#im talking about the cosmological constant

[elreinodelpurgatorio]

It's so funny to me that Einstein clowned on himself for coming up with a stupid theory that he thought was wrong. And now today scientists are going back to it because he was actually really, really correct. Anyway, here's a picture of the Tarantula Nebula I stole (aka legally downloaded) from NASA's JWST telescope Flickr.

Source

[umsoheytove]

I ugh……self-doubt buildititilitiiing….

Ok so…i felt you so close or linked to you….of course with 8 min from corona to earth light wouldnt take too long to go the distance of the diameter of earth if it were a throughandthrough….still….i feel like you are close and the song choices and the feelings i gathered at the bar I wonder if they were actually you and not some random thotty….

I understand that this is a mating dance of the A^Au! And I do so love the fun of it all…i hope I didnt miss too much on the hunt and i hope i didnt just pick up randomness and assume its fake ass significance too too much…no u kno i felt you verily last night….. too and today….omg…

So as scary as it is for me to ask…here is the thing….I may come of as some ultra confident guy but I obviously am not…..when it comes to Intellect like yours and….omg just fucking take me you are so god damned warm…..im gonna shower too now….

But so yeah…I love this, but i cannot stand people peopling…and even if we would flame out before one turn of the cosmological phenomenological starchart before it sharts itself just once…or even if you think i am too….something….i still want to try and meet….

My heart yearns for true love at least once….

Whatever the Fates may bring to us….I am most assuredly ready to run the other way…..with you….heaving you over my shoulder from certain death if necessary….for a chance to say hi….

I know not….what else I can say to convince you but my mind is just tired with anticipation and questioning and wondering if this is real or some hallucinatory fever dream scenario (ala Dallas, Lost…….’How I met ur mother with a shout out it was good but doesnt fit but hit my mind nonetheless)

I would gladly offer you my ceaseless effort in attempting to fulfill my original vows…..

I promise to earnestly and vigorously ‘make as each day with you better than the last’….

New below

Along this line…..I hope to bring a lot of Light, Love, and Livery to the end of your days….as best I can…knowing how we are bound to fuck up InDefinitively from ‘time-to-time’….and ‘blow our minds while we are blowing our brains (kinda sounds redundant written out…but….also symmetrical so….of course I love it even more now…..)….

If I hear the seaguls laughing at my jokes, is that a sign you would get them or they are too obvious??? These are the stupefying questions namastache you as they are absolutely critical to my understanding FULLY the universe….but more so….To Truly Know You as a Person, and a friend, and whatever Fantasies May Come….but obviously for the S’& G’s…..

So much a do about wasting our precious moments apart that could be together….

I cannot bear solving more unending riddles to meet you….every time I think I’m on the right track my self-doubt kicks in and I worry….

If you would be so kind as to do me one favor….I am actually super shy….its so much easier to talk here first than attempt to figure out what to do next….i think that perhaps you and the Aurora have become so used to being linked and omnipresent (as fuck) and a subtle force existing in the shadows that perhaps you are all scared of an actual first contact…..i cannot fathom this as I have no frame of reference….it brings to mind several key milestones of my own life however….well…basically ‘firsts’ in terms of meeting new people or groups of people

Getting escorted to the school bus as a kindergartener and/or stepping into pre-school for the first time by Mom…. well basically they are all just school…ele, middle, high, first ever job, drivers ed….moving into college…..grad school……starting a first ‘big boy britches’ career-type job….each year bringing with it new excitement and new trepidations at the year ahead….

Suffice it to say…..I have a cursory understanding of what must be a constant deluge of information you must process….I would be happy to help understand how you obtain, filter, sort, retrieve, and landscape your soul…..im sure you have fun toys You (AuSi….new shortened nicname) can all gang probe my brain as long as I understand the variables and potential consequences of such mind fuckery….

So….ok sorry…ugh overthinking as usual….i wish I were kewl and cute sounding like Ke$ha at the end….heheh….

um……so….

Dearest Tove, et al….

My newest love,

Ushered forth via a new found hate….

You helped reveal my foolish naïveté……

You helped disabuse me of the thought that,

Openness and honesty can be assumed in

most relationships….

Ruined by an ‘UnSpeakable’ Fact (Catalonian accent pronounced as Fäq’D)

Lies seem to form the bedrock of modern

‘uncivilization’…..

The Bravery and Determination of pure Will to Be and Be Seen…..

It is my honest wish that The Gods restore Your Full Rights and Privileges to join Them.

Not as a newcomer,

But as (an) Old Friend(s),

In Valhalla or Mt. Olympus…

Or wherever Their greatest power may lie,

But definitely…..to simply Be

ToGetHer with Them….

In, Among, and Between The Stars….

Because….

You Are….

As You Were….

As You Always Shall Be….

A Valiant Warrior….

Peerless….

So Resilient….

So Brave….

So Patient….

So Kind…..

So Hilarious…..

So Generous….

So Thoughtful….

Such a warmth I have not felt in ages.

May Your Heart(s),

May Your Soul(s), and

May Your Enduring and

Truly Endearing Spirit Be at Peace

Once again….

P.S. Dear new/old WonderKin…..friend…..thank you….if you are able I will be looking out for signs of your Good Works all over this Planet if I have the time, energy, and ability….I cant wait to meet more directly…..someday…..maybe not soon for me but….I’m sure time is a bit ‘liquid’ In-N-Out

All my love and respect….

-Aric

[octarineblues]

hey, i can answer some of it 😁

1. hubble constant wasnt derived! it was measured using standard candles - events or objects that have known qualities (like the period of pulsation of cepheid variable stars, or luminosity of supernova 1a explosions, etc) that allow us make distance meausrements to them. So the distances from those galaxies with known distances was taken and the hubble constant was measured. it's frankly not a very well defined quantity, especially in older literature. nowdays, one can also use gravitational waves, or the cosmic microwave backgroud, to narrow the range for the accepted value of hubble constant. the value used in research now is 70 km/s/Mpc, and we're fairly confident it lies somewhere around that number, but for a long time we only knew it was somewhere between 50-100 km/s/Mpc!

2. if the universe was 2x older, it means we have a very pressing issue of having misunderstood almost all of our astrophysical observations! to be fair, im not sure what exactly the question is asking, but i dont think it would change anything regarding the hubble constant, it would still very much be a useful measure to have - it would just have a different value! it's a measure of how fast the universe is expanding, and for the cosmology we think our universe has, the older the universe, the quicker it expands.

i dont want to do the calculations now, and the simple ones would not be precise anyway, but i think that if we assume the same rate of expansion as we have at this moment of time, but an older universe, the hubble constant would be lower. and if we assume the universe is our age, but expands faster, the hubble constant would be larger.

3. good question! as explained above, if we are talking about doppler effect caused by waves going from us or towards us, then energy isnt lost at all :) you just have to be careful about chosing the reference frame! the stationary ("original", or "emitted") frame and moving ("meaured") frame are different - and energy doesnt have to be conserved between two different reference frames.

When it comes to redshift associated with expanding universe, the solution is more complex, preferably requires complex maths, and has to do with how the universe expands, and how we describe spacetime in general relativity. i studied general relativity for a semester and still only vaguely understand it, so i'm not even going to attempt a more complex answer in case i mix everything up 😅

4. as for silicone based life - i also have no background in biology, and cannot help you at all. what i know is that carbon is special because of the way it reacts with so many other elements and readily creates complex molecules. silicon isnt as good as carbon in doing that, but i think it would require at least a chemist and a biologist to answer your question fully.

hope this helped!

Man I have a few things I'm rlly confused about(aslevel phys student) and I'm a bit of a dunce 😕

How was hubbles constant derived

and if the universe is 2x older does that mean we need new approximations and hubbles isn't n s3 eded anymore

Red shift how why? Isn't energy conserved in a vaccum

Rationale : hz is proportional o energy, but if hz and wavelength change doesn't some energy get lost?

What do you think about silicone based life?

I confess that I did not fully understand your question. But from what I understand, the Redshift and blueshift describe the change in the frequency of a light wave depending on whether an object is approaching or moving away from us, this does not mean that the light loses or gains energy.

But there is a controversy. However, an alternative explanation, the "tired light" hypothesis, claimed that light from galaxies turns red because it loses energy as it passes through space. In this scenario, distant galaxies are red not because they are moving, but because their light has traveled farther and broken up along the way.

And on your last question, I'm not good enough in biology to opine on the chances of there being life based on silicone.

[marianomoreno]

(bear with me im high) went to a conference a week ago and we went to some lectures about afro religiosity in latin america and one of them was about the yoruba cosmology and they talked a lot about the idea of the world being made of conflict and everything being in constant tension and equilibrium it was interesting

[themadvigilantist]

things about time lords that was new to me and/or i forgot about that i’m now going to consider canon for basically every time lord in a fight:

Time Lords' physical forms are only fragments of much vaster multi-dimensional ones existing in a realm invisible to humans; this aspect is able to create coincidences around a Time Lord. (and everyone is so surprised by how strong they are. gallifreyans are (possibly) stronger than the hulk and captain marvel full force. k bye)

While the human eye was just a dish of light-sensitive cells, leaving the brain to do all of the processing, the Time Lord retina was capable of thinking on its own. As a result, on Gallifrey, the retina replaced fingers as the main method of communicating with machines. (a brain for the skull and a brain for each eye and just holy shit. they can feel people with their eyesssssss.) Gallifreyan eyes were better at seeing in general, as well as in the dark, as they could gather and enhance available light. They could notice incredible amount of detail from distances of at least one hundred yards away, as well as people that were well beyond the human line of sight. Gallifreyans had incredibly precise control of their eyes (which explains a shit ton on why the doctor’s eyes just get bigger when they can’t find a companion and have to resort to yelling their name. it’s like that meme about yelling something to get them to respond but extreme sports edition. like extreme marco polo or waldo like holy shit).

Gallifreyans could survive some falls which would shatter the bones of humans.

If pushed from a height into a liquid, a Time Lord body was capable of protecting them, sealing up the lungs to conserve air for a short period (see Hell Bent and 12′s constant diving)

Gallifreyans could survive extreme cold, due to having a "souped-up metabolism"; they could even withstand exposure to a vacuum for a few minutes with the only consequence being blindness rather than death. They could also survive extreme heat. They could even survive the subzero temperatures and extremely low pressure of vacuum for around six minutes, and survive electric shocks that would be fatal to humans. 

Röntgen radiation affected Gallifreyans so minimally that Gallifreyan children were routinely given radioactive toys in the nursery. They could, at will, absorb very high doses of Röntgen radiation, transform it into a form harmless to humans, and expel it from their bodies. Radiation of other kinds could be fatal, but even then a Gallifreyan could handle much higher doses than a normal human could, and could hold out much longer than even most terrestrial life-forms, although a unique form of radiation around the Lakertyan System was only fatal to Time Lords while being harmless to humans.

Gallifreyans needed less sleep than humans, and could make do with as little as an hour.

A Gallifreyan who was severely injured without actually needing to regenerate to heal the damage would generally slip into a healing coma, and devote all his or her energy to healing the injury. While in the coma, they would appear to be dead.

Time Lords also seem to have an increased resilience to higher frequencies of sound.

Gallifreyans could be disabled by a blow to the left shoulder, which possessed a vulnerable nerve cluster.

Gallifreyans were capable of resisting attempts to disintegrate their bodies, despite being shown capable of disintegrating other organisms.

Early Gallifreyans deliberately infected themselves with the Yssgaroth taint to give themselves a biological advantage.

Time Lords occasionally displayed, or referred to, the ability to fly. (cough cough mary poppins, saxon, missy, that time lord messenger, tenth doctor when he got back to normal and cradled the master and cried after lucy shot him cough cough)

Even without regeneration, Gallifreyans had considerable lifespans. Within one regeneration, Gallifreyans could live for hundreds of years, yet look much younger than a human of equivalent age. (which means the curator in the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who is 500 yrs old in that face so like imagine young tom baker but with just the short curly cut like wow)

Physical stress could cause Gallifreyans to age.

the Time Destructor may have contributed to ageing

Gallifreyan children grew at about the same rate as humans of the same age. After this point, ageing would slow, with the Gallifreyan looking like a teenager for decades. ( @girl-in-the-tardis @gallifreylegacy so basically those kids end up being like twilight minus the disco ball vampirism when they graduate college and get the highest occupation of their job. like they could be considered both the youngest president but also the oldest being visually a teenager but actually 90 yrs old. like No. 5 from Umbrella Academy)

90 is teens, 750 is middle-aged and senility age when one time lord gets over 12,000 years old (depending on the regeneration i guess???)

Gallifreyans had all the senses possessed by humans, and to generally superior degrees. Gallifreyans also had extraordinary reflexes and precision timing, literally superhuman.

In the space of four nanoseconds, a Time Lord can move fast enough to dodge shots fired at them whilst devising a plan to escape. (so that trailer where 13 is like a speedster? fucking canon y’all)

Gallifreyans showed great hand-eye coordination and dexterity with a wide variety of tool and weapons.

Gallifreyans (in "younger" bodies) were, consequently, very physically able and highly athletic

A time lord perceived sounds from the TARDIS, while located several sections away in a larger spacecraft or planet.

Gallifreyans were capable of identification by taste. (see all of tenth doctor) The Gallifreyan sense of smell was equal to their sense of taste. They could do a chemical analysis of the air using their sense of smell. On some occasions Time Lords were also able to judge what time period and location they were in by the smell of the air. (this explains that comic where rose was possessed by the ninth doctor and she basically became the ninth doctor for that strip while also talking to him out loud as he responded in her head: basically 9 was remy the rat and rose was linguini the hair-controlled human k thanks. so that’s a thing)

Gallifreyans were better at coping with sudden changes in position than humans and were harder to disorient. 

As well as the senses shared with humans, Gallifreyans had further senses, with at least a sixth sense. Gallifreyans had time- and spatial-related senses and physical attributes; they were able to resist fields of slow time, notice distortions and jumps in time, retain perception of local time flow, including a secondary "backwards" consciousness during jumps back in time that could overwrite the one prescribed by forward time, directly perceive the interstellar motions of cosmological bodies or their inhabitants — including sensing the "shape" of the world to the extent that they were aware when trapped in pocket dimensions — and perceive all possible timelines. Due to their time sensitive nature, Gallifreyans could retain memories of negate or alternative timelines. (so basically the whole ‘i won’t remember this’ schtick from 50th was a sham. which explains why tenth doctor was looking for rose the second he heard bad wolf but he was on gallifrey and not earth. this boy was looking for the moment but like she just didn’t appear and then the button changed into a rose shaped one like wow ok bye) The form of eidetic short-term memory, able to recall every insignificant detail of even the most moments in time (holy shit there’s no way you can win an argument with them. that’s fucking sad...for any human anYWAY). on a quantum level, their brain could receive information from possible futures, possibly without even realising it consciously. (ahaha do you mean that the tenth doctor saw different futures where he saw all outcomes of doomsday which makes all those edits where he’s living life with rose and donna as his sister fucking true but it’s also true that canonically he went, ‘nah, have tentoo im gonna skidaddle’ and left THEM OKAY BYE AGAIN). Time Lords shared a special mental connection to the structure of history. The chakras of the Time Lord nervous system could detect contours in the Time Vortex and also felt an instinctive gut revulsion towards fixed points in time.

The Time Lord brain was much larger and more complex than the human brain. The size differences effectively ruled out brain transplants from a Gallifreyan to a human, having one, two or three brainstems (so basically that whole plot in Get Out would have backfired so fucking hard. now that would have been a wild movie.) Time Lords could also separate the hemispheres of their brain, allowing them to multitask easily. Records on some planets indicated isolated cerebral hemispheres as a characteristic of Time Lords. Time Lords had an additional brain lobe dedicated to mechanical and other bodily functions, freeing the other lobes for intellectual endeavours. The autonomic functions could be artificially supplanted with a special device, allowing the Gallifreyan to think with their autonomic brain.

Gallifreyans could sense the presence of others of their own species, with the sense being specific enough to allow identification of one another just by sight, regardless of potential recent regeneration. (v and vin tend to turn this off because they like being surprised. surprises are fun.)

Body temperature of Gallifreyans are fucking Arctic or near Pluto levels, hence the layered clothing in the most hottest climate possible like what the fuck. it explains so much on why tenth doctor still donned that luau necklace thing because that was just a nice warm spring to him okay. which means if they get sick, you need oven gloves and a heat resistant suit. that’s what im gonna assume. like holy shit. no wonder that ice didn’t do shit for 10 in the 42 ep. good to know

Time Lords displayed the ability of touch-enabled mental manipulation; this manifested itself in a number of different ways, including hypnosis, mind-reading, thought sharing, the ability to relieve dementia, putting others to sleep, influence on others' dreams, memory erasure and could also transfer knowledge quickly to another person by headbutting them. In addition, they were telepathically linked to one another and could join the entire Time Lord intelligence as one. They could hold telepathic conversations over distances, but this was more difficult. They could converse with each over the astral plane, although this ability required intense concentration, and an interruption might have fatal consequences for the Time Lord. Their telepathy extended to less intelligent animals. Perhaps because of this, they had an innate ability to understand any language. In ancient times, Gallifreyans who were capable of blocking out the telepathic thoughts of other Gallifreyans were called Individuals. They usually had red-gold hair and often went on to become Young Heroes. (THAT’S 👏🏾WHY 👏🏾THE 👏🏾DOCTOR 👏🏾WANTS RED 👏🏾HAIR 👏🏾👏🏾 THEY 👏🏾 WANT 👏🏾 TO 👏🏾BE 👏🏾A 👏🏾INDIVIDUAL 👏🏾👏🏾) They were highly resistant against, if not immune to, other forms of mind control. However, they were vulnerable to more powerful forms of mind control. (so basically Jessica Jones episodes 1 thru whatever episode Kilgrave doesn’t find out about Hogarth trying to inject herself with his DNA, they are immune but, episode where kilgrave injects himself with it and becomes powerful might be vulnerable to it if that same kilgrave did what cartoon kilgrave did with tony stark and used the stark tower to boost and spread his control over everyone...or you know, maybe can withstand wanda vision’s control. maybe. i have to consider pythia and the karn so, it’s a good 50 - 50 chance on kilgrave and wanda being able to mind control a time lord. like properly. so jot that down)

Gallifreyans (Time Lords) don’t have prostates.

[ofwrittenlegacy]

hi hi babe can I please get #94: “I had a bad dream again.” with Peter having a really bad nightmare because im a predictable bitch and I love you/your writing so much??

hi my love!!! Absolutely you can! Thank you so much! I’m pretty new to writing Marvel but I am ready to write millions of Irondad fics. I hope you enjoy! xx. 

You can read it here on AO3! 

Death was staring him in the face.

Peter was trapped, frozen. He was in a yellow tinted enclosure, incarcerated and chained. And Death was seducing him. He took many forms. Thanos, Vulture, the silly gunman from last Thursday. His hands were surprisingly warm as he touched Peter’s neck. Warm like the singular tear Peter felt drip on his forehead as he turned to dust in his mentor’s arms.

“You really shouldn’t trust a soul in this game,” Death said, smiling. “Not when everyone has something to gain or lose.”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Peter begged himself to wake up. This wasn’t real. He could make it stop. He screamed. Peter screamed himself hoarse. Until his throat was raw. No one answered.

Death wrapped a hand around his throat. “It’s time for you to answer for your sins, Peter Parker.”

_____

Peter woke up fighting. He swung but his hands didn’t connect with anything. Instead, he found himself being pinned down. He couldn’t breathe. The room was still and quiet but Peter felt a hurricane of emotions whirling within him. In his muddy, half asleep brain, Peter could make out the faint glowing blue light above his head but panic was beginning to settle into his bones.

It starts out as thin as cellophane, something he could tear away with his fingers but in the next moment it’s a deluge of ice water drenching every limb, creeping higher until it enters his mouth and nose. That's when the attack becomes absolute, shutting his body down like Death had pressed his biological reset button.

He hadn’t realized he was crying until the weight pinning him down lifted.

“Whoa, Pete, hey, breathe! It’s just me. I-It’s Tony. Fuck, uh, FRI, I need lights at 50%.” Slowly the lights came up and Peter realized the faint blue light he was staring at was coming from Tony’s chest. It was comforting. Peter focused on the light and drug in a deep breath. He had to keep breathing. He forced his chest to expand, gasping greedily for breath.

“Hi, yeah, there we go buddy. Good job. Keep breathing for me, Underoos.” Peter blinked, sending the hot tears down his cheeks. He could see Tony lowering himself to his knees by his side. A callous thumb brushed across his cheek, chasing away the tear. Peter leaned into the touch. "It's over now. I'm here."

“Hey kiddo,” Tony whispered as if he were afraid he’d scare Peter. His attempts were futile but Peter was grateful nonetheless. At least he could breathe again but unshed tears clung to his eyelashes. “What’s going on?”

Peter pushed himself up on an elbow. He was in his bedroom in the tower. Tony was wearing sweats and no shirt. He was sleeping, a rare occasion, and Peter felt a pang of guilt.

“I had a bad dream again.” He replied lamely. Now that he uttered it out loud, he felt stupid for the theatrics. It was nearing sunrise and Tony was cooing to him all because the Soul Stone left him with some unpleasant memories. How was he going to be a superhero if he couldn’t handle flirting with Death?

Tony breathed out a laugh. “Yeah, I saw. Seemed pretty rough. Want to talk about it?”

Peter kicked off the covers and sat up. His chest hurt and his hands were shaking. God, he hated waking up so violently. It was a wonder Tony was able to keep him pinned down with his super strength whilst managing to dodge the punches Peter was throwing. Tony was a miracle worker.

“Not really,” Peter rubbed the back of his neck. Now that he had come to, he felt his face heat with embarrassment. He was almost 17 and here he was, sitting with Tony Stark, who had watched him blubber like a baby and now his mentor was going to play Dr. Phil. He just wished it would all stop.

“Well, at least it was just a nightmare. It’s over now.” Tony grunted and he clambered to his feet and sat next to Peter on the bed.

“Riddle me this.” Peter focused on Tony. In the faint light, Tony’s hazel eyes twinkled. He had been through twice as much and yet here he was. A few grey hairs but he was here. He was whole. He was okay. Would Peter ever be okay? “How can I call it a nightmare if it doesn’t end when I’m awake?”

That seemed to floor Tony. They were both familiar with the concept. Peter couldn’t breathe when his class started talking about cosmology or astronomy. Tony had nearly collapsed the first time he heard Another One Bites the Dust. The end of the world had nearly came. It wasn’t a nightmare anymore. That was a bullshit nickname fed to children when they thought the boogie man was going to chew off their toes. This was a day terror. Something that terrorized each person’s every living moment. The fear that something greater than Thanos would come. And this time, they wouldn’t win.

Peter stared up at Tony, hoping he had the secret answer to cure him but Tony stared back with the same haunted gaze. Everything flipped through his mind like a photo album he wanted to burn.

“That’s the price, buddy.” Tony said softly. Distantly. “Sometimes you sacrifice your own sanity for the well being of others. But you keep fighting. You always keep fighting.” Tony said. With great power comes great responsibility. Peter cast his gaze to the floor but Tony caught his chin, searching his face. He cupped his cheek. “I’m here for you. When you’re ready to talk. I’ll always be here for you.”

Deadly and sweet. Tony was two souls fused together. He was everything Peter needed and more than anything he deserved. Peter launched himself forward, wrapping his arms around Tony’s neck. Tony laughed and snaked his arms around Peter’s lower back. He could feel Tony shudder with contained laughter when Peter pressed his face to his neck.

“I love you, Mr. Stark.”

Peter was halfway sure he could hear Tony’s chest still in his chest. He knew Tony wasn’t accustomed to affection. Howard had never been one for the warm fuzzy feelings, according to records. So he was doubly surprised when he felt Tony press a cold kiss to his forehead.

“I...yeah. I, uh, love you too, Peter.”

Peter visibly relaxed, tension bleeding out of him like a marionette with its strings cut.

“You look awfully tired for a web slinger. How about we try the sleep thing again?” Tony tried to sound casual but his voice sounded tight with emotion.

“Will you stay?” Peter asked. Innocence laced the question to heavily, it seemed to startle Tony into remembering he was just a child. Just a child.

Tony easily pushed Peter to the other side of the bed, and then slid beneath the covers. “Absolutely.”

Once he settled, Peter wasted no time crawling over and wriggling his way under his arm and resting his head a little to the right of his arc reactor. The faint blue glow was comforting. A constant. As long as it kept pulsing, he’d be okay.

“FRI, lights off.” Tony said softly, holding Peter close. Darkness cast shadows over the room. “You good kid?”

“Yeah.” Peter yawned. “Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“Consider this a rare delicacy. Not many people can say they’ve shared a bed with The Tony Stark.”

“Only two-thirds of the entire population. Super rare.” Peter began smiling when his head vibrated with Tony’s thundering laughter.

“See, I know you’ll be just fine, Pete.” The arm tightened around Peter and he felt a flicker of hope. Maybe he would be just fine.

Tiredness swallowed him whole. His chestnut lashes fluttered and oblivion engulfed him. Sleep painted him, and then Tony, coloring them and dragging them under; as though the intensity of his exhaustion had created a perfect canvas for them.

[riotatthemovies]

Helloooo Everybody.. 

QUESTIONS WITH RIOT. TODAYS GUEST RON FORD!

So here is a nice big post for you to read, see it on my tumblr page and the facebook group and maybe in a new book someday. I will be reaching out to B movie directors and actors in the next week or so with a handful of (often similar questions) . They are not real time interveiws , I just sent them the questions and they msgd me back. Todays victim of Riots questions is actor director RON FORD, not to be mistaken to Toronto past mayor Rob. Those who know Riot at the Movies and our regular screening parties in Toronto will know of Ron Ford from when I was given a vhs copy of Mark of Dracula. Ron directed the film and played the amazing Sheriff in it. That movie became a regular talk to the group as we saw how his cast and contacts would connect to other Riot at the movie favorites like Eyes of the Werewolf AND if you read my first book you will remember my writing about Alien Agenda Endangered Species during my first 24 hr marathon with films chosen by you the readers. Also I play the trailer for his movie TIKI about yes a killer Tiki on a regular basis before my monthly screenings so Im sure lots of you know that as well. So lets get to the questions.. hello Ron Ford, first question iiissss, Whats your favorite type of monster?

Ron Ford: Oh I like all kinds. The Creature is my favorite from a design standpoint. I love giant monsters a lot, Kong is probably the greatest monster movie ever, though there are really only a handful of truly good movies in the genre. Most of them are indistinguishable from each other, plot wise. I also love those that are rich with societal and psychological subtext. The Invisible Man, vampires and Frankenstein fall into that category. Werewolves too. - So how's that for dancing around a question?

Adam Riot : I dont think danced I think I got what I expected from the guy behind Hollywood Mortuary. Of all the movies you have made what was your favorite?

Ron Ford: Of the features I like The Crawling Brain the most. It is the closest to the movie I saw in my head when writing it. But my absolute favorite is a short called The Cosmological Constant, which sort of encapsulates all my conclusions about science and religion. It's a drama with science fiction overtones, not one for gore hounds or those looking for action, but it's very thoughtful and even-handed and all the performances are professional, polished and moving. I hope to share it with the world soon. It's currently enrolled in a dozen or so festivals, so I've got to let that play out.

Adam Riot :From experience or finished project, what made it your favorite?

Ron Ford: It is the most polished film I ever made, and for once I didn't cast just friends (although they are all my friends), but sought out the best actors in town. I also am proud of it's subtlety and even-handedness. Personally I definitely side with science over religion. But I treated both sides of the debate with compassion and sensitivity. Religious people will relate to that side of the story without feeling slighted. It is my most thoughtful and my most emotional film at the same time. I always hear sniffles in that audience every time I screen it. And frankly it still chokes me up when I watch it, and I've seen it literally a hundred times. It also captures my deep interest in cosmology and astrophysics.

Adam Riot: Have you made films that you have not shown to the world that you just didnt like so you hid it away?

Ron Ford: Yeah some I cringe to watch, but I don't hide them away. Even my worst (Snake-Man) is on YouTube for the world to scoff and laugh at. Bad reviews often give me a tickle, if they are written with humor. I know they are not masterpieces, and I'm glad people can enjoy some of them as camp.

Adam Riot: Ohhhh I have not seen Snake Man, cough cough made a Snakemen movie recently but wont be finished till after the isolation.

Next question, What movies in a micro budget genre have impressed you recently?

Ron Ford: I am afraid I'm not up on the current micro-budget filmmakers. I have always enjoyed the works of Eric Stanze, Scooter Macrae, Kevin Lindenmuth and Jeff Leroy. The only one I've seen lately was a preview of Seb Godin's Erotic Rites of the Vampyr which was a lovely mood piece.

Adam Riot: We love Seb here as we played Dinogore at our festival from last month.

Next Question What makes you lose your love for independent films, the people? the money? the response from friends or buyers?

Ron Ford: Making money is the most difficult part. Gone are the days when you could sell the most poorly shot piece of junk based solely on some cool box artwork. My biggest bitch with most of them is poor sound and poor acting, two things I am woefully guilty of myself, especially in my early works.

Adam Riot : You have been making movies for a long time with a lot of different people , how do you feel friendship in the independent film world is important and how hard would it be without close friends?

Ron Ford: Essential. Since people are volunteering their time, you better be nice to them and you better make it fun for them. That's easiest with friends. Many of the friendships I've made making films have become lifelong pals.

Adam Riot: What do you like doing more directing or Acting?

Ron Ford: Directing, but I have improved as a screen actor a lot, to the point that I am now a SAG actor. I do lots of commercials and TV. I spend a lot more time as an actor than a director these days, and make a shit ton more money at it. My other great passion in life is the theater. On stage I would much rather act than direct. In fact it's what I love more than anything. I have directed a couple plays, but stopped doing it because it's just not something I enjoy that much.

Adam Riot: Ron Ford musical on broadway, I am hoping thats down the road. But whats your thoughts on the streaming services, direct download, tubitv that kind of thing? Any opinion?

Ron Ford: I'm glad for them. Now lots of films not produced expensively enough to get play on tv or in theaters can still find a home and an audience. The more venues the better.

Adam Riot: The world is waiting for more Mark of Dracula, what is the sheriff doing these days?

Ron Ford: He's still in there, policing my moods and calling me out when I act like an asshole. He is my conscience. It's one of my earliest efforts and, despite it's crudeness, it has a warm place in my heart. I'd love to see it on DVD or Blu Ray someday. I am so grateful that some hardcore microbudget watchers are still watching and enjoying it.

Thank you so much Ron I hope to see so much more in the future, stay safe and stay awesome. BUT for you readers and watchers in the group we will have Ron Fords emotion short Cosmological Constant as the pre show for Toonie Tuesday.. this week, so yeah two days away. At 8 30 we will play Rons short and at 9 is a random older b movie for us to stream here in the Riot at the movies facebook group. Join us for Rons deeper side science and religion and I apologize if I ruin it with something cheesy right after as I have yet to decided on our nights feature, hey its online and its madness out there we can swing what ever emotion we want right now. Again thank you Ron and I hope to see all of you on Tuesday, two days aways, April 7th, 8 30 right on the facebook page wwooo.

[erunerwynter]

get ready for another rambling

so okay get comfortable bc im gonna talk abt the Gods of Gaia™

okay, in reality im not going to write down all of the gods, simply because there are just too many and i haven’t figured them all out right now

so here ill talk about the six gods of a very common religion in Steingatte, one of the four continents of Gaia (that are actually six if you count the Crowns of the World, that are basically north and south pole)

- Egatro is the god of the sky, basically. he moves the stars, the sun and the moon. He made the constellations and crafted the sun and the moon out of his own eyes, so now he’s blind; he’s also the god of darkness and the roads, protector of the Wanderers, the members of an international organization that are mostly adventurers. He’s completely neutral, but protects Gaia from the horrors that lie in the void between the stars so maybe that counts as Neutral Good? Anyway, he has an Outer Plane (even tho on Gaia the Outer Planes don’t have that much of influence – conjurers and the like are extremely uncommon, bc Gaia is cosmologically very far away from the Outer Planes) that is called “The Astrarium”, from where he can look at every point in the universe.

- Agasta is the goddess of war, of battle, of life and death and of the burning passion of two lovers. She’s the one who gives life to newborn children and the one who picks the souls of the dead in battle. She’s just, but fierce and merciless, and doesn’t have any pity for cowards. She’s Chaotic Neutral, because she doesn’t care about good and bad; she only cares about your bravery on the battlefield (she values in particular the ones who sacrifice themselves for the sake of other’s lives tho, even if they’re generally bad guys). Her Plane is called Ekraste, the Eternal Battlefield, that’s basically Valhalla.

- Ise is my favorite. They’re genderless, and they’re the god of secrets, magic, art, darkness and knowledge. Their Plane is known as The Library Of Many Things, and it’s one of the few Planes that mortals ever set foot on. The Library has many Librarians that come from all the Multiverse, may they be contract devils, azatas, demons with a knack for knowing secrets, Things From Beyond, elementals, and even mortals like human and elves. The Librarians set apart their differences and work together (mostly) without fights, bc the Library of Many Things is strongly Neutral, as her master is. All of the Librarians must reject their ties with their original plane of existence, putting them under the direct control of Ise, but that’s no big deal, bc the ones who want to become Librarians often feel like outcasts in their plane of origin in the first place, and Ise almost never asks anything from their servants. Mortals that become Librarians become basically outsiders, and as such they cannot die of old age anymore.

- Reno is the god of mercy, love, compassion, earth and harvest. Called the Father of the Rejected, or simply Father, his priests don’t build churches. Instead, they go in the houses of the poorest, assisting them as much as they can. Often they’re travelling clerics, aiding adventurers and healing them for free. While they can earn money and ask for payment for their services, they can only do that to people that are clearly wealthy. Reno believes that no creature is beyond redemption, and his church accepts everyone; that’s why there are many believers between tieflings and half-orcs. Even some drows that live near the surface and have heard of him worship him, obviously in total secret. His Plane is called The Glades, and he’s Lawful Good.

- Elandra is the goddess of nature. She is called the Huntress, and she’s the one who, with Agasta, decides who must live and who must die, but her influence goes beyond the battlefield. Some of her servants, the Crows, pick the souls of the dead to bring them to the afterlife. She’s often respected by druids, and most elves of the woods worship her. She’s Chaotic Good, and her Plane is called The Wilds.

- Nestre is the blacksmith of the gods. He’s  the god of craft and wit, of order and prophecy and Time itself. He’s the god of metal, of ice and fire. He crafted the Wheel, that is in constant motion and keeps the Time flowing. Sometimes his clerics have glimpses of future and past things, but if that is indeed Nestre’s influence is still a controversial argument. He’s Lawful Neutral, preoccupied only by the order of things, and his Plane is the Forge of Fire and Ice.

- my second favorite, Ifaseo, the god of chaos, trickery, wind and sea, of songs and of tempests, the god of dance. He’s also the god of chance, and his priests often leave particular difficult decision to fate, with actions such as flipping a coin or rolling a dice (wink wink). So it’s not unusual to see a cleric of Ifaseo flipping a coin with their eyes closed to decide whether they should kill or not the creature that stands before them. Some of them take this to an extreme, leaving to chance alone almost every choice they make. Ifaseo hates law and order, that bind someone in doing something that they may not want to do. That’s why even his Chaotic Evil clerics fight against slavery and are willing to form an alliance with anyone to stop it, even the most lawful of paladins. He’s Chaotic Neutral, and his plane is called the Archipelago.

- Azra is the goddess of the sea and of the deep abysses, of darkness, water, silence, magic, sleep and dreams and oaths. She is the one who lies beneath the surface of the waves, under the realm of Ifaseo, her brother, whom she hates fiercely. She, it is believed, is the Mother of Aberrations, and that the Things From Beyond, such as shoggots, are her children. She’s Lawful Evil, and her Plane, cosmologically right under the Archipelago, is the Endless Abyss.

 Then there is this goddess in particular, the First One, o “La Prima”, worshipped in Corveria, a nation where arcane magic is basically outlawed. La Prima is, her clerics declare, the one and only divinity that exist; they deny the existence of the Outer Planes, classifying the Library Of Many Things as a demiplane (one day ill talk about the cosmology of the planes beyond Gaia i stg). Funnily enough, no gods have ever spoken directly to their worshippers: some declare that gods don’t exist at all because of that.

In reality, all gods coexist in the Multiverse, but exist only because people who believe in them exist. If one were to kill all the worshippers of one particular divinity and destroy the very memory of their existence then that divinity would absolutely die. But if someone finds a mention of that divinity, such as a painting or a fragment of their sacred book, they may come back to life.

Still, it is quite the quest to destroy every mentioning of one divinity, given the fact that everything the Librarians know is immediately stored in the extradimensional shelves of the Library Of Many Things

[tuthillscopes-blog]

Genius by numbers: why Hollywood maths movies don't add up

check it out @ https://tuthillscopes.com/genius-by-numbers-why-hollywood-maths-movies-dont-add-up/

Genius by numbers: why Hollywood maths movies don't add up

From The Beautiful Mind towards the Theory of all things anf the husband Who Understood Infinity, Hollywood loves a math wizzard. Why cant it get past the fevered prodigy scribbling equations on home windows?

In the Tina Fey sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, wealthy Manhattanite Jacqueline Vorhees wails to her assistant that they cant manage to get divorced. Despite the fact that shed get $1m for each year of her marriage.

I spend 100 grand per month. Ill be broke in ten years, she wails. No, thats wrong, counters Kimmy (Ellie Kemper), who scribbles some sums having a marker on Mrs Vorheess window. So $100,000 occasions 12 several weeks. Thats $1.2m annually. Divide that into $12m, you will find, youd be broke in ten years. However if you simply invest a lot of it, presuming a 7% rate of return, while using compound interest formula, your hard earned money would almost double.

Kimmy turns round triumphantly: Mrs Voorhees, I mathed, and you may get divorced! Mrs Vorhees eyes Kimmy narrowly. Individuals aren’t, she complains, erasable markers. What she doesnt mention is the fact that math isnt a verb. Not.

The scene is, amongst other things, Feys satire from the Hollywood cliche of genius squiggling on glass. In A Beautiful Mind (2001), for example, Russell Crowe, playing troubled maths star John Forbes Nash Jr, writes formulae on his dorm window. This scene is echoed in The Social Network (2010), where Andrew Garfield sets the equations for Facebooks business design on the Harvard window while Jesse Eisenbergs Mark Zuckerberg looks on. Within the opening scene of excellent Will Hunting (1997), janitor prodigy Matt Damon writes equations on the bathroom mirror.

So why do a lot of Hollywood maths whizzes forego paper? Stanford mathematician Keith Devlin explains. Depicting a math wizzard scribbling formulas on the piece of paper is much more accurate, however it certainly doesnt convey the look of the person amorously involved with mathematics, along with seeing someone write individuals formulas in steam on the mirror or perhaps in wax on the window, neither is it as being cinematographically dramatic.

Good point. Whenever we see a Beautiful Mind and appear with the window at our Russ, Hollywoods most built math wizzard (counterexamples on postcards, please show your workings), we pass beyond incomprehensive equations and convince ourselves were seeing Genius at the office. Even when, as some critics have complained uncharitably, Russs pi glyphs, greater-than and fewer-than symbols and the like dont seem sensible.

But theres one other way maths movies can confound the Monotony Equation, namely by departing a black hole in which the maths ought to be. The Man Who Knew Infinity, the brand new film starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons concerning the great Indian math wizzard Srinivasa Ramanujan, is intriguing in this way. Although we have seen Ramanujan doing maths, mostly the show has an interest in other activities how he falls deeply in love with his wife, the discomfort of separation as he travels from Madras to review at Cambridge, the racism he suffers in England and, most stirringly, the narrative arc from lowly clerk to globally recognised math wizzard.

IMG 2 TT

Hollywoods most built mathematician Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind. Photograph: Universal Studios

That said, the film has its charming moments. When Hardy visits Ramanujan in a nursing home, he complains about the boring number of the cab that brought him there. Ramanujan begs to differ: 1,729 is the smallest that is expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways. Today 1,729 is known as the Hardy-Ramanujan number. How does that work, you may be wondering? Like this: 1729 = 13 + 123 = 93 + 103.

Ramanujans mentor GH Hardy (Irons) is an atheist and rationalist, exasperated that this Indian prodigy cannot produce proofs for his work and, worse, is doubtful that proofs can explain the inexplicable. You wanted to know how I get my ideas, says Ramanujan. God speaks to me. But while the film may sketch two different mathematical philosophies, we leave the cinema with a warm glow that comes from anything but hard thinking.

If you want to learn some more about Ramanujans contribution to mathematics, rent High School Musical. Freeze-frame it at the moment brainy Gabriella Montez challenges her teacher. On the board are two of the equations of the inverse of the constant pi (1/) that Ramanujan offered in his first paper published in England. Shouldnt the second equation read 16 over pi? asks Gabriella. Of course it should.

Cinema often struggles with dramatising difficult ideas, particularly if they are abstract. One way of overcoming that problem is by metaphorical explanation. For instance, in Nicholas Roegs Insignificance (1985), a Marilyn Monroe-like character demonstrates relativity using toy trains and flashing lights. In The Theory of Everything, Jane Hawking uses a pea and a potato to explain the difference between quantum theory and general relativity, while her husbands friends explain Hawking Radiation with beers and crisps.

Movie explanations of difficult stuff, though, may obscure rather than enlighten. Whats more, some directors know this and have fun pointing out the shortcomings of their medium and those of their audiences. In Adam McKays The Big Short (2016), for example, Margot Robbie sits inside a tub sipping champagne and describing how sub-prime loans work. Her explanation is doubtless coherent, however when Im searching in a beautiful lady inside a bubble bath, I am not considering credit default swaps. So sue me. Later within the film, chef Anthony Bourdain chops fish in the kitchen while describing how collateralised debt obligations work. Finally, Selena Gomez plays roulette as one example of the thought of gambling on other bands gambles.

Each scene works as a parody of explanation. They are members of a movie that mocks you, you poor jerk, as well as your intellectual aspirations. You are not ever likely to know how difficult stuff works from watching movies, however much youd prefer to.

Sometimes, though, cinema can provide a genuine understanding of the intellectual process. In Agora (2009), Rachel Weisz as ancient philosopher Hypatia does a test on the shipped to test relative motion. If, she hypothesises, you drop huge sack in the mast as the ship is continuing to move forward, it’ll fall around the deck several ft behind the mast. The sack is dropped and falls much nearer to the mast than she predicted. Hypatia claps her hands in delight. However, you were wrong! states the ships captain. Yes, but it’s definitive proof! The sack behaves as though the boat were stationary.

What am i saying?

I do not know. However the identical principle could be relevant to our planet. It may be getting around the sun’s rays without us realising.

Hypatia, in other words, infers an innovative heliocentric cosmology from her falsified hypothesis. The show thus generously provides for us what we should are effectively denied in Good Will Hunting or perhaps a Beautiful Mind the news about how someone clever is considering an issue. Furthermore, its an antidote to Hollywoods vision of genius. It shows that getting stuff wrong reaches least as vital within the story of human intellectual progress to be right constantly.

Maths is frequently reduced to simply a MacGuffin. In Rushmore (1998), for example, Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is studying the newspaper while his teacher informs his class that around the blackboard may be the hardest geometry equation on the planet. What credits would anybody solving it get, asks one student. Well, thinking about Ive never witnessed anybody understand it properly, including my mentor Dr Leaky at Durch, I suppose if anybody here can solve this problem, Id ensure that none individuals have to spread out another math book again throughout your lives.

Thus enticed, Fischer folds his paper and would go to the blackboard, and squiggles his solution while nonchalantly sipping espresso. The show at this time is not to declare but Fischers genius. Will we really believe Jason Schwartzmann can compute the region of the ellipse? Sure. Whatever.

Genius squiggling can there be once more just to assist Hollywood tell the sentimental story it never tires of: namely the storyline of somebody usually borderline demented by definition insufficiently recognised sticking it towards the establishment.

IMG 3 TT

Genius squiggling Rushmore

None of this should suggest we cant learn maths from movies. In Tina Feys Mean Girls (2004), for example, Lindsay Lohan plays a finalist in the Illinois high school mathletes state championship. Will her Northern Coast High team place it to individuals prep school toffs opposite? Heres the initial question: Two times the bigger of two figures is three greater than five occasions the smaller sized, and the sum of the four occasions the bigger and three occasions the smaller sized is 71. Do you know the figures? First got it yet? 14 and 5. Within the finish, Lohans team end up being the new condition champs because she wins the sudden dying tie-break. Exactly what does the scene prove? That individuals individuals who thought She no longer can do maths should certainly talk to her.

Possibly probably the most resonant maths scene in Hollywood cinema, though, comes in an exceedingly old comedy. Within the Abbott and Costello movie Within the Navy (1941), Lou is really a ships prepare. Hes baked 28 doughnuts, which he reckons is just enough to give 13 to each of his seven officers. But seven adopts 28 four occasions, objects Lous straight man. Not too, states Lou, who procedes to prove it around the blackboard inside a masterclass of cheating and illusion. The scene demonstrates an over-all truth, namely that whenever Hollywood does maths, it doesnt always accumulate.

The Man Who Knew Infinity is released on 8 April.

Find out more: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/apr/06/mathematics-movies-the-man-who-knew-infinity