else would you be talking to me like this? You're obvious."

"Your generation with its pop-psychology…" Christopher slowly shook his head. "People may have taught you that your natural desire for kindness is something to be ashamed of. But I know differently. I want to be kind to you. I want you to be happy. And yes, I do want you to like me. But that isn't my sole motivation."

"Well- I- I know how your brain works. Why have you decided that I'm worth your time? I must have done something that you decided was special."

Ezra hoped his compliment fishing wouldn't be called out. After all, Christopher also knew how his brain worked.

"I don't know how to explain my feelings towards you. But I want to make sure you eat well, and show you the affection you're lacking. Is that so difficult to understand?"

"Yeah, it is." Ezra shoved his dishes forward and rested his elbows on the table. "Because you're going to get sick of me eventually. Everyone does. I'm manipulative and obnoxious and- well, you get it. I can't cook. I can't clean. I can barely hold a job. You aren't going to get anything out of me but a healthy dose of frustration."

"Your worth does not lie in your labor or how well you comply with societal norms. I see something beautiful in you, even if you cannot. So let go of all your anxiety and just let this happen. I love you, my dear Ezra. And this is what matters."

Tears burned the corners of Ezra's eyes as they fought to escape their imprisonment. He couldn't believe he was crying. It felt so stupid. But no one, not one person in his entire life, had said anything so kind to him.

More than that, he couldn't remember the last time he had heard the word love from someone who didn't revel in sarcasm or insincerity.

He still had his wits about him, despite the tears in his eyes, and he didn't want to delude himself too badly.

Christopher didn't really love him. This was just an obsession, something Ezra himself was quite familiar with. But as long as Christopher kept talking like this, semantics hardly seemed to matter.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Christopher said, still sounding all too kind. "I really didn't mean to upset you."

"It's okay," Ezra managed, trying not to cause inconvenience with his feelings. "I'm fine. Don't- Don't worry."

But now Christopher was by his side and not listening to any of his excuses. He hugged Ezra, leaning down and quite literally giving him a shoulder to cry on. Ezra clung tightly to him, desperate for the affection he had craved for so many years. He would stay like this forever if he could. Overwhelmed by joy and the smell of lavender perfume.

"Is this my fault?" he croaked, knowing how nonsensical it must sound.

"That makes it sound like this is a punishment… But no, I suppose not. This is my responsibility entirely."

"And I'm not allowed to leave?"

"Of course not. You need to stay here. You're a beautiful and fragile thing, and I will not allow the world to mistreat you any longer. You'll be better off as a pet, of sorts, than anything you were before."

This was all Ezra's brain needed to rid him of his doubts. After all, he couldn't be blamed for any of this. He wasn't giving up entirely. When opportunity knocked, he would escape through the door it chose.

People would have to be sympathetic when he told them all that had happened. He didn't even need to play the victim. He was the victim.

"I'll stay with you." Ezra bit back his tears. "You've been very kind. I couldn't possibly think of leaving now."

"I'm so happy to hear that. I love you." Christopher released Ezra from the hug, and smiled down on him. "All I'm asking from you is obedience, and you're so good at that already."

"I love you too," Ezra lied sweetly. "Thank you for everything."

A light screeching sound filled the kitchen. The boiling water sounded as though it were in pain, steam desperately escaping through the small slit it had available.

"I'll make tea." Christopher returned to the kitchen, looking as happy as a proverbial clam. "Now, do you like sugar or honey?"

Taglist: @inbloodandtears @kira-the-whump-enthusiast @i-eat-worlds @whatwasmyprevioususername @boonasaurusrex @suspicious-whumping-egg @parasitebunny

So I went and forgot like the entire taglist after I erased my entire internet presence. I'm going off memory. And for some people, I remember you, but damn I cannot recall your username. If you would like to be added, please tell me!

[pitufitaispunk]

Velvet Ring

Chapter Two: Florería

Pairing: Riff x Latina! Reader (West Side Story 2021)

Velvet Ring Masterlist

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I hurriedly make my way from the apartment to the florería just a few blocks away on Mulberry Street, hoping I wouldn't be late. Señora Rivera, albeit kind and generous, was a very strict woman. Especially when it came to punctuality. I sigh in relief as I check my watch just before entering the shop — 8:58am, three minutes early. I push open the door and rush inside.

"Buenos días, Señora Rivera." I say cheerily, the little bell above the door jingling as I walk in. I look around curiously as I'm met with silence, then laugh as I spot her snoring in her rocking chair behind the counter. I tiptoe to the back room and find my coworkers, Marisol and Lupita sat at the tiny circular table set up in one corner, gossiping away. They look up at me with wide eyes as if they were children who had been caught eating sweets before dinner.

"Buenos días, muchachas." I greet them, a slight smirk on my face as they giggle vivaciously.

"Buenos días, Y/N, ¿cómo están Anita y Bernardo?" Marisol asks, standing from her seat to tie her apron around her waist.

I hang up my purse on the coat rack next to the door and grab my own apron out of my cubby, "Eh, están bien. Nardo has been at the gym a lot lately, he's been coming home with more bruises and cuts. Me preocupa por el." Marisol and Lupita hum in understanding. I smile meekly and tie my apron tightly around my waist, "Pero Anita esta muy bien, she's been getting a lot of work at the dress shop. I ask her if she's tired of it, but you know Anita, she's a hard worker. Dice que está feliz de tener más trabajo."

Lupita tosses her graying curls up into a bun and laughs, "Esa Anita, I admire her really. I work with flowers for a few hours a day and then I go home, complaining to Berto that my back aches. No sé cómo me aguanta ese hombre." Marisol and I laugh. Lupita and her husband, Roberto, have been together since they were about my age and they've been married for 40 years now. Lupita always joked that Berto was probably tired of her and that one day he'd leave her for a less irritating woman, but every time he looks at her, all I see is love in his eyes.

Speaking of eyes, I still hadn't been able to stop thinking about that Jet I saw at the market today. His face kept popping up in my head, even though I have absolutely no interest in a boy like that. How could I? The Jets torment Puerto Ricans constantly, I even got a live demonstration of that today. But that didn't stop my wandering mind.

I snap out of my thoughts as Marisol pinches my arm teasingly, "¿Y tú, jovencita? Has Bernardo still been trying to find your future husband?" Lupita cackles at this, making me frown.

I sigh in exhaustion and nod, "He won't give it a rest. He's tried setting me up with at least 5 of his friends these past few months! They're all nice boys, pero... Bernardo me trata como una bebé."

Lupita pats my back, "No te preocupes, nena. He'll come around and see that he doesn't need to be so protective of you anymore." I give her a small smile and nod. I hope she's right.

Just then, the break room slams open. Señora Rivera stands there in the doorway, rubbing her tired eyes, "Muchachitas, ¿están aquí para trabajar o para hablar todo el día?" We all laugh and hurry out of the break room to get to work.

I take my usual place behind the counter, so that Señora Rivera can continue napping. Lupita begins putting the freshly delivered flowers into beautiful arrangements, while Marisol grabs her watering can and starts pouring into the pots of the flowers in the windows. It's this kind of perfect harmony everyday and although it can be a bit mundane at times, I wouldn't trade it for anything else.

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After a busy day, at 3:00, Señora Rivera sends us home, half an hour earlier than we usually get off. I guess she was feeling generous today. Lupita, Marisol, and I hurry to put our aprons away and grab our purses before walking out the back door into the alley behind the shop.

"¡Hasta mañana, Y/N!" They call to me as they walk towards the opposite end of the alley. Lupita and Marisol live a bit further away from the florería than I do, so they take the subway to and from work together.

"Hasta mañana." I call back before turning to walk away.

I then bump into a hard chest.

My heart drops. I feel too terrified to even look up at whoever I just bumped into, but then, I notice the familiar tattoos on their arms. I slowly lift my gaze and am met with those same blue eyes from earlier today. I don't say anything, I just stare up at the Jet. His face was curious as he looked down at me, it frightened me a little. I've heard that the Jets were unpredictable and in this moment, I couldn't tell if this boy was about to kiss me or kill me. At this point, I don't know which would be worse. His face breaks into a soft grin and he finally speaks to me.

"I saw you earlier today, didn't I?" He asks, his expression turning smug now. I quickly shake my head, not daring to speak. He laughs and it sounds strangely warm, "No, I did. I'd remember those big eyes of yours anywhere. You're like a deer in headlights. You usually like that?" He cranes his neck, trying to lower himself to my height. I shake my head again and he straightens up, smirking softly, "Well, I'll see you around, chica." He says those words with such confidence that it makes my brows pinch. How was he so sure he'd see me again? And what gave him the right to talk to me at all?

I huff softly and begin walking past him, clutching my purse tightly, just in case he tries something. I hear him chuckle behind me and I just know he's watching me walk away. The thought makes my cheeks flush furiously.

As I turn out of the alley, I bump into yet another hard chest. I huff a laugh, feeling a bit stupid now, before looking up. Luckily, it was a familiar face this time.

"Hola, Manuel. ¿Cómo estás?" I greet Bernardo's friend politely with a smile, softening my grip on my purse.

He smiles sweetly down at me, rocking on his heels, "Hola, Y/N. Estoy bien, what about you? You look a little startled." He quirks a brow at me, taking in my still pinched brows.

I relax my face and laugh awkwardly, quickly thinking of some absurd story in my head. "I'm fine, I just had a... uh, little scare with a stray cat in the alley. Pobrecito, deberías haberlo visto. He was all bones, chewing on an old shoe, but being skinny didn't stop him from nearly clawing my face off." I laugh again, Manuel laughs along with me, but I can tell he's just doing it to be polite.

He clears his throat and tucks his hands into his pockets nervously, "Y/N, quería preguntarte algo..." My lips quirk into a thin line. I had a feeling Bernardo would try and get another one of his friends to ask me out again, it had been too quiet lately. With the dance coming up in just a few weeks, I figured that's what Manuel would ask me about.

I quickly pretend to check my watch and suck in a breath of air through my teeth, "Ay, Manuel, perdón. I really have to go, Anita needs help with cleaning the apartment today and I promised I'd help her. ¡Adiós!" I wave to him and quickly run down the block. Sure, it was immature and rude, but I just couldn't deal with another one of Bernardo's insane matchmaking attempts today.

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I rush into the apartment and close the door behind me, slumping against it tiredly. At this time of day, Nardo was at the gym and Anita was at the dress shop. It was a small window of time in the apartment that was just for me.

I kick off my flats and hang my purse up on the key rack next to the door before waltzing into my bedroom. I kick my door shut and flop face down onto my bed, snuggling into my blanket. Thankfully, the heat had gone down just a bit and the yarn in my blanket didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable as it did this morning. I turn over onto my back and sigh contentedly, staring up at the ceiling. My moment of peace is then interrupted by a flash of the Jet's face in my mind. My smile drops. I turn onto my stomach again, bury my face in my pillow and groan in frustration. Why couldn't I get him out of my head? Maybe there's something wrong with me.

I climb out of my bed and walk over to my bedroom window, opening up the lace curtains to soak in the sunshine. I open up the window and climb onto the fire escape, hoping the fresh air would help me ease my mind. I sit on the steps and close my eyes, basking in the fresh air and sun rays. Then, I remember what that Jet said to me and it makes everything worse!

"I'd remember those big eyes of yours anywhere..."

I scoff to myself, my cheeks flushed. What did that even mean?! Was he trying to flirt with me? Did I like it? No. This is not happening. I don't even know his name! But I do know one very important thing. He is a Jet. That should be enough reason for me to drop this silly idea... but it isn't. That Jet was flirting with me and some sick part of me liked it. There is no denying it, no matter how hard I try. Just then, an idea strikes my mind. A way to get the Jet out of my head for good. A solution that's been staring me in the face, presenting itself to me time and time again. Well, now I will finally give in. Now, I will let it happen. I am going to let Nardo set me up with one of his friends.

This is sure to work! Most of Nardo's friends are handsome and fun. How could I possibly think of the Jet when I'm with a Shark? It's a foolproof plan. When Bernardo and Anita come home, I will surrender. After three long months of dodging dates left and right, I will tell Nardo that I've been considering his words and I've decided to go to the dance with one of his friends. Nardo will most likely choose Manuel. I wouldn’t be upset about it being Manuel. He's a good looking boy with his tan skin, curly brown hair, and perfect teeth. Yes, this is a good plan. A solid plan.

I smile triumphantly to myself before climbing through the window back into my bedroom. I sigh softly and begin tidying up a bit. I need to busy myself, I can't think about this too long or I'll regret it before it even happens.

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When Anita and Bernardo get home at around 5:00, I usher them to sit with me at the dining table. I smile at them, they both give me a look like I'm crazy, then I clear my throat, "I've decided on something. I think this will satisfy you both."

Bernardo quirks a brow at me, "Well, spit it out, pollita."

I laugh softly and nod, "Okay... I am going to let you choose my date for the dance."

Anita's eyes widen in surprise and Bernardo grins broadly, "¡Finalmente! I've been waiting for you to say this, it's a miracle!"

Anita rolls her eyes at him as he continues going on his rant of triumph. Nardo then stands from the table, "I'm going to tell Manuel!" He runs out of the apartment in excitement, shutting the door behind him.

Anita quirks a brow at me in suspicion, "So... why have you suddenly given up? What's going on with you?"

I pinch my brows, "¿De que estás hablando?"

She stands from her seat and circles the table until she stands before me, "You know what I'm talking about. Just today you were whining to me, saying that you didn't want to go to the dance because your brother would try to get you to go with one of his friends. What made you change your mind?"

I laugh, shaking my head, "Nada, I'm just trying to be a good sister and make life easier for my brother."

Anita gives me a look like she doesn't believe me, but backs off anyway, "Okay... if you say so, Y/N."

I give her a soft smile, "Don't worry about me, Anita."

She laughs, gently pulling me into a hug, "I always worry."

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[mysticode54]

I stumbled across a Japanese article where Fumito Ueda, Yoko Taro, and Keiichiro Toyama had a publicized discussion about their careers and the video game industry as whole. This discussion was organized primarily to celebrate ICO's 20th anniversary in late 2021. So the folks over at Den Faminico Gamer requested concept art from all across ICO's development cycle to present throughout the 3 pages of conversation. And I don't know who was responsible for the task of transferring that, but they gave them A Lot of concept art. Many of these sheets have not been shared by genDESIGN's twitter, or really seen on any other site to my knowledge. There's some exclusive stuff in here. And even if they were seen somewhere before, I still want to translate them to the best of my ability and share the info. So I'm going to guide you through the sheets I found the most interesting. I'll also try to provide context for any cut content and musings on the lore elements being spelled out on the page. [Spoilers for ICO under the cut]

CUT AREAS

Jail

[I've decided to leave the original page untouched in all my translation images, and keep all added text to the black bars at the sides. I'm also including plain Japanese text in dark grey, just so everyone is clear on how I am interpreting the handwritten notes.] This area is titled "Jail" or "Prison" and it was to be put on the second story of the East Arena. This means that, in early designs, the leftmost door was meant to be opened on arrival. It seems you would navigate the diagonal water slope, make it up to this area, and briefly move outside for the sake of slipping into one of these locked cells. After doing so, you move a shelf aside, find the sword, enter a fight, and then use the sword on the rope holding the far right arena door. Having a jail cell next to the arena is very intriguing from a narrative standpoint. Were the cells for those who broke the rules set in place by the arena's organizers? Or was the arena always intended to be sparring matches between criminals and outcasts? Why is the only way onto the balcony found through one of these cells?

Boatshed

[In the black bars, text relating directly to the contents of the sketch will have drawn elements next to them, so you can better see what translation is paired with what part of the drawing. If it ever gets confusing, shoot me an ask and I'll clarify/edit the post.] The day after drawing up the concept for the Jail area, the team sketched the Boatshed, which was also cut. This area is reflective of an earlier, less bombastic ending to ICO, which Ueda briefly mentioned during Sony's "Great Scene Sharing" campaign in 2011.

Also, to be honest we weren’t planning to have the castle collapse entirely like that. We were originally thinking to have the ending of ICO be much more modest, but somehow it didn’t give you a feeling of resolution that way. And so we decided “Ok, let’s make everything crumble into the sea then.” (laughs)

The most intriguing aspect of this cut concept is a kind of Idol Fence Gate that reacts to Yorda in the same way as the Idol Doors, only in this case it is powered by a mask. The mask's face shape is somewhere between a man and a bull, with the moderately sized horns completing the animal resemblance. There seems to be a gem or circular marking embedded into the forehead as well. The text makes mention that the gate 'listens' to the mask (assuming I'm translating that correctly), so perhaps it had a specific auditory or musical cue planned for when it reacts to Yorda? But perhaps not. A concept page like this would be the perfect place to write that idea in clear detail, after all.

Heroine Room Connection

This is not exactly a cut area, but it is certainly a heavily altered one. This spot would later become the floor of Spiral Staircase, where Yorda is held prisoner in the first act of the game. We can see this intention by its proximity to 'The Heroine's Room' and the series of Idol Doors set up as the introduction to Yorda's unique power. (There's even a sketch detailing how this arrangement of four idols are supposed to part when opened, and it matches up with the movement of the idols in Spiral exactly.) The most notable feature of this area seems to be a set of stairs leading up into a small room with a trench in it. In the trench is a box and a small crevice in the wall. The crevice is labelled 'Heroine', which, to me, implies that Ico might have been able to see or hear Yorda through this crack in the wall. But since this room is a dead end, I imagine you use the box in some way to activate the other set of stairs, which seem to have both a upward and downward status depending on whether you've solved the puzzle or not. This is very similar in concept to a puzzle presented elsewhere in the final game. At either ends of the room are two doorways. One direction is labelled 'Ko Building', which we will discuss later in this post. But the entrance to this room is through the Ritual Room... which we also have concept art for!

Ritual Room

Similarly to the last sheet, this sketch depicts elements that would end up placed elsewhere, but the overall design of this room was cut. The Ritual Room was seemingly designed before the team had come up with the final design of the Altar Room. The Ritual Room bears many of its elements, but has a much larger scope and seems to serve as a junction between several parts of the building.

Common elements include:

The floor raising and lowering to open a path to the Stage 13 Elevator. The notes even clarify that this will only occur in the game's "2nd act". In this version of the mechanism, a handrail rises up when the floor lowers.

Capsules in which to place sacrifices. Though they aren't clearly depicted, they seem to be embedded into the ground, rather than standing up.

Restricted access to the high up Idol Doors. In the final game, they lead to The Queen's throne room. Here it leads to Proto, the earliest room designed in the game. It's unclear how you earn access to the doors, but the 'OFF' label indicates that the stairs must rise, or else it remains a vertical wall.

But one big difference that stands out is the palanquin-like structure at the center, which reminds me of the structure that surrounds The Queen's throne. Given the title of the room, we can infer this was meant to be the spot where the Queen's ritual would be held.

Notes in the margins indicate two innocuous, but fascinating things: - The note regarding what might open the Idol Doors for the village men likely marks the conception of The Queen's Sword. - Yorda's voice was meant to be heard from this room, and she would've been singing. She doesn't get to sing to herself in the finished product, though I think that characteristic fits her well.

Flowchart of the Second Half

Once it became clear to Ueda that the ending had to be more resolute and bombastic, they devised the Main Gate Event and laid out a plan for all the places you would traverse on your journey to the throne room. You might notice that locations like Cliff Cage, Cogwheel, and Pipe have different prototype names and some visual differences. The first location on the journey back, later known as Cage, is titled 'Ruins'. It seems to feature a series of overhang structures jutting out from the cliff-side. Presumably, these would catch Ico after his fall. The titular cages of the present incarnation seem to be absent, but we can see them close by, in the area that will become known as Cogwheel. Instead named 'Subterranean Lake' in this document, Cogwheel seems to lack any of its characteristic mechanisms. In this sketch, one of the cages seems to have fallen from the ceiling into the water below. In the final game, we move from Cogwheel to the outer edge of the island, where Ico clings tightly to the ridges of the cliff-side. But in this concept art, all of that distance is spent on a new area, completely cut from the final release, called 'Trolley Jump'. It seems the trolley would make a second appearance in the game's puzzle design and Ico would have to build up momentum to make it over a huge gap in the tracks. The Pipe area is named 'Ravine' instead. And the metallic platform is set far lower than it is in the final game, where you can just walk across it to make it to the elevator. Here, you must descend onto it and then climb up into a cavern, once you make it to the other side. You might've also seen that the the Old Bridge is titled 'ICO Bridge' in this document. This is especially interesting to me, as the name ICO seems to serve a different purpose here than you would expect.

What is “ICO (イコ)”, really?

Kenji Kaido has stated in the Japanese Guidebook for the game that the name 'ICO' was just the title, and initially, was never attributed to the boy protagonist (Page 82). He was nameless and only referred to as 'Boy', much like the protagonist of The Last Guardian is currently. The game's filenames, the concept art, and even Kaido's own presentation of the E3 2000 demo to PlayStation Underground, back this sentiment. The term 'ICO' is never attached to the boy before June or July of 2000, when US gaming publications reporting on E3 2000's demo started conflating the title with the protagonist's name. Seeing as this is dated in March of 2000, it's safe to say the use of 'ICO' here has nothing to do with the boy. So what is it about? Ueda did also say that the name was a shortening of the term ICON... but I have additional evidence suggesting that in this specific instance, it was not serving as an abbreviation for 'ICON Bridge'. Take a look at this rough overview sketch from the margins of a different concept art page.

Aside from the points that indicate land and sea, the labels that plainly stick out are "イ棟" and "コ棟".

"I Building" and "Ko Building". We saw that last label earlier in the Heroine Room Connection section.

Knowing this, we can safely infer that it's called イコ Bridge because it connects the イ and コ buildings... But then why are they split in that way and labelled イ and コ? I still don't have an answer for this, though I do feel like the divide is related to the separation of class. The イ building is dedicated to The Queen. It contains both her daughter and the sacrifices she needs to complete her ritual. It's where her throne is. It's where she resides and does her work. Meanwhile, everything on the other side of this bridge seems to have been built for a larger populous.

Benches, recreational areas, spectated arena matches, a waterfall, a courtyard, a ballroom with a massive chandelier! You don't build a front gate and a bridge to the mainland if you never wanted people to enter... This place undeniably once had people who lived and worked here. They were all designated under the コ building. I have to imagine this is why a distinction is being made, but beyond that, the reasoning for the titles remains a mystery. If someone has further insight into Japanese linguistics or culture, and have additional guesses as to why, please let me know.

Cut Boss Fight

In the West Arena (labelled 'R' for 'Right' in early development), there was going to be another raised cage event. Only this time it would take the form of a boss fight with a massive shadow that overtakes the floor and splays black tendrils through the air. Interestingly, there is already an overhead bridge in this image, but rather than magically appearing in stone segments, it's instead an ordinarily constructed wooden bridge. Here, the notes detail a different kind of puzzle element: Wire. Which, unlike ropes, cannot be cut by the sword. The same note indicates that wire is holding the left and right doors in place. While the concept art doesn't detail it plainly, I believe the only way past this room would be to pull on the "Idol Handle" that the boss is covering. Wire is also presumably being used for the zip-line running across the arena, which is an interesting component to say the least. The vision I'm gathering is that you'd ride the zip-line, hit X at the right time to drop down onto the overhead bridge, run over to the balcony where the 'Cage Switch' is labelled, and activate it to impede the boss. How it is then defeated is less clear. It's also unclear where Yorda would have been throughout this encounter, or if there would be additional enemies trying to drag her into a nest. Its possible the boss itself would be programmed to capture her with a tendril, and itself act as a nest by dragging her into the depths of itself. But we have no evidence one way or the other. [Ok, that's all the stuff I have to present for now. Keep in mind that there's more to see and translate in the article I linked at the very start. This post was only scratching the surface, despite the amount of material we covered. With that in mind, thank you for making it this far.]

Support

Now is as good a time as any to mention I've started up a Ko-Fi, so people can choose to support the work I do to uncover and present obscure info like this. There is, of course, no obligation to give me anything. The tips just help me get a bit of financial security in return for my efforts.

[princessanneftw]

Zara Tindall’s best friend to be appointed as lady in waiting to the Princess Royal

NHS midwife Dolly Maude, who delivered Tindall child on bathroom floor, previously wore joky ‘lady in waiting’ badge on day at the races

By Camilla Tominey for the Daily Telegraph

She once turned up to the races with her best friend Zara Tindall wearing a playful badge bearing the words ‘Lady in Waiting’.

A spokesman for the royal was later forced to clarify: “It was a joke. Zara doesn’t have any sort of lady in waiting.”

But now Dolly Maude, an NHS nurse who helped to deliver Mrs Tindall’s third child, Lucas, on the bathroom floor at her Gatcombe Park home in 2021, has been well and truly welcomed into the royal fold.

Despite the high jinks at Cheltenham last January, the 51-year-old mother of four has been appointed as a lady in waiting to Mrs Tindall’s mother, the Princess Royal.

The Telegraph understands that Buckingham Palace will announce the appointment in the Court Circular on Feb 1, when Mrs Maude will be revealed as one of four newly appointed ladies in waiting to the King’s sister, to replace others who have retired.

A lady in waiting is an attendant to a female member of the Royal family who acts as a companion on royal engagements as well as helping with their day-to-day duties.

Mrs Maude was maid of honour when the Princess Royal’s daughter married Mike Tindall, in 2011, and helped to deliver Lucas when his birth did not quite go to plan.

Mr Tindall described the birth on his The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast, saying: “Fortunately Zara’s friend Dolly is, she’s actually more important than I am at making sure she’s been at all three of my children’s births. She was there and recognised that we wouldn’t have got to the hospital in time, so it was run into the gym, get a mat, get into the bathroom, towels down, brace brace brace!”

One of Mrs Maude’s friends said: “She’s such a great girl. For the Princess Royal, it’s a perfect fit because of their shared love of dogs and horses.

“She’s not only extremely close to Zara, she also gets on brilliantly with the Princess. She’s fiercely loyal and discreet. It’s a great match.”

Mrs Maude and her husband Chris have four children. Billy, 26, attended Swansea University; Nell, 24, studied at the Central School of Ballet; Ted, 17, is, like his mother, a keen skier. He was a page boy at the Tindall wedding and Mrs Tindall is his godmother. Their youngest daughter, Mary, 15, is studying for her GCSEs.

Mrs Maude is occasionally spotted looking after Mrs Tindall’s children Mia, who turns 10 this month, five-year-old Lena and Lucas, at equestrian events.

Three years ago it was revealed that the Princess Royal, who carries out the second highest number of royal engagements a year after the monarch, had 11 ladies in waiting, two of whom had worked for Her Royal Highness for more than 50 years, three for more than 40 years, and five for more than 30 years.

Traditionally, ladies in waiting would be the wives or daughters of peers but they can also be a cousin or close friend.

When Queen Elizabeth II died, it was announced that Queen Camilla would not have ladies in waiting but instead be attended by Queen’s “companions”, and that their role would be much more informal.

[dubmill]

Lordship Recreation Ground, Tottenham, London; 10.1.2021

[achillean-archives]

*Note: This post isn't about if this Ken in the Barbie movie is going to be queer but that he is inspired by a Ken doll that "accidently" became a queer icon. Ryan Gosling's Ken in Barbie(2023) is based on the famous best selling Ken doll, Earring Magic Ken, also know as Fey Ken or Gay Ken.

"Mattel had conducted a survey of girls asking if Ken should be retained as Barbie's boyfriend or whether a new doll should be introduced in that role. Survey results indicated that girls wanted Ken kept but wanted him to look "cooler". USA Today noted after the American International Toy Fair that the doll Soul Train Jamal was also wearing an earring that year. According to manager of marketing communications for Mattel, Lisa McKendall, "We tried to keep [Ken] as cool as possible." This generation of the Ken doll had blond highlights in his traditionally brown hair and was dressed in a lavender mesh shirt, purple pleather vest, a necklace with a circular charm and, as the name indicates, an earring in his left ear.

These clothing choices led to gay commentator Dan Savage joking that Mattel toy designers had "spent a weekend in LA or New York dashing from rave to rave, taking notes and Polaroids." He also suggested that little girls' idea of coolness was shaped by homoerotic MTV music videos, Madonna's dancers, and what ACT UP/Queer Nation members were wearing to demonstrations and parties. Donna Gibbs told the San Francisco Examiner in November 1993 that the team of (presumably straight) women who made the doll were surprised that gay men wanted him.

[...]

In July 1993, Dan Savage wrote an article on Earring Magic Ken titled, "Ken Comes Out." He noted in his article that, in addition to his outfit's perceived flamboyance, his necklace resembled chrome sex toys that queer people were wearing as charms at the time. Savage expressed feelings of ambivalence about Ken's new style, writing, "Queer Ken is the high water mark of, depending on your point of view, either queer infiltration of popular culture or the thoughtless appropriation of queer culture by heterosexuals [. . .] Queer imagery has so permeated our culture that from rock stars (Axl Rose and his leather chaps) to toy designers, mainstream America isn’t even aware when it’s adopting queer fashions and mores."

[...]

Kitsch-minded gay men responded to this press by buying the doll in record numbers, making Earring Magic Ken the best-selling Ken model in Mattel's history. The doll debuted in stores for around $11 (equivalent to $20.63 in 2021) and had completely sold out by the Christmas season, largely due to gay men buying the doll in droves. Due to high demand, Chicago's FAO Schwartz created a wait list, and, allegedly, some shops in San Francisco began to sell Earring Magic Ken for prices ranging between $17 (equivalent to $31.89 in 2021) to $24 (equivalent to $45.02 in 2021). (The latter claim was disputed in the Bay Area Reporter in October 1993 by the general manager of San Francisco FAO Schwartz. According to him, only a few gay men were coming into his store, and Earring Magic Ken was selling better in New York and Chicago than San Francisco.) Earring Magic Ken was also popular with gay men in the United Kingdom, and sold well at the toy shop Hamleys in 1993. Toy scalper Mr. Barger told the Wall Street Journal in 1996 that Earring Magic Ken was so popular that he was able to re-sell him to specialty shops at premium prices. Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun Times, referred to him as "The Cabbage Patch Doll of the summer of '93."

A major appeal of the doll for many gay men was that Mattel did not market it to them on purpose. Rick Garcia, director of Chicago's Catholic Advocates for Lesbian and Gay Rights, told People magazine in 1993 that the stereotypical dress was funny to him because he believed it was an accident, and that it would have offended him if it was purposeful. In 1993, many newspapers interviewed individual gay men in California to understand the phenomenon. San Francisco resident described Earring Magic Ken as, "a pariah setting foot in one of America's sanctuaries." Another California resident, Bill Harley, described Earring Magic Ken as, "A campy, funny thing to have." Laguna Beach resident Keith Clark-Epley had more reservations about the toy, saying that, "It's an uptight heterosexual male doll following gay fashion and who is still behind the times," and believed that calling the doll gay could potentially reinforce negative stereotypes about gay people." Source:

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Adam Zivo

Published: Nov 19, 2024

Let’s be real: many of the people who’ve begun identifying as “non-binary” over the past decade are simply chasing social and professional clout. While the worst offenders are “spicy straights,” who want to feel special and oppressed, this charade is also employed by some gays and lesbians who yearn for more moral capital within progressive circles where homosexuality is no longer in vogue.

This doesn’t mean that all non-binary self-identification is just attention-seeking behaviour. There are, of course, some people who struggle with genuine gender dysphoria and for whom the thought of being either a man or woman is unbearably distressing. This subpopulation should be treated with compassion and given reasonable accommodations that alleviate dysphoria while recognizing the realities of biological sex. The same goes for intersex people, however rare they may be.

Yet, these two groups only represent a minority of the non-binary movement. Though some queer-friendly organizations claim that 1.7 per cent of the worldwide population is intersex, a 2002 article published in The Journal of Sex Research placed the true prevalence at around 0.02 per cent — almost 100 times lower than suggested.

In the 2021 Canadian census, which was the first to gather this type of data, approximately 59,000 of Canadians (0.15 per cent) identified as transgender while another 41,000 (0.11 per cent) identified as non-binary. When broken down by age, the data told an interesting story: individuals in their twenties were more than ten times more likely than older Canadians (age 50+) to self-identify as non-binary, and did so at such high frequencies that, in this cohort, there were actually more “non-binary” respondents than transgender ones.

Meanwhile, a 2021 report published by the Williams Institute, relying on survey data gathered between 2016 to 2018, found that only 19 per cent of non-binary US adults identified as homosexual — almost a third vaguely defined their orientation as “queer,” while another third claimed to be “bisexual” or “pansexual.” Notably, 51 per cent of the survey’s non-binary respondents self-reported struggling with serious mental illness, with 93.8 per cent having considered attempting suicide.

These figures suggest that the struggles of gender dysphoric and intersex individuals, while legitimate and complicated, are apparently being diluted by a flood of pretenders, who are neither gender dysphoric nor intersex, for whom being non-binary is an expedient fad.

The underlying problem here is that queer theorists have adopted an expanded definition of what it means to be “non-binary,” wherein one does not need to experience dysphoria or demonstrate any particular gender expressions (or lack thereof). “Since there’s no one way to be nonbinary, this identity can match all kinds of bodies,” wrote Susan Weiss, a “non-binary” writer who also identifies as a heterosexual woman, in a 2022 article for Teen Vogue. Mirroring popular internet discourse, she went on to assert that it is possible to have multiple gender identities at once, so that one can simultaneously claim to be non-binary and a woman (or man) —  even though these categories are, by definition, mutually exclusive.

In the world of contemporary gender theory, you are non-binary simply if you say so, with no need to prove anything to anyone. Yet, this produces a meaningless and circular definition: “A non-binary person is someone who says they are non-binary, and there is nothing more to being non-binary than identifying as such.”

Uncoupled from dysphoria, behavioural expectations, and intersex biology, the “non-binary” identity becomes little more than an invisible badge: cheaply acquired, cheaply discarded. Despite its vacuity, the badge grants easy admission into the LGBT community. Those who wear it can lay claim to a special layer of oppression and accrue the associated cachet.

This system is, of course, wildly vulnerable to abuse.

For decades, there has been a subset of straight people who have wanted to identify as LGBT because they think that it makes them more interesting. Veteran lesbian activist Julie Bindel, for example, has written about how this phenomenon emerged in the 1990s and was, at first, dominated by young women kissing each other at bars and then claiming to be bisexual. The problem only worsened as social acceptance of the LGBT community expanded and queer people, in compensation for decades of persecution, were showered with praise and, in some contexts, given preferential treatment. We became trendy. Fetishized, really. As early as the 2000s, celebrities noticed that faux-lesbianism could be exploited for publicity — the infamous 2003 kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears stands out as a seminal example.

As the perks of being LGBT exploded throughout the 2010s and the associated social costs further receded, the number of straight pretenders appears to have commensurately grown. This should’ve been unsurprising because their behaviour, though irritating, was perfectly rational. It is simply human nature to chase new incentives. Anyone who has followed the surge in Canadian “Pretendians” (people who fake Indigenous heritage to access special privileges) can see that pilfering minority identities is no barrier to the pursuit of self-interest.

But just as Pretendians were, until recently, constrained by clear regulations governing Indigenous identification, so, too, did spicy straights face their own hurdles: gay sex and gender dysphoria.

When the LGBT community was predominantly concerned with same-sex attraction and old-school transexuals, admission into the club was not easy. One had to actually have gay sex or undergo a substantive, often medicalized, gender transition to get in. Most interlopers were unprepared to do these things, which could not be convincingly faked, so they remained outsiders.

The expanded definition of “non-binary” upended that. Suddenly, poseurs could claim to be LGBT while doing absolutely nothing. They did not have to have homosexual sex. They did not have to act or dress a certain way. They did not even have to give up their original gender identities. Some of them, like Weiss (the aforementioned Teen Vogue writer), openly declared that being non-binary led to no discernible changes in how they lived their lives.

It was ingenious: attention-seeking heterosexuals had discovered a way to insert themselves into the LGBT community by fiat. Worse yet, their solution allowed them to demolish critics, who questioned these intrusions, with accusations of prejudice and discrimination. Though many lesbians, transsexuals and gay men, like me, mock some aspects of the non-binary movement behind closed doors, publicly expressing these beliefs remains grounds for cancellation in many spaces.

Upon infiltrating the community, the spicy straights ornamented themselves with our traumas and appropriated the valour of our painful struggle for equal rights. They have since pretended that their mild, self-inflicted inconveniences are equivalent to our historical hardships, and, in doing so, have trivialized the suffering experienced by homosexuals and transsexuals throughout the world, where beatings, imprisonment and lynchings remain a risk for many. By demanding that the public indulge their inane theatrics, they have discredited the LGBT community and made us seem frivolous, overbearing and unreasonable.

There are “non-binary” people who claim, with great seriousness, that their relationships with their opposite-sex partners are “queer.” Seeing this makes me want to roll my eyes out of their sockets. The integrity of the LGBT community should not be compromised because some milquetoast straight couples, who feel insecure about their own conventionality, want to cosplay as oppressed. Their presence is unwelcome, and I shudder to think that my existence is now associated with them.

Worst of all, some of these tourists have even had the audacity to lecture homosexuals about their own rights. From what I’ve seen in my own life (I was a deeply-involved LGBT activist in the late 2010s and still orbit that scene), they feel entitled to do this because they typically move within radically progressive circles that look down upon simple gays and lesbians. We are too vanilla for them. Too disobedient in our relative moderateness (unlike them, we have nothing to prove). Our oppression is insufficient, apparently. The woke homophobia festering within the far left, which denigrates gays as a politically unreliable fifth column, finds new life in their mouths.

And so they berate us about our “privilege” and the necessity of “radical queerness,” blissfully unencumbered by any self-awareness. We bite our tongues and listen to these enlightened teachers, whose expertise on our lives is reminiscent of Rachel Dolezal, and in those moments the world turns upside down.

Some sympathy should be extended to them, though, because they are only copying what they see elsewhere. As alluded to earlier, some gays and lesbians play the non-binary game, too. Like their heterosexual counterparts, they are, for the most part, radically progressive, suffocatingly bourgeois and haunted by their own moral insecurities.

As they see themselves as insufficiently oppressed (aka: cisgender, and often white and university-educated), they eagerly seek pathways to sanctimonious victimhood. Unable to opt out of their own socioeconomic status or race (“non-racial” is not a recognized identity yet, thankfully), they purge themselves of gender, instead. Through this rebirth, they imagine that their moral authority has been restored.

Unbeknownst to them, many of us within the LGBT community recognize that the emperor has no clothes. We quietly groan when certain “non-binary” homosexuals, who showed no signs of gender discomfort until it became trendy, disparage the evil of “cis gays.” When the press adulates same-sex attracted celebrities —  like Sam Smith and Demi Lovato — for coming out as non-binary, we see careerism.

We fought for decades to be taken seriously, and now we have to deal with this farce.

==

In any other period, these people would be goths, emos, mods or beatniks.

Reminder that Julie Bindel is herself a Pretendian, as she's a self-described "political lesbian" who has literally encouraged other women to do likewise; that is, you can just will yourself into being a lesbian. So much for "born this way," I guess...

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️

[cognitivejustice]

Self-sufficient organic Finnish farm grows its own fuel and a greener future

An award-winning farm has teamed up with Helsinki University to create a symbiotic food production system that is self-sufficient in energy and nutrients. It’s a trailblazer in sustainable agriculture.

Photo above: Farmer Markus Eerola shows visitors the biogas plant that helps make his farm an energy producer rather than an energy consumer.Photo: Wif Stenger

Organic Knehtilä Farm provides its own nutrients and energy, thanks to careful long-term planning and a small onsite biogas plant operated by energy utility Nivos.

The biogas powers his tractor, pickup truck and cars, and is available to others at a commercial filling station on the edge of the farm, although vehicles that can use biogas are still relatively rare. It offers a valuable alternative to meet the growing need for affordable, clean domestic energy.

Demand for organic food continues to grow. “The price gap between organic and standard production is narrowing, partly because we don’t need fertiliser. Our farm has its own product line of oat and buckwheat products, which are produced here using a proven cultivation method known as agroecological symbiosis, where nutrients and energy are efficiently recycled.”

The sprawling 380-hectare farm’s carefully balanced circular economy has developed over a decade and a half, earning a WWF award in 2015 as a model of nature-friendly agriculture. In 2021, the Finnish Organic Association chose Knehtilä for the honour of Organic Business of the Year.

“Biogas production can convert farms from being energy consumers to energy producers, and play an important role in the transition away from fossil fuels. When it’s done in a smart way, it’s also possible to increase biodiversity in farming systems.”

Knehtilä forms part of the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms, a project led by Wageningen University in the Netherlands, involving commercially viable farms that offer “radical solutions to address sustainability challenges.” International visitors frequently come to Knehtilä to learn about unique system.

The rich, vibrant cycle of life at Knehtilä is visible in not only the lush fields, but also in the insects and frogs that frequent them, and in a few animals such as horses, sheep, goats, chickens and rabbits. The farm is also a lively event venue; a high-ceilinged, 80-year-old barn has been converted to a space for up to 100 people for weddings, theatre performances and concerts.