#fact 262

[ofrandomthought]

Do you understand the symbolic significance of hak reaching down to help soowon up that ladder to the top? Of him demanding, finally in that moment, that soowon takes his armor off? Of him even going a step further and helping soowon untie the knots at his sides? Of him lifting the heavy metal plates off of his shoulders? Of soowon heaving a big sigh of relief right after?

"I feel lighter"

Of all of this taking place atop hiryuu castle?

Of hak, hak who has struggled so much with the emotional ramifications of soowon's betrayal, who, for the longest time, could turn to nothing but violence and hatred and resentment in an attempt to make sense of it all

Of this very same hak ending this chapter with the acknowledgement that if nothing else, he'd always unwaveringly believed in soowon's intelligence, in his immense love for this country and in his iron will to see that love through? Of him telling soowon, frankly and without holding back, that he believes truly and wholeheartedly that if given the chance, soowon would do things differently?

Do you?

[connorsui]

Honestly...who will be left to deal with sukuna besides yuuji??

I feel soo bad for my bby... every ...single ...day

Sweetie needs a moment of happiness first

[omgellendean]

So, Sacha Baron Cohen recently endorsed Kamala Harris in a fittingly racist islamophobic manner, by bringing back his character Borat. Yes, it's 2024.

Anyway, here's a 2022 investigation of SBC's vile Zionism and connections to the USA and Israeli intelligence, as well as an insight into the role of the US-American cinema as a propaganda tool.

Article: https://www.mintpressnews.com/closer-scrutiny-reveals-close-state-power-sacha-baron-cohen-really/279355/

Archived link: https://archive.is/7dSTL

Some quotes:

When asked about the national security state’s role in shaping pop culture, the former intelligence officer [John Kiriakou] said that it is “far more cynical” than most people realize, explaining:

” There is a branch inside the CIA’s Office Of Public Affairs whose job is solely to work with Hollywood Studios. This is something that the FBI has been doing since the 1940s. They’ll cooperate and give the red carpet treatment to any Hollywood studio that’s willing to make the CIA look good. “ [...]

In the end, “Brüno’s” production company did interview someone they claimed was a terrorist (in the Letterman interview, Baron Cohen described the man as such eight times in the space of three minutes). However, the person in question – Palestinian grocer and NGO worker Ayman Abu Aita – vigorously denied he was a terrorist at all. He claimed that Baron Cohen had told him the interview would be about his peace activism and that his life and business had been destroyed as a result. Abu Aita sued for nearly $100 million. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2012. [...]

Even from an early age, Sacha was reportedly obsessed with the Jewish state. “He was very Zionist, very involved in Habo,” recalled one friend, referring to Habonim Dror, a left-wing Zionist group of which he was a member. Others remembered him as “a very nerdy, very funny, Israel-oriented guy” who went to live on a kibbutz in his youth. He appears to idolize Shimon Peres, traveling to meet him in 2012 and sharing quotes from the former Israeli president on his social media accounts. Peres, of course, oversaw the genocide of Palestinians in 1948, attempted to sell nuclear weapons to Apartheid South Africa, and carried out the ethnic cleansing of the Galilee region. [...]

Unsurprisingly, Baron Cohen has also campaigned fiercely against the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, presenting it as viciously antisemitic. “Boycotting? Yeah, fantastic. As long as they are Jews, it is alright. I’m not a racist, but keep the Jews out,” he said, in an attempt to satirize their position. [...]

Much of the movie is actually spent “on location” in “Kazakhstan,” where Borat takes the viewer around an unimaginably poor-looking village, making fun of how backward “his people” are. There are no Western egos or ignorance being punctured here. In fact, it was shot in a gypsy encampment in Romania, where locals were paid around $3 each to be humiliated by a man who spoke to them in a language they did not understand. The villagers were told they were appearing in a sympathetic documentary highlighting their lives. “Borat” made over $262 million at the box office. [...]

The racism was further amplified with the 2020 release of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” Within the first two minutes of the sequel, Borat informs us that Kazakhstan has canceled their traditional event, “the running of the Jew,” but fortunately his country still has Holocaust Remembrance Day, “when we commemorate our heroic soldiers who ran the camps.” Borat also received an award, which he stated will be “put in our national museum along with other treasure we have confiscated from Jews.” [...]

In actual fact, as many have pointed out, Kazakhstan was a haven for Jewish people during the Holocaust, not a perpetrator of it, saving thousands of Jewish lives by taking in people from Eastern Europe and other states of the U.S.S.R. Today, the country is commended by Jewish groups as a model of tolerance. It is also, notably, not a helplessly sexist nation; Save The Children ranked it higher than the United States in its list of best countries to grow up female.

This is a rather inconvenient truth for the Israeli state-building project Baron Cohen supports. Ironically, perhaps the most shocking and newsworthy case of exposing bigotry Baron Cohen has documented has never been revealed. While in character as Brüno in Jerusalem, Baron Cohen was beaten nearly to death by an enraged crowd of homophobic Israelis, who, angered by his camp and sacrilegious attire, started stoning him, on camera. Baron Cohen was reportedly “nearly killed.” Kiriakou told MintPress that Baron Cohen told him that a rabbi even spat on him. It was the only time in his career that he broke character and desperately yelled that he was an Israeli Jew, not a homosexual foreigner. The comedian fled for his life and found refuge in a nearby store bathroom. This footage has never seen the light of day. Perhaps it sends the “wrong” message.

[genoskissors]

Daily Danganronpa Fun Fact #262

The symbol on Aoi’s shorts actually isn’t the Monokuma eye. It’s very similar, but it’s just the logo of a sports brand.

Home | Previous Fact | Next Fact

[mumbo-jumbo-facts]

MUMBO JUMBO FACT #262

He put the lore skin back on

[cubfan135-facts]

cubfan135 fact #262:

Cub is great at impressions

Transcript:

Cub: (Doing an impression of Scar) Hello fellow miners and crafters, GoodTimesWithScar here,

[lunarcloak]

Blue Lock Chapter 266: Visual Storytelling

I did a similar post for Chapter 262 and people seemed to like it, and the poll I put up for a 266 interest check was overwhelmingly positive. So I'm back here!

Let's go.

Kaiser Impact. Magnus-- yes, but at this point it looks like he's taking a shot in the dark. His eyes are completely white, it's in perfect contrast to the last times where his eyes go completely black, with white pupils.

He's truly evolved, in the full sense of the word. The fact that the lines are thicker, darker, usually used for weight of movement-- as you can see in the shot panel-- are also being used for the face. It signifies weighted emotion, like he's really in a do or die moment right now. This means so much to him, and the fact that the face is DARKER than the actual shot itself means it's less about the technicality and more about the evolution it took him to get here.

AND HERE IS THE MAGNUS. This is where it's about the technicality. You cannot see Kaiser's face anymore-- it's not as important in this frame. Here, your eyes are drawn to the impact of his shot. In fact, at first glance, you could quite literally miss the ball speeding past Rin. Why? Because after that impact frame, the ball is no longer in Kaiser's control. He can only control it until the point where he shoots.

Secondly, I draw your attention to the rose petals. We've already established that it is his aura, but not how they are, again, concentrated at the impact point. Not the ball. This is partly to emphasise the speed of movement itself, and partly to reinforce the previous point. And tertiary notes are of course, the expressions on Rin and Charles' face being of pure shock. They cannot react, not with the speed of this particular shot. Only Lorenzo has been able to stop it, anyway.

He did in fact, make the air also his ally, but this is also the beginnings of the vine motif that follows the ball for the rest of this chapter. Notice how the air is curling around the ball, not in a streamline motion, but in the pattern of what will be vines later. It's already telling you that, while the ball spin is no longer in Kaiser's control, he's already done it. He's given it the impact of his shot. It's going to move exactly as he wants it to. (after this is Ness willing the ball to bend, which doesn't have any particular visual significance, but the boy deserves all the love <3)

And here the vines are fully obvious. That ball is bending exactly as Kaiser willed it to. But this is the moment of truth for him-- he's not Michael Kaiser, the NG11 prodigy, as he's watching the ball. He's Michael, the little boy who had a worn out football, and a dream. (I will remind you here that the last chapter's final panel ended with him referring to the ball/himself as a "piece of shit" again-- as he continues to refer as such in this chapter. It's signifying how he's ripping himself back down to the bare, barren life of a small child with a will to get away from the terrible hand dealt to him.)

The petals are still there, of course. No roses without thorns, no vines without roses.

I'm very intrigued by the silhouette behind the ball here. I'm not able to place exactly what it is, but it looks exactly like a woman's silhouette. His mother, perhaps? I will admit I do not fully understand why that is there, it must be linked somehow, but if anyone has any ideas they'd like to add here then please feel free to do so!

That's why the last row of panels transitions into small Kaiser from the back of current Kaiser.

This sequence isn't just to remind you of the beginnings of Michael Kaiser. But it's symbolic in that, look at the actual sequence of events. He kicks the ball at the wall, but it rebounds and hurts him instead. He gets angry, and he kicks it away again. But he takes a moment. And then he runs back to get the ball, and hugs it.

In the end, the ball will always be everything. He will miss, and he will get mad when he misses. But he will always-- ALWAYS-- pause. And think. And then, in the end, he goes back to the ball. Because the ball is his everything.

If you compare this to the sequence of this match's events for Kaiser, you will realise that it is a direct parallel. Albeit on a bigger scale-- the higher you are, the harder you fall. But that's the point. The fact that in the end he's going back to his roots. The beginnings of Michael Kaiser.

The next panel is, of course, his disgusting father. It's not really supposed to signify much by itself, but moreso leads up to the next panel. We already knew his father is abusive, but what we didn't know was the root of his dream and his ambition.

Note how here the moon is full. The moon is used as a symbol for a lot of things in fiction, but here I interpret it as the peak of his ambition, partly because it reminded me of a football the first time I saw it. The heights of his dream. To reach it, would be to reach the moon.

Also note how he once again refers to the ball/himself as "piece of trash" here.

Ugh. UGH. THE THINGS I WANT TO SAY ABOUT THIS PART. But I shall refrain. This is a visual storytelling analysis, not a character analysis.

His eyes are bright. Brightest we've ever seen them, actually. Because he's looking up at the moon, reaching out to it, reaching out to his dream. He's envisioning a world where he can get exactly what he wants and be happy. (Money, food, humanity, and the core of it all, love.)

The text "I want to be loved" is placed in a similarly 'dreamy' dialogue box. The kind that's used in shoujo backgrounds for the sake of "imagination". Very interestingly, it's placed directly on top of the path of the ball towards the goal. Even more interestingly, the vines aren't there at the beginning of this page's trajectory. They only start once we return to present time. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.

The flashbacks starts, and ends with the ball's trajectory. The vines, however, are solely for the present.

Also, remember how he's reaching out upwards in this panel? Yeah. Keep that in mind. You'll know why in two pages.

The goal page itself is not particularly filled with visual storytelling. Points which are mentioned there are already spread throughout this chapter: vines coating the ball as it finally lands in the goal. But I want to ask you to note that, the side of the page is dedicated to people who are watching Kaiser. Rooting for Kaiser. I doubt that is the kind of "love" he needs, but it's telling that part of the celebration of the goal comes from the numerous fans watching him around the world, waiting for him to show them Michael Kaiser the prodigal striker.

Ah yes, the Kaisagi panel (I'm kidding). No, while this feels like total Kaisagi bait, it's also just... symbolic of their rivalry in general. Isagi has always looked up to Kaiser's football prowess. He's always known that Kaiser is incredible at what he does. He's marvelling at the fact that after everything, after all those failures, he pulled himself back up and scored an absolutely stunning goal. Note the colour of his eyes vs the dialogue. When they're entirely white-- evolution dependent- it's the fact that Kaiser scored a goal Isagi didn't. It's the incredible technicality of it (As someone who understands the physics behind it, yes, it is magnificient. Magnus-ificient? Heh.)

On the super star dialogue, however, it's just Isagi and his black hole gaze. The football player who has never shit on those above him, only ever looked up to them. Admired them, used them as role models for his own growth. He's calling Kaiser a superstar, because he is, but it's inspiring. He's frustrated, but he's also in awe. Those are the eyes of when he's just found someone new to understand and integrate into himself to become better. Of someone who's just found a new ideal to look up to.

Mmm. The vines and rose petals wrapping around Isagi, though? That is EXTREMELY Interesting. there's a lot of ways to interpret it. The fact that at that moment everyone was watching Kaiser's shot, under his control. Or maybe the fact that Kiyora passed to Kaiser and not to Isagi. Or maybe the fact that, in the end, the Emperor is always the emperor, and sliding the throne out from underneath him is simply not possible. It's the one shot Isagi can never actually copy, because Kaiser Impact has always been, well, Kaiser's. And so is the Magnus version. It's the one thing that Isagi will always, always stay below Kaiser on.

Kaiser's screaming, his eyes are still white. But they still have the pupil outline. It's his moment of pure evolution. He's achieved something he hadn't achieved previously. He's done something incredible. He's taken back his dignity and his power, reclaimed his identity as a star striker.

And, finally, of course. We have to talk about this panel. NO vines. ONLY petals. He's not restricted by the thorns clasping onto him anymore, there's only the blue rose petals of the impossible feat. As @/bachibachis had pointed out on one of the chapter reblogs after it dropped. He's pulling his shirt down. To showcase his tattoo, yes. But it's the meaning BEHIND the tattoo. A blue rose. Impossible. But it's exactly what he's always aimed for, to achieve the impossible. This panel also showcases the crown on his hand, for similarly significant reasons.

His eyes are blank. Entirely. Now it's not about the evolution, but the emotion. The last time we saw them was when he was in a fit of anger at Isagi's goal. Now it's catharsis. At his achievement, at the goal, at the fact that he's living upto the tattoo on his neck, the name, everything he's built up for himself.

His hand is reaching upwards, to the sky. For the far away dream of money, food, humanity and love. He's achieved two of the three already. But now he's reclaiming his humanity. Maybe some day down the line, he'll reclaim his love too. Any of you yelling about Ness-- I get it, I do, but you have to understand that Kaiser doesn't see it that way. He's never seen it that way. It's complicated. We will simply have to wait and see.

As for the rest of this panel, well, it's framed as though there's quite literally light shining down from the heavens for this man. Kaiser has always had a lot of religious symbolism, and I'm not particularly qualified to talk about them just yet. But this ties in to all of that, and more. It's about the fact that stars really did align for all of this to happen here, now. The fact that this happened in the NEL, and not the World Cup. The fact that Kiyora passed to him, and not Isagi. The fact that he finally had Luck on his side, and it worked out. The fact that Rin and Charles weren't able to stop it, despite being star players themselves.

The stars aligned, the light shone down from the heavens, as the fallen Emperor rises up once again, reclaiming the throne that was always his. He screams up at the very heavens that had forsaken him, years ago, as they finally let him have the moment of increduilty he's wished to impose on the world. To achieve the impossible, is to be Michael Kaiser.

What a stunning, stunning chapter. Thank you, Yusuke Nomura. Thank you, Muneyuki Kaneshiro.

And thank you, for reading my take on this.

[recreationaldivorce]

stats about custodial remand in the united kingdom

note: if you don't know, custodial remand is when you are held in prison either awaiting trial or awaiting sentencing for a charge, instead of being released on bail until your trial/sentencing. i.e. remanded prisoners have usually not been convicted, or if they have been convicted, they have not been given a prison sentence.

there are currently 15,523 remanded prisoners in the uk, which means remanded prisoners compose 18% of the uk prison population

Black remanded prisoners spend on average 70% longer awaiting trial in prison compared to white remanded prisoners: in 2022, Black prisoners spent on average 302 days in prison prior to trial; Asian prisoners spent on average 262 days in prison awaiting trial; mixed race prisoners spent on average 272 days in prison awaiting trial; and white prisoners spent on average 177 days in prison awaiting trial.

^keep in mind there's also supposed to be a "6 month custody limit", meaning that if a prisoner has not been tried for their charge, they are theoretically only allowed to be kept in prison for up to 6 months before being given a trial. this means that white remanded prisoners are the only race whose average time on remand falls into this limit, and only just, and that's only the average for white prisoners (i.e. there are always people waiting above average, just as there's always people waiting below average). the average wait times for all other races exceeds the time limit for how long a prisoner is allowed to be kept in prison before being given a trial or a sentence.

in 2021, 8% of white remanded prisoners were acquitted at trial; meanwhile 14% of Black remanded prisoners were acquitted at trial. meaning that Black remanded prisoners are nearly twice as likely to be found not guilty at trial compared to their white counterparts—without even accounting for the fact that false convictions are higher for Black people. (<- same source as above) this fact is affirmed by these government statistics showing that while white prisoners make up 73% of the sentenced population, they only make up 66% of the remand population, meaning that once non-white remanded prisoners are tried or sentenced, they are more likely to be released, either because they were acquitted, given a non-custodial sentence, or because it was deemed that the time they spent in prison exceeded the sentence for their charge. (and again, this is without accounting for the fact that non-white defendants receive harsher sentencing than their white counterparts.)

1 in 3 pregnant women in prison have not been tried. note that above, only 1 in 6 prisoners in the prison population are on remand, meaning that pregnant prisoners are twice as likely to have not received a trial. women who give birth in prison are also 7x more likely to have a stillborn baby.

[akko-kagori]

I calculated Diluc's Wealth

The number may not be 100% correct, so feel free to fact check me or do the calculation yourself. I literally had to redo this whole process like 5 times taking a total of like an hour to do because of the amount of errors there were so feel free to fact check me.

Since I know most people are here just for the number: 188,389,420,000,000 Mora and 779,845,926,816 USD.

How I got that number:

I'm using Germany as a real world stand in for Mondstadt since Mond is based on Germany. Firstly, I looked up how much money the German government has and the tax rates. The first results said 2867 billion euros and 45% respectively. For the German tax rate it's higher depending on how much money the person makes, and I just picked the highest possible option since he's rich rich. These are the numbers I feel the least confident in, but I still feel confident enough to post them.

The reason I looked up both of these numbers is because on a board outside angel's share it says that last year 11.4% of all of Mondstadt's tax money came from Diluc/Dawn Winery (picture as proof, you can also check in game if you want)

So, I subtracted 2867 billion by 88.6% and got 326,838,000,000. I then timed it by 2, since 45% + 45% = 90% and got 653,676,000,000. I then used a website to determine what 10% of 653,676,000,000 is and got 65,367,600,000, I then added that my calculation and got 719,043,600,000.

After that I converted the euros to USD and got 779,845,926,816. I looked up the conversion rate between mora and USD, and a Reddit Thread said that 1 USD equated to 262 mora, so I simply multiplied 779,845,926,816 by 262 and got 1.8838942e+14. I then used another website to convert that into a number I actually understand and got 188,389,420,000,000, or one hundred eighty-eight trillion three hundred eighty-nine billion four hundred twenty million. For context on how big those two numbers are, Elon Musk is worth 208 billion, diluc is more than 2.5x richer than Elon Musk. Diluc has more than double the money of the richest man alive. Holy cow.

[simply-ellas-stuff]

I was looking for something completely different in Catelyn's chapters when I came across this bit from Renly Baratheon,

" Renly shrugged. "Tell me, what right did my brother Robert ever have to the Iron Throne?" He did not wait for an answer. "Oh, there was talk of the blood ties between Baratheon and Targaryen, of weddings a hundred years past, of second sons and elder daughters. No one but the maesters care about any of it. Robert won the throne with his warhammer." He swept a hand across the campfires that burned from horizon to horizon. "

Now... that's annoying. A little. "A hundred years past"????? Really Renly? Did your maesters teach you nothing?

Princess Rhaelle Targaryen - Married Ormund Baratheon. She is Renly's grandmother.

Princess Rhaelle, daugher of Aegon V and Betha Blackwood, born 229–234 AC, married Lord Ormund Baratheon, b.  234 AC, and birthed Steffon Baratheon, b. 246 AC . Steffon married Cassana Estermont, b. ~225–250 AC, and had Robert (b. 262 AC), Stannis (b. 264 AC), and Renly (b. 277 AC).

So that alone gives Robert, Stannis, and Renly a decent claim to the throne through Targaryen blood alone. Then you also have;

Orys Baratheon - Half brother of Aegon the Conqueror, Son of Aerion Targaryen. He is the literal founder of the House. (I'll grant this is 'supposed' but Fire and Blood treats it like it's straight up fact, so I will too)

Orys I get. He's three hundred years in the past. but Rhaelle? Grandma? Grams? Grammy? Your Lady Grandmother? BITCH! From 229 to 277 is literally only 48 years. Forty-Eight.

Rhaelle married the ONLY son and HEIR of House Baratheon, was not the Eldest daughter, and was not 'hundred years past.

Yeah, sure only maesters care about the legitimacy of yours and your brothers claim to the throne because Robert did win his crown by way of war. But, what. the. fuck. Renly? Why diss your own grandmother?

[atopvisenyashill]

AU where instead of having a dead ladies club we have a dead dudes club: Aerys dies in Summerhal and Rhaella eventually becomes Queen regent for her son. Joanna, Minisa and Lyarra live while their husbands Tywin, Hoster, and Rickard don't. And Cassana survives the shipwreck along with patchface.

me seeing this ask:

anyways, let's first establish how each man dies.

Aerys - like you said, just killing him at Summerhall is easiest.

Tywin - if we kill him during the Reyne/Tarbeck revolt, it butterflies away all the Lannister kids so we'll have it be that something goes horrifically bad during the Defiance of Duskendale and he dies there.

Steffon - Cassana washes up on shore with Patchface in 278.

Hoster - this one's a bit tricky because in order to die before Robert's Rebellion kicks off, something Weird and Tragic has to happen to him during a time period that is more or less chill in the riverlands. He does fight in the War of the Ninepenny Kings but that happens in 260 and Edmure likely isn't born until 267. We could say he dies in the Greyjoy Rebellions, but that's after Robert's Rebellion by a few years. We'll just invent a sickness or accident that kills him, instead of Minisa dying in childbirth lol. if it makes the plot more interesting for him to die during the Greyjoy Rebellions though, tbh, that's probably also fine, but I do think having only one (1) parent at Riverrun is important to how the kids develop.

Rickard - this one is similarly difficult. we could just have him die when he does die, and just say that Lyarra didn't die.

anyways, let's dig into what this changes right off the bat, sort of set the scene here-

Rhaella is like 13-14 when Summerhall happens, and then like 15-16 I think when Jaehaerys II dies, so not only is she a very young Queen, she's likely to remarry. Since she's not even at the age of majority yet (jfc), I think if we assume she's regent, it means she allied with Aerys' friends to oust Jaehaerys II's small council - so Tywin is for sure still Hand, and ruling the entire realm in all but name. I do imagine that not only is Steffon very close at court as well, but Cassana becomes close to Rhaella.

Rhaegar won't be allowed to wait until he's like 21 to marry, they will be looking at marriages when he's like 12-13 and likely intend for him to get married right away at like 15-16 and consummate, because he's the only male heir.

Edmure becomes Lord of Riverrun very young, Minisa as his regent. I think given that Minisa will be regent, Catelyn still has a lot of parentification stuff happening here, but I do think it's more likely she notices the crushes going on between Lysa, Cat, and Petyr.

Robert still becomes Lord of Storm's End - he's 15 when Steffon dies, which is plenty old to take up his seat. However, with his mother still around, Stannis and Renly have a parental influence at least.

alright let's go event by event here:

262 AC: Jaehaerys II dies and little three year old Rhaegar Targaryen is crowned King. Though there is an initial push by Edgar Sloane and Jaehaerys' small council to establish one of their own as Regent and Hand of the King, Queen Rhaella is successful in ousting her father's men in favor of her own - mostly the husbands, brothers, or cousins of her ladies. This includes, of course, the impressive and young Tywin Lannister as Hand, probably Steffon Baratheon, and honestly, it's quite possible here that Lewyn or Loreza's husband is named to the small council as well, given the fact that we know one of Rhaella's ladies was Loreza. Despite being so young, Rhaella is named Regent.

272 AC: A decade with the trio of young Rhaegar, Queen Regent Rhaella, and Hand of the King Tywin has allowed the realm to prosper. Without Aerys pawing at her ladies, Rhaella holds onto several close allies, and neither Tywin nor Joanna spend their days being humiliated at court to curry favor with the king. Rhaella is likely more level headed than Aerys, and isn't overpromising on things and then abandoning her projects soon after. There's likely been a push for her to remarry, if only so Rhaegar's children may have a Valyrian option to marry somewhere down the line? But on the other hand...it might be possible there's some problems at court re: everyone gossiping that if Tywin is the real King, and Rhaella is Queen, are they not...you know....that gets back to Joanna. Not only that, but I can bet there's tensions between Loreza's Dornish faction and Tywin, probably with Steffon in the middle because Tywin is clearly trying to get Rhaegar/Cersei hitched from an early age, Loreza is clearly trying to get Elia/Rhaegar hitched from an early age, and Steffon and Cassana are desperately fucking and having kids in the hopes of having a girl for Rhaegar to marry. We know there was a visit by Rickard during the first ten years, so it's very possible that Lyarra develops a friendship with Rhaella, and that instead of that dumb "i'm going to build another Wall" plan, Rhaella starts encouraging more people to be sent to the Wall.

275 AC: Rhaegar comes of age and takes his position as King without a regent. While I don't doubt he would keep Tywin on, I do think there's going to be tension here - we see this with both Jaehaerys and Aegon III, and even Joffrey really, that the move from child to adult can be a bit rough on the Hand/Regent/King relationship. I think Rhaegar, melancholy as he is, would want to be known as a good king, a kind king, and probably doesn't appreciate Tywin's cruelty. I think it makes a lot of sense that he'd purposefully scorn Tywin specifically for this reason - the same as Alysanne purposefully spurning Rogar's match or the Dragon Twins + Aegon III purposefully spurning the lords for Daenaera. It's about making a statement, it's about power, it's about standing out from the people who are trying to rule through you. I almost think it's likely Rhaegar and Elia still marry here, but it's possible Rhaegar decides to just straight up marry someone who isn't connected at court at all - not a Martell, not a Lannister, but maybe a Hightower or Tyrell. Especially, imo, because of Rhaegar's prophecy obsession - what if he visits Jenny's woods witch on his own? Or what if he visits Oldtown and sees Mad Maid Malora is heavy with magic? Maybe, knowing how often he stays at Summerhall to be an emo fuck, he marries Ashara?

277 AC: The Defiance of Duskendale. I don't know if an 18 year old would be this stupid, it does seem likely that he would just fall into the same trap Aerys did - ie "I want to prove I'm better than my Hand and I'll deal with the issue myself" - but I think Rhaella would be like "absolutely fucking not, you're the fucking KING, and you have no heir/only a baby for an heir, if you don't want Tywin to do it, send someone else then." I think it would be really fun if Rhaella got caught in this trap, Tywin completely botches getting her out and gets himself killed, and Rhaegar just goes "oh fuck that noise" and burns Duskendale to the ground his damn self. It could be an interesting change here that Rhaegar's madness + obsession with the prophecy gets kicked off not by his father's own madness but by the near loss of his mother. Even if Rhaella is mostly fine (she went years being tortured by Aerys, I think she's made of sterner stuff! I can see her being real shaken up for awhile before chilling out), the idea that he could really be The Last Dragon is terrifying. Suddenly, he needs to set this prophecy in motion, he needs to have more dragons, it can't just be himself and his mother.

279 AC: Another blow, just after losing Tywin and nearly losing {his mom? joncon? does he care that much about joncon lmao}, Steffon dies in a storm coming back from the Free Cities. Cassana lives but is quite shaken up by the entire event and retires from court to stay at home with her boys. Another blow happens later in the year, when Loreza dies, and Doran inherits Sunspear.

281 AC: So....now we're at the Tourney of Harrenhal, where shit gets real. Who Rhaegar marries will decide who is on his side here and who has started getting ready for Mad King 2.0 because I do imagine that in the four years since the Duskendale fuck up, a lot of the lords have started whispering. If he marries Elia or Ashara, he still has Dorne on lock. If he marries Malora, that might mean Doran is involved in the Southron Ambitions plot (although then again, he might not be, it's not like anyone thought to involve Doran in the wo5k until way too fucking late anyway). If he risks marrying someone like, completely outside of Westeros, I think something kinda crazy starts cooking at home with every single region having no reason to be loyal to him. Not to mention, if Lyarra is friendly with Rhaella, does he already know Lyanna? Since Hoster and Tywin are both dead here, it probably means Rickard had to reach out to Minisa and and Joanna and I'm really interested in how this goes, politics wise. Is it just Rickard and Minisa (and Jon Arryn) doing Southron Ambitions? Is Cassana getting involved after the loss of Steffon? And what does Rhaegar's small council look like now? Is it packed with Dornishmen and Crownlanders? With Reachers? Does he have some sort of woods witch as his Hand?

SO WHEN RHAEGAR TAKES LYANNA. For one thing, when Brandon gets to KL and starts shouting "COME OUT AND DIE" Rhaella isn't going to respond by burning everyone. I can see her maybe taking them captive because what they're accusing Rhaegar of, when he's the King, is pretty fucking severe but she's not just slaughtering them. She's sending the Kingsguard to go look for him while she holds the Northern faction at KL, and while I do think they'll go and get him, I think Rhaegar is going to say something like "it's fine, she's fine, leave us alone" and the North is gonna get real shitty about this. Brandon might attempt to leave. Lyarra might attempt to find Lyanna herself with a host of Northerners, or maybe with a host of stormlanders, riverlanders, or westermen. The crown has to respond to that, so there's likely to be some skirmishes here. Either Rhaegar is found with Lyanna at the Tower of Joy or Rhaegar finally appears and is like "why is everyone yelling" while everyone demands to know where Lyanna is. If he's cagey, the North and their allies are going to start attacking more boldly. If he says "yeah she's my mistress now, back off, I'm the king" I think everyone is too amped up to give a shit and the North refuses to stand down, which leads to whoever is leading them - Lyarra, maybe Ned - being labelled a traitor to the crown. This is going to domino effect quickly. If he says "yeah she's my wife now, back off, I'm king" he is losing everyone fast as fuck.

Anyways, I kept this kind of general in case you just wanted some like, general outline of what could happen but if you want what EYE think is most interesting, it's a) Rhaella at Duskendale b) Minisa being the one to mastermind Southron Ambitions, although Cassana could be fun as well c) LYARRA STARK REBEL WAR HERO. I think it's likely Rhaegar would try to "she's my mistress/wife" his way out of this but its not fucking happening. all those theories about how "lyanna and rhaegar got valyrian married jon is legitimate" no he's fucking not because no one is going to give a single solitary shit. Bigamy is not allowed in Westeros anymore or Aegon IV would have tried it. if he legitimizes his own kid, it's sort of like, okay great, but he was born a bastard, now Rhaegar is legitimizing his kid just like aegon iv, and everyone is going to see this as a threat. they're going to say he's insane. they're still going to oust him. the question here is - can rhaella, through her friendships with the wives and now leaders of southron ambitions, keep hold long enough so that even if Rhaegar dies, she can get his kid on the throne? Can she make peace with Robert? Or does she have to go on the run, not with her own kids, but with Rhaegar's children?

[thequiver]

Who is...Theresa Cassidy | Siryn? - A Reading Guide

Theresa "Terry" Cassidy is an X-Men affiliated mutant from Marvel Comics first introduced in 1980. Terry is the daughter of Sean Cassidy (Banshee) and was raised by Tom Cassidy (Black Tom Cassidy) and Cain Marko (Juggernaut). She possesses her father's super-sonic scream and a hypnotic voice. Terry is most known for her affiliation with teams like X-Force and X-Factor, and having taken on the mantle of the ancient goddess, the Morrigan, in the 2010s.

Terry's central story deals with topics that may be triggering such as alcoholism, infant death (X-Factor 2005), and suicide (X-Factor 2020). These are all central themes to her story across the years, if you struggle with triggers related to these topics please proceed with caution and make sure to take care of yourself.

Reading list under the cut!

Crime and Muir Island

Terry's appearances open with her as a criminal alongside Black Tom Cassidy and the Juggernaut. Her heart, however, was not in it, and Tom helped her to reunite with her father, Sean, and Terry then split her time between her father's home and the Muir Island Mutant Research Facility.

Spider-Woman (1978) #37-38 Uncanny X-Men (1981) #148 Fallen Angels (1987) #1-8 Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #43D Uncanny X-Men Annual (1986) #15A X-Factor (1986) # Annual 6A Uncanny X-Men (1981) #278 X-Factor (1986) #69 Uncanny X-Men (1981) #280

X-Force

Terry initially joined X-Force to stop her former father-figures, Tom and Cain, from bombing the World Trade Center but stayed with the team for its entire duration. While on the team Terry would become deputy leader, and with the help of Warpath would recover from alcoholism. Towards the end of the team's tenure Terry lost her voice and subsequently her powers- and would regain her voice/powers (bad), lose them again, and then regain her voice/powers again (good) with the help of her recurring romantic mistake, Deadpool.

X-Force (1991) #3 Spider-Man (1990) #16 X-Force (1991) #4-7, 9, 11-15 X-Cutioner’s Song X-Force (1991) #19, 21-26, Annual 2, 27-28 Cable (1993) #5, 7-8 X-Force (1991) #29-33 New Warriors (1990) #46 X-Force (1991) #34, Annual 3B Cable (1993) #14 X-Force (1991) #35-36, 38-41 Deadpool (1994) #1-4 X-Force (1991) #42-44, 46-50 X-Force and Cable '95 (1995) #1A X-Force (1991) #51-58 X-Force and Cable '96 (1996) #1A X-Force (1991) #59-61 Deadpool (1997) #2-5 X-Force (1991) #63-71 Deadpool (1997) #12 X-Force (1991) #72-84 Generation X (1994) #44 X-Force/Champions Annual '98 (1998) #1 X-Force (1991) #85-91, 99-100 Wolverine (1988) #154-155 Deadpool (1997) #56, 61

X-Corps and X-Corporation

Despite what the name might suggest, these are in fact different things. Terry's father, Sean, formed the paramilitary X-Corps, which was frankly a disaster that had to be reigned in by the X-Men, leaving Sean wounded. Terry joined X-Corporation, a secret branch of the X-Men who operated internationally.

New X-Men (2001) #128, 130 Domino (2003) #3 (just at the beginning) Cable and Deadpool (2004) #15-18 X-Men: Deadly Genesis (2006) #6 (Sean is buried in this issue and Terry is present for the funeral in one panel at the end, important for her character)

X-Factor Investigations

Following the events of M-Day, Terry would join X-Factor Investigations and restart her relationship with Jamie Madrox that had first started back on Muir Island. During this period of time, Terry and Jamie lose their baby, and Terry will come to take on the mantle of the Morrigan.

X-Factor (2005) #1-19, 21A-39, 41-44, 46-50 Nation X: X-Factor (2010) #1 X-Factor (2005) #200, 205-209, 211-213, 217-219, 221-224-228, 230, 233-235, 237-239, 241, 243-244, 262

Krakoa

After disappearing from comics for around 6-7 years following becoming an ancient Irish sovereignty, war, and death deity- Terry, like many mutants, came back on the mutant island nation of Krakoa. Things were not quite paradise here for her courtesy of some things with her dad (not his fault this time)- and also Leah Williams' complete bastardization of the Morrigan arc (in X-Factor 2020) which was literally Terry's last appearances, how fucking hard is it to read like 5 issues of comics Leah? How fucking hard could it possibly be? Terry has less than 300 appearances, get it together.

House of X (2019) #6 Hellions (2020) #1 X of Swords: Creation (2020) #1 X-Factor (2020) #4-10 (THIS IS LEAH WILLIAMS' AWFUL MORRIGAN ARC, BUT IT HAS TERRYLORNA CRUMBS AND REMEMBERS THAT SHATTERSTAR AND TERRY ARE CLOSE WHICH IS THE ONLY REASON IT'S EVEN READABLE) X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic (2021) #26 X-Men: Hellfire Gala Confessionals Infinity Comic (2022) #1 X-Men Unlimited Infinity Comic (2021) #50-55

After the Fall

Krakoa fell apart (as all things run by Charles Xavier do), and things are ROUGH for mutants now. We find Terry now imprisoned by the anti-mutant terrorist organization, Orchis, in the Greymalkin Prison.

Free Comic Book Day 2024 Blood Hunt/X-Men

EXTRA:

Wolverine: First Class (2008) #6, 16 (there's no clear place for these in continuity OR in Terry's established backstory, but it's cute and supposedly 616 so it's here)

[moony-2001]

Lore Olympus ch. 257-262 critique pt. 2

Aaaand we're back

Ch. 260

Hermes, Hebe, and trauma dumping

Jumping right into it, Hermes pissed me right the fuck off. I don't know why Demeter didn't want to accept the aid from the underworld, but I'm sure pride must be some of it. But for Hermes to call it an "in-law tiffy-tiff" was beyond wrong. I don't know or remember what, if any, beef he has with Demeter but read the fucking room, man.

I'm so glad Demeter took Hebe in though, like the absolute Queen that she is. One thing that disturbed me a little when Hebe and Demeter got to talking is how Rachel tries to pass off Hera's trauma dumping on Hebe as if it's nothing.

First of all, 18-year-olds are still kids. I know (at least for the vast majority here in the US) that 18 is the legal age of adulthood, but the human brain doesn't finish developing until around age 25. Even if that's how the rules in LO work (I have a sneaking suspicion they're not though, seeing as Persephone is technically stuck at age 19 for the rest of time) Hebe is 7 years off from having a fully developed brain.

Additionally, I don't like how Rachel frames the idea that Hebe found out all of this information from her mother as a now 18-year-old. I don't know if Rachel is forgetting her own damn timeline (not that there was a cohesive one in the first place) but Hebe wouldn't have been 18 at the time of finding out this information.

Remember the 10-year time skip? Yeah, that whole thing? And how 5 of the 6 Traitors were in a coma? For 10 years? In case you haven't picked up what I'm trying to put down, Hebe was 8 years old when her mother went into that coma. Which means that Hera dumped all this information on a literal fucking child who was 8 or potentially even younger since we have no frame of reference for when Hebe was told this information.

Demeter is right. It is wrong to burden your kids with that. I don't know Rachel, but from this writing, I would venture a guess that she's never had a parent trauma dump on her.

I have. Rachel has no idea how mentally taxing it is to have a parent trauma dump on you or have them drag you into the middle of their fights or vent about their spouse/your other parent to you behind their back. That is not something a parent should EVER do to a child and I'll be damned if I ever do that to mine.

And while there is a shred of truth to what Hebe is saying, about how that information helps her understand her mom, Hebe does not (and in fact should not) be part of her mother's journey to work on herself, especially at that young of an age. Your child is not your therapist.

Demophon, the not child of Demeter

I will say, I am glad that Demeter finally decided to open up to her somewhat adult daughter. Oh, what's this? Persephone looks upset and-

😀😐

of-fucking-course

Is this it?? Is this the moment when we finally find out what happened to Demeter in Attica all those years ago-

Anyway, what we find out is that while in Attica, Demeter supposedly fell in love with the King of Eleusis and had Demophon, a my little pony-looking abomination not worse than whatever the fuck the above pictures are supposed to be. But if you note my title for this portion of the chapter, you'll see it says "the not child of Demeter". And that, dear readers, is because Demophon is in fact not a child of Demeter in the original myths. And Rachel also spelled his name wrong. (You can read more about him here: Demophon of Eleusis)

It seems to me that Rachel is doing what most couples with a failing relationship do: throw a baby at it and hope it will fix the problems.

What technicality? Do you mean the "technicality" that Demeter was punished for insubordination (regardless of her intentions) and lived as a mortal for 10 years? And during that time as a mortal had a son who was born as and died as a mortal? Forgive me if I'm being slow here, but I don't see what this "technicality" is supposed to be. How is Demophon's death any different from the mortals that Persephone killed and asked if it was possible to bring back?

I'm gonna sound a little nitpicky here, but Hades is the god of the dead (and wealth) not the god of death. Believe it or not, there is a difference, and the brushing aside of that difference is the reason why people still get Hades and Thanatos mixed up to this day. Plus does no one remember what happened to Asclepius when he figured out how to raise the dead? tl;dr: not good things.

I have a feeling that all this is happening because Persephone and Hades are trying to buy off Demeter. They want brownie points with the woman who is rightfully upset about everything that is happening right now. And I'll be willing to bet that this smooths things right over with her.

Ch. 261

Off-topic, Demeter looked really pretty in this chapter #standemeter

The "technicality" and Hades' BS

I am glad Demeter gets this small bit of happiness but also:

Nice try, but that's not how that works. Get your smug, ugly-ass mug out of here. Once again, why is Demophon the exception? Because you're whipped for Persephone? Because you want a gold star from your MIL who has perfectly valid reasons to not like you?

Ah. I guess his name is Triptolemus now. Triptolemus who is the older brother of Demophon. Who is also not a son of Demeter. Sure.

NO DON'T FALL FOR IT DEMETER. IT'S A TRAP-

The sisters

It is nice for the most part to see Hera, Demeter, and Hestia interacting. I don't think that's something we've seen outside of flashbacks.

I don't, however, like this interaction between Demeter and Hera:

Yeah, no, that's not how that works. Demeter has every right to be mad at you for helping Hades and Persephone get around the fact that they "violated the laws of Xenia (hospitality)". It doesn't matter if Persephone was a "wild card". Hera had no right to marry them.

In fact, I had a conversation with anoldplace and something we discussed is how much Hera's responsibility/involvement in Persades is kinda just... brushed off. Especially if you look back at the way early chapters (I'm talking s1 early) when Hera changes her tune from "wtf, that's so gross, what is wrong with you" to "Let me get this whole ball rolling". Persephone wouldn't have even had half the interactions she did with Hades had Hera not put her in that internship for the underworld. And Demeter doesn't even know about the early stuff. Think about how livid she would be if she found out Hera was pulling the strings from the beginning. Yikes.

Different topic but the fact that both Demeter and Persephone love to swim is cute.

Ch. 262

Jfc, finally. I'm so tired lol.

Hera's prophecy

In honor of Hera's ugly highlighter-looking color, the sections shall, too, be in yellow.

I was pretty excited to see that Hera got a vision. I'm also sad that this isn't something we see utilized more often in the series. In fact, we don't really see any of the goddesses use their powers besides... oh, for Christ's sake. I don't even want to say it, it just adds to her Mary Sue-ness.

Place your bets on how long it takes for Rachel to dress Persephone in something similar, if not identical, to this.

Moving on, we see Kronos smush and kinda throw Hera away and she's left wondering:

That's cute and all, but no. Like I huffed and puffed with the whole "attempted murder" bullshit with Zeus, for one to die, they must be mortal. If gods could die, they wouldn't be gods. They would be human looking at you Demophon. I understand why the sentiment of dying is upsetting, but Hera, Zeus, whomever cannot die. I suppose similar to Egyptian mythology, they could be chopped up and have their parts scattered to the winds but from what I've seen, there's nothing in Greek mythology that details anything like that.

I did see a really funky theory that I agree with that Hera must be some kind of fertility goddess. In fact, I've seen a lot of people speculate that she was the fertility goddess on the wall of that cave that was destroyed. It would be really wonderful if that greyed-out goddess in Hera's vision was her and not Persephone. Kinda like the ultimate "taking back the power" moment. But tbh I'm not hopeful.

Persephone and Hades... yay/s

*gag* anyway-

Hades decided to give the MORTAL Demophon his whole stash of ambrosia but he doesn't really know if it will actually work and he's salty that Zeus is stingy with it.

Okay, first of all, if it's that damn important that you have ambrosia and you're going to be a salty mofo that the only person who has it is stingy with it, make your own damn ambrosia. You're telling me you've been alive for thousands of years yet the thought hadn't occurred to you once? Bffr. Watch this come back and bite them in the ass in the series finale.

Secondly, if you've never done this before, how do you know it's going to work for Demophon? I mean, it probably will because plot armor, but seriously? What would happen if Demophon just kicked the bucket all over again? Like congratulations, you re-traumatized your wife's mother who already doesn't like you.

Final thoughts

This is all just unraveling so quickly. Watch Demophon disappear and never be addressed again. I am really hoping that this series wraps up between March and May like genericpuff predicted because I am tired. I mean, I'll miss the ability to make content while the material is still piping hot, but also reading this comic is taking a toll on my health. I have never seen my blood pressure in such a state. And I'm not even the one writing the comic.

I can't imagine being in Rachel's shoes rn. I know this point has been beaten to death by everyone and their moms (myself included), but it's so clear that Rachel just doesn't give a shit about this comic anymore. And it's sad. But I also get it.

Rachel has talked about after LO she wants to do a comic along the lines of this but involving Egyptian or Norse mythology. I hope she doesn't for very obvious reasons, but if she decides she wants to step up to the plate for what will inevitably be LO pt. 2, I hope she takes the time to actually research the cultures and learn from the very egregious mistakes that she made here. I won't be there if she does.

[oliviabutsmart]

Physics Friday #14: Sound (Part 2/2)

Preamble: Let's get straight into it

Education Level: Primary School (Y5/6)

Topic: Sonic Physics (Mechanics)

The previous part 1 of my sound post is here.

Pitch and Frequency

Pitch and frequency are related to eachother, the only difference being that frequency is a physical interpretation of sound and pitch is our own mental interpretation of it.

But what exactly is frequency?

Go back to last time's example of a tick sound occurring at regular intervals ... because this sound is repeating, we can describe it's behaviour by measuring mathematical properites:

How much time passes in-between each tick (Period)

How many ticks occur every second (Frequency)

These two ideas are related to eachother, in fact Frequency is 1/Period. If you have a tick every half-second, then you can say the tick occurs twice every second.

We measure sound in Hertz, which is effectively a measure of ticks per second.

Most sounds, however, don't work this way, with repeated ticks. They act as proper waves. With zones of high pressure (peaks), and low pressure (troughs). This is where we have to introduce another variable into our equation:

The physical difference separating each peak (Wavelength)

Since these waves travel forward in the air, a detector (like our ears) will pick up the peaks and troughs as they reach our ear. We can measure frequency or period by recording the speed at which our peaks reach our ear.

But we also can relate frequency to wavelength. After all, the further apart the waves are separated, the more time it'll take for a peak to reach us after the previous one.

We quantify this relationship using c = fλ. Where c is the speed of the wave, f is the frequency, and λ is the wavelength.

Notice that we can also say cT = λ, where T is the period. This demonstrates that the physical wavelength is proportional to the amount of time between each peak.

So where does pitch come in?

As mentioned in part 1, if we continue to decrease the time between each tick, or increase the frequency, at some point we'll begin to hear a sound.

This is our brain playing a trick on us. It's like frames-per-second but for our ears. Below some fps threshold, we can see the individual pictures of a video, but above the threshold, it looks like a continuous film. Notice that fps is also another form of frequency.

When we reach this level, our brain can't distinguish between each tick and sees it as one sound. We begin to hear our first sound.

At this point, frequency becomes tied to pitch. The more rapid the ticking becomes, the higher of a pitch we hear. This is a choice that our brain makes - it's purely psychological.

Mixing different pitches

Combining different pitches allows us to create a foundation for music. In western music, our source of harmonics comes from Pythagoras, who kinda fucked it up by not using irrational numbers.

An octave is defined as a higher sound that has twice the frequency of the lower sound i.e. a ratio of 2:1. One octave above middle C (at about 262 Hz) gives us C5 (at about 524 Hz).

We can create further subdivisions like a perfect fifth, where frequencies form a 3:2 ratio. Or a perfect fourth, which has a ratio of 4:3.

Volume, Intensity, and the Inverse Square Law

Volume is directly related to the amplitude of a sound wave. Effectively, how strongly is the air being compressed at each peak?

Again, volume is just another psychological interpretation of a physical phenomena. Similar to how our eyes see brightness.

Amplitude isn't just interpreted as volume, it is also the power that the sound waves carry. Smaller amplitudes correspond to less energy contained within the moving particles.

We measure intensity logarithmically, because that's what our ears here. Effectively a wave sounds twice as loud only if the wave is 100 times as amplified. It's a similar effect to pitch, where we multiply frequencies instead of adding them.

That's where the decibel scale comes in. 1 dB = a 10x increase in the sound's power output. The decibel scale is used generally for a lot of measurements of wave/power intensity. However it just so happens that our ears behave in very similar ways.

Image credit: soundear.com

Notice that louder sounds are more likely to damage our ear. That's because when loud sounds reach our ear, it causes the inner components to vibrate. This vibration amplitude generally is proportional to the amplitude of the waves.

Too loud of a sound means that our eardrums are vibrating with too great of a physical movement. This can create tears in tissue that damage our ears' sensitivity to sound.

Sound looses power over distance

If you stand far away enough from a sound source, it sounds fainter, eventually becoming unhearable.

This is because of the inverse square law. As sound spreads out over distance, it has to emanate in the form of a sphere, going outward in every direction, in order to maintain consistency of direction.

The same amount of power gets spread thinner and thinner over the bubble that it creates. The surface area of a sphere increases to the square of it's radius.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Thus we get a decrease in volume over time.

What the Actual Fuck is Timbre, and how do you pronounce it? (also Texture too)

Unfortunately I still don't know how to pronounce it.

Timbre is defined as the quality and the colour of the sound we hear. It also includes the texture of the sound. It's sort of the catch-all for every other phenomena of sound.

Timbre is a bit more complex of a phenomena. In that, it combines basically everything else we know about how we hear sound. So I'll go one by one and explain each component of what makes Timbre Timbre.

Interference

Wave interference is an important property that needs to be understood before we actually talk about timbre. Sound waves often can overlap eachother in physical space, normally caused by multiple sound sources being produced at different locations.

These sound sources often will create new shapes in their waveform, via interference.

Constructive interference is when the high-pressure zones of two sound waves combine to produce an even-higher-pressure zone of wave. Effectively pressure gradient add onto eachother.

Destructive interference is when a high-pressure zone overlaps with a low-pressure zone, causing the pressure to average out to baseline, or something close to the baseline.

Image Credit: Arbor Scientific (Youtube)

We can look at multiple waves acting continuously over a medium to see how their amplitudes will add up together using interference. This is the origin of more unique wave patterns.

The shape of a wave

Sound waves can come in different varieties. While the most basic shape is the sine wave. We can add different intensities, frequencies and phases of sine waves to produce more complex patterns.

I won't go into how this combination works because that's better left for a Fourier series topic. Just know that pretty much any sound can be broken down into a series of sine waves.

These patterns have a different texture, as they combine multiple different monotone sounds. Take a listen to a sawtooth wave vs a sine wave:

Warning: the sawtooth wave will sound a lot louder than the sine wave.

This gives us a different sound texture.

Resonance

When you play a musical instrument at a particular frequency, the instrument is often resonating.

Say you produce sound within an enclosed box. Producing it at one end. Eventually the sound will reach the end of the box and bounce back from reflection (as we'll see later).

The sound will bounce back and forth, combining itself with the previous waves to produce more and more complex waveforms.

But there is a particular frequency, at which, the waves will perfectly interfere with eachother to produce what's known as a standing wave.

A standing wave will oscillate, but it will appear as if it's not moving forward. Of course, power is still moving throughout the wave, as we'll still be able to hear something.

This standing wave can only occur at a particular frequency, one in which the wave perfectly interferes with it's reflection within the box.

A standing wave (black) that is produced by two sine waves (blue and red) moving in opposite directions Image source: Wikipedia

This frequency is called the resonant frequency of the box. This frequency depends on several factors like the speed of the wave, the material inside the box, the shape of the box, and the length of the box.

The resonant frequency can be activated by our voices, as our voices or just blowing air is already a combination of different sound frequencies. The non-resonant frequencies will eventually loose all of their power as they destructively interfere, leaving only the resonant frequency, which gets amplified by what we put in

For example, you can fill a glass bottle halfway with some water, blow in it, and it will produce a particular sound. Fill it with more water, and the pitch increases - i.e. by adding the water we increase the resonant frequency.

All instruments have one or more resonant frequencies based on their material and shape (I say multiple because some instruments can me modelled as multiple boxes. Like a violin will have the inside of the wood, the wood itself, the strings, etc.).

Instruments also allow us to alter the resonant frequency by playing it differently (like putting a finger over your recorder's hole (phrasing)).

These differences in how we obtain resonance can also affect the quality of the sound.

Overtones

Resonance is not just generated with a single resonant frequency, we can create resonance with higher multiples of the the same fundamental frequency.

This is because in our box model, multiplying the fundamental frequency will allow us to create a standing wave, just with a shorter wavelength:

The A's stand for antinodes, which vibrate in the standing wave with the maximum amplitude. The N's stand for nodes, which do not move at all.

Image Credit: Macquarie University

Direct multiples of the fundamental frequency are called harmonics. Instruments can also produce other frequencies not directly harmonic depending on the structure of the 'box' they utilise.

These additional frequencies, ones which come often in fractional multiples of the fundamental are called partials. Both partials and harmonics represent the overtones of an instrument.

Overtones are what give sound additional character, as they allow instruments to not just resonate at the note they play, but at other combined frequencies. In some instruments, the overtones dominate over the fundamental - creating instruments that can play at much higher pitches.

Envelopes and Beats

Say we add two sine waves together (red and blue), each with slightly different frequencies, what we get is this:

Image Credit: HyperPhysics Concepts

We can see that the brown wave has a singular oscillation frequency, but also it's amplitude continuously scales with reference to this hidden envelope frequency, called the beat frequency (dotted line).

This difference between the actual wave's real frequency and the wave's overall frequency envelope. Is another source of timbre.

Notes, and the way we play them will often generate unique and different envelopes depending on how they are played. For example a staccato quarter-note will have a different envelope to a softly played quarter-note.

Other properties of Sound

Reflection

Different mediums mean different speeds of sounds e.g. molecules in wood (solid) are harder to move than molecules in air (gas).

These different speeds create several effects. Including the reflection of waves. Often waves require a bit of power in order to physically overcome the resistances to vibration of a particular medium.

Often this leads to sound waves bouncing back off harder-to-traverse surfaces.

Say that a sound wave travels through the air and reaches a wooden wall. The atoms vibrating in the air will hit against the wooden wall, transferring only some of their energy to the resistant wood.

The wood atoms on the border of the wall will bounce back, as expected. But this time they will transfer energy back into the air at a much greater magnitude due to newton's third law.

Thus while some of the sound wave ends up going deeper into the wood, the wood will push back and cause the air to vibrate in the opposite direction, creating a reflected wave.

Image credit: Penn State

We characterise the amount of power being reflected versus transmitted versus absorbed using portions:

A + R + T = 1

A = Power absorbed into the material (e.g. warms up the material)

R = Power reflected back

T = Power transmitted into the new medium

This is both an explainer as to why rooms are both very good, and very bad at keeping sound inside them. It really depends on the rigidity and shape of the material they are bordered by.

Refraction

Just like light, sound waves can also refract. Refraction is actually a lot simpler to understand once you already realise that waves will both reflect and transmit across medium changes.

Refraction is just combining the results of incomplete reflection (i.e. transmission) with some angle.

I won't go into refraction in too much detail, as it's worth a different topic. But effectively we experience snell's law but modified for sound.

Diffraction

Sound waves, like all waves propagate spherically (or circularly in 2D).

When travelling around corners, sound can often appear louder than if you were further away, looking at the source more directly.

This is because spherical waves will often 'curve' around corners. This is better described by light diffraction. Which is something for another time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, that's how sound works, mostly. This is a topic that is a little less closer to my expertise. Mainly because it delves into more musically-inclined phenomena that I am less familiar with. But I'm sure I did a good job.

Unfortunately, it seems like the plague of the long post is not yet over. Perhaps I need to get into a lot more specific topics to make things better for me and you (the reader).

Anyways, my exams are done. I am done. I do not have to do school anymore. Until I remember to have to get ready for my honours year (a.k.a. a mini-masters degree tacked on after your bachelor's degree).

Until next time, feel free to gib feedback. It's always appreciated. Follow if you wanna see this stuff weekly.

Cya next week where I will probably try another astronomy topic, or something like that.

[uss-edsall]

A reminder that no matter how many wehraboos say shit like “if Germany had just made panzer IVs and not overly expensive stuff” or conversely “if the me-262 was put in service earlier and in greater numbers Germany would’ve won the war,” you can shut them up with one fact:

The Manhattan Project alone cost as much as every single thing Germany put into their war on an unsustainable economy with the use of slave labour, and the US barely noticed the expense at all.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

Love your account! Have you ever done a fact for corydora catfish? They're my absolute favorite

Yes I have! Fish facts #262 and #335. However, since it’s been over 100 days, I’ll make a new one!

Daily fish fact #483

Panda corydoras!

The rivers they live are largely made up of the meltwater of the snowy Andean mountains! As such the water tends to run cooler, which these fish are in fact adapted to.