#hope that was coherent enough lol

[iamthepulta]

@joemomrgneissguy SPACE MINING. HO BOY.

So when mining comes into a conversation, there are several 'laws' of mining and processing that I like to consider that people tend to forget:

Location and rarity of commodity

Location and rarity of extraction techniques/reagents

What is necessary for this operation to work?

Where does the finished product go?

Some of these are extraneous. Theoretically, we don't have to care that iron is common on earth and might be present on the moon, so it changes the conversation from "why?" to "how would we?". Same with extraction and reagents. If you don't care how expensive it is to ship- for example: water and carbon dioxide to the moon because you want to process He-3, nothing can stop you.

However, what will stop planning, is processing. Blowing up a rock is easy. Collecting the rock and breaking it into a usable form is not. If there isn't a plan for exactly what commodity is being mined and how to separate it and all the equipment that needs to be made to get it into a usable form, and a plan to get that equipment into space. God help the poor bastard.

And fundamentally, no matter HOW you turn it, people use the finished product. If there are no people where you are mining the Thing, you need to have a way for the Thing to get back to the people who need it. WHY are you mining the Thing? What is economic about the Thing being made? and Is it worth the money?

[angry geologist rant under the cut]

So the thing about space and asteroids is metals come in native form a lot of the time because there's nothing to oxidize them; it makes processing simpler and the density increases profit. This is usually what people talk about when they go off about space mining: Ohh, if we just reach this asteroid 400 years away there's so much Gold and Platinum! Ohh, if we just crashed a FUCKING ASTEROID INTO EARTH OR MARS we could be so rich!

However this is a LIE for two reasons: It's actually harder to process straight sulfides or straight metal because they aren't brittle. Instead of breaking into smaller pieces you can separate and process, they jam the crusher. Universities with mining departments often have huge chunks of impressive high-grade sitting around that were donated by companies when they jammed their fucking system. If you can't break it down, it's a useless fucking clump of rock.

Secondly, even if you have native metals clumped together like an iron-nickel asteroid, unless you want an iron-nickel product, you have to separate them. Since it's not brittle, you would have to pour a bunch of hydrochloric on it and wait for the reaction to dissolve the outer surface.

And all this is assuming the metals are on Earth. If not, you have to figure out how to do this in space. How much HCl will you need? How are you going to fly it up there? How are you going to break it down? How are you going to replace parts when they inevitably break?

The big "commodity" on the moon is Helium-3, which is extremely rare on Earth. (So yes, we have a need, and yes, there's substantial reason to mine it in a place where it's more accessible.) The logic starts breaking down around "getting it back" and "how does the operation work": In moon quantities (up to 15 parts per billion (ppb)), you have to mine about 150 tons to extract 1g of He-3. That's not unreasonable, to be honest, since economic gold hovers around 7-12 ppb. And technically you'd only have to heat the rock to 600-700 C. However, things do melt at those temperatures. Then you have to get it back to earth. Either a SpaceX-style return and come back, or a drop shipments- It's just insane to me though that we would use SO MANY RESOURCES to rip up the fucking moon, even with an automated system, when if you look at He-3 we already produce what equals 11 pounds of He-3 yearly from Oil and Gas deposits, it's just not collected.

I have more beef with planets that are theoretically resource-rich, but people just- don't care about getting them back to Earth? Venus has significant metal-Sulfides and Tellurides in its atmosphere, which is why people joke about the "floating oxygen colonies" on Venus. But congratulations! You've colonized a planet that is inaccessible to human technology because anything we've ever designed will dissolve. Same with Europa. To design something that works on Venus - not to mention extracts things in the proper form to be used in human conditions - and/or get them back to Earth means redesigning how we think of the properties of the periodic table.

With extraction, we play a lot with oxidation states, and one of the rules is to stay within Earth's aqueous conditions. If you oxidize anything too much, your solution will want to vaporize to oxygen. Reduce anything too much, and your solution will want to vaporize to hydrogen gas.

So, if you design anything on Earth designed for conditions on Venus, it will be unstable. If you design anything on Venus meant for Earth, it will be unstable.

Which is kind of the end of my rant, I guess. Don't crash something into Earth unless you can process it. If you can process it in space, can you get it back? Who's responsible when the thing breaks? Why the fuck is money being spent when 9 times out of 10 we have it here on earth with the conditions we're familiar with?

If we've somehow depleted Earth enough that we need resources from other planets, which would insinuate we have not figured out how to recycle our own metals, which is untrue, and likewise we have no business in space anyway- Where did all our resources go? Are we leaving for those other planets? Do we have faster-than-light travel to collect the new resources in a timely manner?

There isn't even water in space half the time and if you do have a colony on Mars and tech bros are going to process all the hematite to build their shitty underground Martian city, are they shipping water from the north and south poles to do this? Have they figured out how to renew the carbon filters that are going to be needed to get all the waste and organics out of it once it's used?

In my opinion, it's all just fucking stupid. Space mining tries to answer a question that doesn't need to be asked with people who don't know how mineral processing works who haven't thought what the logistics require and don't care that entropy demands even minerals in stasis don't last forever. But it's ~new~ and the dollar signs on metallic asteroids gleam in their eyes and I want to take out Elon Musk's kneecaps.

[gomzdrawfr]

We are getting words in as I wrestle with my brain

this mtf (points at myself) loves stars and galaxy imageries

also random thought, does any fic writers do the thing when writing from art like this? xD I always like to pick things I've noticed from the piece itself, putting it in bullet points and then expand my ideas from there then try to connect them to paragraphs

[raiiny-bay]

finished dhes & kel's character pages so here are the lil edits i made for both of em :-)

[scrumptiousstuffs]

Hi! I was hoping you might be able to help me since you watch a lot of the interviews and stuff with FK.

How much like The Heart Killers novel is the show going to be? Did the author get to read the script and go off of that or was it just the basic plot? I seem to remember them talking about it but I can't find it and I'm genuinely worried.

Hello anon.

So, I’m pretty confident in saying that the THK novel is based on the full screenplay/script rather than vice versa (or just basic plot).

P’Jojo and P’Aof discussed with their friends when they reacted to the pilot trailer - where they mentioned they actually received the idea of the plot (or maybe even a bare script?) 2 years ago. At that time, the plot was more serious 🧐. And both were not keen to pursue it. But within 2 yrs and beyond, they have revise the screenplay to the point where we are at.

After that, they (GMMTV) approached the author to adopt it into a novel (I guess for business and consumerism purposes? To sell as merch). She mentioned in this tweet as well as explain more during the recent BookExpo official launch - where she initially declined to do the adaptation of the screenplay to novel. However, when she received the script and saw Khaotung was one of the main character, she immediately accepted it.

So, if anything - we will need to wonder how much we are seeing on screen will be in the novel (and how much did the author changed/diverted from the screenplay- cause we all know sometimes it may not be exactly the same).

As for how much of the novel we will be seeing on screen? - my guess it’s going to be pretty close but how much we are explicitly going to see them….🫣🫣🫣 (well, I guess there is a reason why the show will be on IQiYI).

I’m going to assume you are asking about the NC scenes (specifically the BDSM, rope-play etc.) because the basic plot of Kant/Style getting close to the brothers to get information won’t change per se - there are already Thai fans on Twitter who spoiled it a little bit that the book is spicy (and I mean SPICY - there is flogging, pain play etc) - I think the word this specific Thai fan said “I need to go bath myself in holy water” 😂 (this fan has kindly been doing English translation for inter-fans and put it up on Wattpad to read). Plus, I’m sure I saw a flogger on Kant’s chest during that unholy scene in the official trailer….

Also, I took a sneak peek of the prologue the fan translated - pretty much Kant description was a dead ringer of our lovely First 🤣 (185cm, dark brown large sparkling eyes)…so, safe to say - the author definitely used the boys and script as the based of her novel adaptation.

04/11/2024

[add1ctedt0you]

hi! zhanchengxian for the ask game?

Ship It

What made you ship it?

Awful people should stick together <3. No, seriously lol, initially I didn't ship them, but I read one fic that made me consider them as a thing ( pillow talk by sugar_shoal). And I figured out that I enjoy their dynamic!

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Putting in a room people who have caused each other great harm and watch what will happen is my jam tbh. I like how all of them have to struggle to be together! We have jc's insecurities and grief, wwx's aversion to open vulnerability and his resentment, lwj's stubbornness and pettiness... So juicy!

Like, how do they get there? How do they reach a point of balance? How do you reconcile wwx's deflecting mannerisms, jc's snapping attitude and lwj's selective mutism? imo wangxian works so well (novel canon) because there isn't history, there aren't dead bodies or broken promises or broken comradeship. But, with jc in the mixer, we have it all! They can get on each other nerves (lwj, jc), bring the worst out of each other (jc, wwx) and enable each other worst traits (lwj, wwx). We can have interesting dynamics! They can heal each other wounds or they can cut deeper each other even more... It's so interesting!

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Mmmm. Idk even know what is unpopular here lol, but, I do think that if zhancheng happens during wwx's death, canon is different! While I emphasize with the desire of skipping the hassle of changing canon, and like, people can be into whatever, imo, to have the characters ring true to me, things have to be different!

If lwj has an affair with jc, I don't think he won't fall in love/be softer with him! If they have occasional hook up, fine, but a whole ass (sexual) relationship? He's going to catch some feelings! My interpretation of lwj's character is that, despite his cold demeanor, he's soft and squishy inside! He's prone to love! He's going to understand and emphasize with jc! Cql!lwj is already doing an half attempt at encouraging a yunmeng bros reconciliation, but a lwj who has been ball deep inside jc? Who knows that jc is cruel and snapping, but who knows that jc is much more too? Canon changes imo. (again, I fully understand people who don't want to touch canon)

(I am not talking about jc because it's obvious that he's having feelings for lwj. He's also very mad at all of them!)

(and, if they have a relationship but jc -feeling too much exposed, not used anymore at someone really watching him, doting on him- lashes out and breaks their 'arrangement'... Then yeah, lwj could be even worse than in canon imo lol)

Also, mmm, while zhancheng is mostly about wwx (and it should be like that!), lwj was very much dumped back then during the war. jc was his first real friend! They understood each other! They were a team! They were on the same page! And jc dumped him :-/

[shatlass]

monkey behind the kegs. hiding from and ignoring the shit you don’t want to deal with. it’s not just your problem but you’re the only one who sees it. the problem doesn’t go away and you’re not around to keep an eye on it. it festers and spreads until it infects the people around you. paddy’s (dennis) rotting from the inside out. he can’t say what he needs to say because you stopped cleaning up paddy’s messes. you stopped keeping an eye on them. dennis used to always know what to say. he used to be so good with words. paddy’s is full of mould and pests and you’re making the mess bigger. and you know what you’re doing. you’re letting paddy’s rot for your own good fortune. the monkey’s paw curls its fingers. be careful what you wish for

[flame-shadow]

how do you art so well

more specifically

where are the motivation mines

ahhh, the motivation mines. sometimes it do feel like that. delving into the depths of one's brain to find the seams of creativity...

hehe anyway.

I think differentiating between "motivation" and "inspiration" could help you figure out what'll get you to create more.

My main motivations for art are enjoyment and improvement. I want to draw because I like doing so. The act of moving my pen, the joy of creating things, the satisfaction of visual communication, the act of expressing my ideas. And I want to draw because I like pushing myself. I like trying new things and learning how to work with media. I like getting better. I like seeing how far I've come.

Inspiration is the spark that can make things easier or take your ideas in new directions. Inspiration is not necessary, but it is helpful.

What inspires me are things like bugs, cool clouds, space facts, my friends, my OCs, my friends' OCs, the way light interacts with the world, weird anatomy, other animals, the way I can simplify my strokes and still communicate an emotion, the way I feel, the irritation of a failed social interaction, how someone rendered the scales on a dragon painting, the shape that a curtain makes, the distinct aesthetic of trail cams, etc etc etc.

Even when I don't have a spark of inspiration, I can still draw because I am motivated by things that usually don't need special ideas. I don't share a lot of the extra stuff, but sometimes I'll just fill a sketchbook page or digital canvas with scribbles, circles, lines, smears, etc. That's because even if I'm not creating anything specific, I'm still engaging with the act of creation and working on technical skills like fine motor control, steady lines, and smooth movement. Or maybe I spend an hour drawing what I see around me - the lamp, the clothes rack, the table, the water bottle - which again engage me in the act of drawing and in working on my ability to interpret and express what I see around me.

And if I'm inspired by, say, the way an artist I saw used color, then perhaps I'll try to add color to my life drawing to enhance the scene or reimagine it, make it new in some way.

idk if this is what you were asking, and it's a bit rambly, but hopefully it helps in some way!

there are so many ways to experience art and create, but this is how it is for me :)

[bbq-potato-chip]

does anyone else think that link is so short because getting the master sword at such a young age stunted him or is it just me

[irritablepoe]

Poe revealing himself on the rooftop to fukuzawa and all fukuzawa can think about is "hmm I think I've seen this goofy ass man before why does he look so familiar???" bc he didn't really notice Poe sitting in the corner while they were having the party at the agency

[sskurwysyn]

Context for the left one: Good dad Draxum AU! One lucky day, turtle tot Leo stumbled across a pirate ship chilling in the port.

He instantly climbed on the deck (mostly out of curiosity and bc he was bored) and he sneaked around until he has been found out by Captain Piel (who instantly threw him out cuz lets be real a pirate ship isn't the most child friendly place)

But Leo started coming back every few days and sneaking back on the ship. The crew kinda grew a liking to him and they eventually gave up on kicking him out.

They tried to talk to him about his home and parents but Leo avoided all the questions, which made Piel come to the conclusion that the boy must have a hard situation at home, so the crew let him vibe.

Until one day Piel came out not to one tot, but to four. The kids explained that they are hiding away from their dad and Leo got the idea to hide them all on the SS Queen Alexis, since theres no way he'll come looking for them there.

When the skin yokai learned that they are hiding because their dad was experimenting on them, and he heard that the dad in question was actually Baron Draxum (THE Baron Draxum, warrior alchemist that's very influential and a bit fucked up according to witnesses) Piel told them to come over as much as they want to. He didn't want to outright confront Draxum, but he also wanted to make sure that the tots had a safe space to go to.

For the record Draxum is NOT abusing them (this au is called good dad draxum for a reason), but at this point in the story he still tries to see them as weapons. He would never hurt them during the experiments, but they are unpleasant and freak the tots out (think about it as a visit at the dentist kinda unpleasant)

Piel and Draxum finally had a confrontation and explained everything to each other, but even after learning that the kids were never actually abused, he was still very wary of the sheep yokai and at that point he has grown too attached to the tots either way, so the uncle position stayed.

[ginkovskij]

gin, we need your critical opinion about megalopolis. was it really that bad?

i mean.

is it unwatchable? no. but also it is not good for sure. would love for it to be a case of "so bad it circles back being somehow good", but unfortunately no, becasue in order to achieve such a thing coppola should have gone camp and embraced the style instead of taking himself too seriously.

there are. ideas. that considered by themselves sort of make sense if you are desperate to find sense in this insanity of a movie, but whether within or without context for the large part they remain disjointed. and are anyway very cringe at core. i don't know how to put it kindly but the script just sucks. and choices were made.

[sonicf64]

so, you might've seen this poster as of late since some folks have been claiming that it's from 1928 to try and prove that mickey with gloves is public domain:

of course, this has been debunked already

anyone with a half decent knowledge on mickey mouse should know that mickey didn't have his gloves during his first year. he first got them in the 1929 short "The Opry House", so for him to have his gloves in a poster from '28 wouldn't make much sense; especially since mickey didn't have gloves till his second short from 1929. why would mickey have gloves in an unspecific poster a year before he'd actually wear them in a cartoon?

well, i found the heritage auctions listing for the poster the article that claims it's from 1928 mentions and in the description it reads:

"...So this is very likely the only poster created for Mickey until the 1930 era. Therefore, this is the original and very first appearance of Mickey Mouse on a one sheet and could date from the release of Steamboat Willie."

so yeah, it turns out that article's claim of the 1928 release date came from a small bit of speculation from the auction's description writer, which the article ran with and people are still trying to run with almost 12 years later. isn't that lovely?

tl;dr the article many people are using as proof that gloved mickey is public domain didn't look into it more as the article got that date from a small guess made by a heritage auctions description writer 11/12 years ago. mickey first got his gloves in 1929 for the opry house

[ashored]

compared to other alien species, the people of the Marai system are a more recent addition to the galactic Demaxian empire. Their dependency on water-based worlds was a great fortification of their society from outside forces, right up until it wasn't; when instead it was used to trap them into compliance with the far greater force of the Demaxian fleet. An agreement between the factions was swiftly created when the Marai elder leaders realised what would be at stake with trying to oppose this, and now the Demaxian empire offers security and travel empire-wide as citizens for marai people, in exchange for the water from their planets to be extorted and shared with the rest of the empire. Although these planets are nearly completely submerged, the impacts of the empire's pilfering is already being felt with declining wildlife numbers and other changes to the ecosystems.

The Marai people, often rudely called other, incorrect terms by other space-faring people, can be rarely found in space relays or planets that do not provide water-passages or are completely barren of the liquid. Although they have hydration-suits that make maneuvering through these spaces possible, not everyone is going to want to lug a huge contraption around and be gawked at just so they can breathe, compared to having a normal, submerged life. It is also the case that other species that are not aquatic-based or amphibious will rarely go out of their way to don suits for use underwater to interact with the Marai in their homeworlds. This necessity has made their integration into the Demaxian empire rough, to say the least. A mandatory army service is being planned out, mostly to have Marai troops that can make possession of other aquatic-based worlds easier. Outside of this and guarding demaxian-built structures and bases on these worlds and the Marai's system-planets, however, it becomes more of a nuisance to have them posted or used for other means. Beyond aquatic work, tther roles such as performers, artists or stationary jobs have been the majority of roles picked up by Marai in the empire's society at large. Their rich history and folklore are rather popular for only recently being openly shared, and for having a lot of referencing to Ora throughout many works. Although being interrogated on this numerous times, it is a kept secret that there are untapped Ora banks deep below the Marai planet oceans, which are key roles in the continued life beneath the waves.

What little dry land there is available on their planets is either inhabitable or lush but untouched forests. Many of the latter islands have become Demaxian holiday resorts. The worry, kept between Marai, is what will happen when their homes are drained enough and the empire's equipment finds the Ora, and is able to reach it.

[aelswiths]

Which TLK relationships do you wish the show explored more (I mean platonic and family, even rivals, not just like ships - but I didn't know how to word it. Sorry).

Oh man anon, this is a very tough question because there are many relationships I wish were explored more. This question brings to mind a couple different answers, some that are family focused and some more general (which I’ll briefly mention later). It’s a long one so I’m putting a read more for everyone’s sanity lol.

I think the one I think about the most is Aelswith and Edward, and to a lesser extent Alfred and Edward. In some ways this is very on brand, being you know the Aelswith blog lol, but I do feel like this relationship has gaps in it.

Compared to aethelflaed we don’t have as much childhood focused scenes between them, so I wonder a lot about the type of relationship they had. From the show it seems to me that Edward was clearly very beloved by his parents but it’s also obvious that there’s tension between them at the beginning of s3. Now this could be explained as due to his relationship with ecgwynn and his children, but I feel like there’s more to it. Especially as we move into s4 & 5, it’s very clear that they’re almost estranged from each other and it’s always had me wondering why. By the end of s4 it appears that they have almost reconciled, but by the time s5 starts its clear that Aelswith doesn’t even live in Winchester anymore and to make things even more interesting she ends up in bebbenburh. It’s so bizarre to me, since her family is most important to her, why would Aelswith decide to remain as far away from her only surviving child as possible? By the end of s5 it also seems as if they’ve reached a reconciliation and clearly care for each other, so it’s very odd to me unless there’s more to this relationship.

Other relationships I wish were explored were Aelswith and her grandchildren, I really wish we had more insight to what happened between her and Æthelstan after s4. I find it highly unlikely that she’d just accept someone else raising him and not being in his life, so I wish we knew more about what happened (and what happened to Aelswith in general after s4 because the way they swept that poisoning under the rug bothers the hell out of me, but I am off track).

I also wish we knew more about Aelfweards relationship with Aelswith, since in s5 he and Æthelstan get along and don’t have any grudges it makes me so curious as to what he thinks of Aelswith and if he wonders why he doesn’t have a relationship with her. I think a lot about post s5 Ælfweard and how he must be questioning everything in his life because of Æthelhelm. I also wonder if Aelswith ever saw him afterwards.

As for Aelfwynn, I feel like we did get some good material I just wish we had more than one season and that we knew what happened to her after s5. I do wonder if after s5 Aelfwynn ended up leaving England because it wasn’t safe for her, and if that’s the case I just don’t see Aelswith going with her which means they probably never saw each other again :(((.

And that concludes the family specific aspect of this question, the more general aspect I’ll try to keep short. Essentially I wish we’d been given a better idea of what aelswith’s relationship with the court in Wessex was. From what the show portrays it’s very clear that from the few advisors we’re shown she interacts with she has a tense to contentious relationship with them all. Which I find very curious because it’s clear that Aelswith has means and influence, great enough that in s4 at the height of his power not even Aethelhelm can remove her and while imprisoned she’s able to raise loyal guards to free and escort her to Mercia. This tells me that Aelswith is an influential figure and that she has great respect and I really wish we saw more of that because it’s another interesting layer to unravel and explore. It does also make me wish that they’d continued to explore aethelhelm and Aelswith’s rivalry in s5. The way s4 ended with the poisoning was such an interesting choice and had a lot of potential for character building and they just didn’t build off of it.

Anyway, I feel like the takeaway from this ask is I think we should’ve had a show about my emotional support family because there’s so much potential about them that’s not explored.

[lonesome--hunter]

I need a new hobby. what would you suggest that doesn't cost too much to begin since I'm broke lol

Dollar Tree has a pretty decent crafting section and cheap canvas and paint I'll just do whatever bullshit painting for fun. And sometimes they turn out great!

I also scrapbook just kinda go with the flow and random. Half journal/writing crap/momentos. I've done those since high school and it's really neat to see a little time capsule of you from the past. I put movie stubs, theme park maps, pictures, I keep track of books I've read and movies I've watched. To me it's like journaling without pressure.

I also have insane dreams and nightmares so I've started writing them down in case they give me writing ideas. (I've had many dreams about being tortured by Josiah. Those are fun.)

Collecting cheap stuff is fun for me. I collect postcards from wherever I visit even random towns. My friends know to send them to me whenever they travel. I still need to figure out how to display these. I have a ton of cool ones.

[saltedcaramelchaos]

Way Less Sad

so…. @ghosts-and-blue-sweaters. Remember when I sent you an ask like “can I comment to you about AJR?” Well, I may or may not have gone to send you an ask about a pattern I noticed in a couple of their songs… but it just turned into an analytical rant about Way Less Sad in particular lol! So here we go I guess

-

The song compares “life is getting better but it’s not 100%” (living sucks but it’s sucking just a little now), and “just be happy already” (don’t you love it), without telling you which is the right way to think. It’s the duality of objectivity versus positivity, genuine flaws versus hollow happiness. Will you put on the mask or will you drag everyone down? Should you be honest to yourself, however almost-perfect that may be, or make everyone happy?

I also love the line “It’s stupid but it’s all I have.” We have to cling to the things that make the world bright, because we’re terrified of what will happen without them. And the bridge— “I’m not dead so I guess I’ll be alright”, start another day of monotony, another chorus of failing to be perfect. You’re trying too hard, but you can’t not try. You have to put your effort into something, even if it feels wasted, because something will fall apart if you don’t, and it might be you. The world isn’t going to fix itself, and neither are you, but you may as well have the satisfaction of having tried.

(…AJR isn’t great with resolving the problems their songs are about)