#interstellar transit

[vvideasdesign]

Interstellar Transit Logo Design

[hifi-walkman]

Thoughts on that kids show from the 2010s that changed the course of my life:

So, season 1 of Steven universe is really clever, because it shows the world from the perspective of a child in such an effective way. For example, the plot.

The viewers become aware of homeworld as a threat in ocean gem, but the crystal gems (other than Steven) know homeworld is coming from episode 2.

The red eye is the first thing homeworld does to check on earth, and the crystal gems are *powerless* to destroy it until the laser light canon is used (and that's *old* gem tech, not even the new stuff!)

In serious Steven, Coach Steven, and Steven's lion the gems are actively working to dismantle structures they had previously left untouched for thousands of years. Why? In case the diamonds try to use them.

Even after lapis' two parter the extent of why and how the gems are preparing for homeworld to attack isn't spelled out.

Pearl is trying to *escape* just like lapis did in Space Race, she knows it's possible... She knows if they leave earth they can be safe. Warp tour shows more explicitly that homeworld was already coming before lapis left, that even though she was Steven's introduction to the concept, homeworld was already interested in earth for other reasons. In rose's scabbard, they're clearly cleaning up the battlefield to keep extra weapons out of homeworld's hands, as it happens right between two major homeworld episodes, and just barely before the finale itself. Steven may not have known homeworld gems were coming for them, but the crystal gems did, the message only told them just how little time they had to prepare for it.

When you're watching Steven Universe for the first time, all this context slips past, you don't consider the reasons for the crystal gems going on certain missions, because the viewer doesn't have the information to even realize there was anything to consider (because the crystal gems are obviously keeping that info from Steven early on). Only on a rewatch does the exact level of urgency weigh in on the viewer, only when looking back do they realize exactly how much danger Steven was in even in the first season. It's a really clever set of details.

[hellhoundlair]

venting sorry. i get emotional thinking of the media both me and my dad loved growing up and the father daughter bonds that were the highlights of those movies and tv shows to him and i feel like i failed

[geostelar5]

I like to think that in the interstellar community humans stand out as one of the most optimistic and only species that believe in benevolent aliens existing before first contact, and that leads to an actually suprisingly good transition.

Because in human culture, sure there are alien invasion stories, those are actually VERY common in the intergalatic community, there is an assumtion and fear of those from beyond your world because of the dangers it holds. No one is suprised by that, but...They are shocked to hear that for every Xenomorph, we have a Silver Surfer. For every set of invading Martians we have J'honn Jones, the Martian Manhunter.

For every Predator we have a Doctor. We have heroes like Ben Tennyson and the Green Lanterns, we have Star Trek as an example of human optimisim and ideal for peace.

And of course they are shocked to hear that the premire hero of the modern age, one of the most legendary and beloved figures in our mythos is Superman, an alien who sought out Earth as his last refuge as a baby, made earth his home and used his Astounding powers to Defend it, leading the charge for countless others.

[mysticstronomy]

WILL THE UNIVERSE EVER REACH EQUILIBRIUM??

Blog#406

Saturday, June 1st, 2024.

Welcome back,

In our experience, all physical systems eventually tend toward equilibrium: where entropy is maximized and no further energy can be extracted from it. This seems like an inevitable consequence of the second law of thermodynamics, and is absolute for any closed-and-isolated system. But our Universe is neither closed nor isolated, as it began from a hot and dense state and has been cooling, expanding, and clumping ever since the hot Big Bang.

Even though its entropy has increased dramatically, parts of it like stars, planets, and even biological organisms, routinely extract energy and put it to work toward creating ordered systems. It seems like equilibrium, even 13.8 billion years later, is still very far away in a cosmic sense.

But will the Universe — the ultimate out-of-equilibrium system, in some sense — eventually reach equilibrium after all? That’s what James Calautti wants to know, asking:

“Is it possible that in the far distant future, after every single star has died, after the white dwarfs and neutron stars have faded, and the black holes have decayed, will the universe achieve a state of equilibrium?”

If certain assumptions hold true about our Universe, then yes, we will eventually achieve a state of pure equilibrium: where no further energy can be extracted to do work or enable reactions of any type. But that’s not necessarily how it’s going to shake out, even in the end. Here’s what we need to consider.

When the Big Bang first began, the Universe had practically no structure in it at all. No stars, no galaxies, no atoms, no atomic nuclei. It was hot, dense, and incredibly uniform: where the least dense regions were still ~99.99% as dense as the average ones and the most dense regions were only ~100.01% as dense as the average. Even though it was filled with ultra-relativistic quanta of radiation, plus particles of matter and antimatter, its entropy was around S = 1088 kB, where kB is Boltzmann’s constant.

While 1088 may be a very large number, it’s not maximally large, especially not for the number of particles in the Universe.

Over time, as the Universe has cooled and gravitated, all sorts of structures have formed, from atomic nuclei to atoms to molecules, all the way up to planets, stars, stellar systems, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies embedded within a cosmic web. It’s as though the initially high energy state of the Universe, as the Universe expanded and cooled:

proceeded through a number of transitions,

where, from the hotter-and-denser conditions to the colder-and-sparser conditions, these transitions proceeded in an out-of-equilibrium fashion,

leading to the binding and formation of structure,

that seemingly created tiny “ordered” pockets at the expense of a larger-scale increase in “disorder,”

so that entropy increased tremendously over time. Today, the entropy of the Universe is about S = 10103 kB, or about 15 orders of magnitude (a factor of a quadrillion) greater than it was 13.8 billion years ago.

As time continues to march on, all sorts of energy-emitting reactions will still occur. Neutral atoms will form from the ionized plasmas in interstellar space. Light atomic nuclei will fuse into heavy ones inside the cores of stars. Clouds of gas will gravitationally collapse into bound structures like stars and planets. And massive objects will collapse down to create black holes, among many other natural processes. All of these processes, as well as many others, emit energy, which allows work — the physicist term for energy-that-gets-put-to-use — to be performed.

These processes all increase entropy on a global scale, but the emitted energy can be used to create regions that are more ordered, the same way that sunlight absorbed by photosynthetic organisms on Earth can be used to locally create order.

Nevertheless, the more energy-emitting reactions occur and the more time that passes, the greater the Universe’s entropy gets. As this occurs, there are now fewer opportunities for extracting energy from various processes. The Universe runs out of hydrogen, and fewer and fewer new stars form. Dark energy drives galaxy groups and clusters apart, and fewer cosmic mergers occur. More black holes form, and more compact masses get ejected into intergalactic space. Eventually, the entropy of the Universe starts to level off at a maximum value of around S = 10121 kB, which it will reach around ~1020 years from now.

At that point in the far future, all of the stars that exist today will have long since burned out. The future generations of stars that will have formed from their ashes and the remaining gas within galaxies will have burned out, too, leaving only stellar remnants behind: white dwarfs (which will have faded to black), neutron stars (which will have faded to black as well), black holes, and failed stars. On occasion, two failed stars will merge together and briefly create a low-mass red dwarf star: the last luminous lights present in our cosmos. When they burn out and fade to black as well, the last stellar lights will be extinguished.

Gravitational interactions will cause galactic remnants to decay and dissociate. Objects in orbital systems, like planets around stellar corpses, will see their orbits decay due to gravitational radiation, leading to inspirals and mergers. Black holes themselves will decay away through Hawking radiation, with stellar mass black holes taking ~1067 years to decay and the largest supermassive black holes taking upward of ~10100 years to decay away completely. Meanwhile, intergalactic space becomes sparser and sparser as dark energy continues to accelerate unbound objects away from one another. Eventually, there are no energy-producing sources left in the Universe, and the entropy of what remains is maximized.

Originally published on https://bigthink.com

COMING UP!!

(Wednesday, June 5th, 2024)

"WHAT WAS BEFORE BIG BANG??"

[talonabraxas]

Arcturus – α Boötis (Alpha Boötis) Talon Abraxas

The Arcturus star system is the home to one of the most advanced alien civilizations in our galaxy. This is a 5D vibrational civilization, a prototype (meaning, a model to be followed) for future civilization.

The vibratory energy specific to this civilization acts as an emotional, mental and spiritual healer for humanity on Earth, but also as a “gateway” for the souls of men at the time of death and birth. This energy functions as a transition station and adaptation of non-physical consciousness to the specific of the physical world.

Some fascinating information comes from a book by Norma Milanovich called “We, the Arcturians”, which I highly recommend reading if you are interested in Arcturians.

Out of all the extraterrestrial civilizations, Arcturus stands out for their total focus in the areas of psycho-spiritual healing and unity consciousness. For that reason I’ll highlight a few aspects of their advanced civilization. The Arcturians teach that the most fundamental ingredient for living in the fifth dimension is love. Negativity, fear and guilt must be overcome and exchanged for love and light.

The Arcturus star system is the home to one of the most advanced alien civilizations in our galaxy. This is a 5D vibrational civilization, a prototype (meaning, a model to be followed) for future civilization.

The vibratory energy specific to this civilization acts as an emotional, mental and spiritual healer for humanity on Earth, but also as a “gateway” for the souls of men at the time of death and birth. This energy functions as a transition station and adaptation of non-physical consciousness to the specific of the physical world.

Some fascinating information comes from a book by Norma Milanovich called “We, the Arcturians”, which I highly recommend reading if you are interested in Arcturians.

Out of all the extraterrestrial civilizations, Arcturus stands out for their total focus in the areas of psycho-spiritual healing and unity consciousness. For that reason I’ll highlight a few aspects of their advanced civilization. The Arcturians teach that the most fundamental ingredient for living in the fifth dimension is love. Negativity, fear and guilt must be overcome and exchanged for love and light.

The Arcturians work in close connection with the ascended masters whom they call the Brotherhood of the All or the Fraternity of Totality. They also work closely with what they refer to as the Galactic Command. The Arcturians travel the universe in their starships, which are some of the most advanced in the entire universe.

In the Arcturian system there are no extreme temperatures, with their worlds being mostly a higher dimensional, non-physical environment. Their civilization is one that has transcended duality and lives in unity consciousness.

--

One of the reasons why the Earth has never been attacked by malevolent aliens is because their fear of the Arcturians’ advanced ships. These interstellar vessels are a culmination of perfection in cosmic technology.

One of their starships that are stationed near the Earth in this solar system is called the Athena, named after the Greek goddess.

[shock]

"Don't just play—do something!", Jack Abele, 01.21.24.

This is a companion piece to the collage I made about moving into the first place that felt like my home back in '21 (shown below). They have matching frames and are displayed together above our dining table! This second piece is a reflection on how my relationship to "home" has evolved since then, especially after proposing to my now fiancé last month. I'm really proud of it!

Text transcript:

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

In the cold, thin clouds of interstellar space, written in the precise message of starlight:

What made you so interested in fireflies?

Imagine that they propel the environment into play: they STAND OUT, add color, chaos, curves moving behind and below, inside, outward along feedback loops, perplexing positive panic persuaded to make another form of animal art.

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, a beautiful structure, flamboyantly scuzzy, sassy, a full bouquet of many wild ideas — a dazzling interplay between lightness and unclarity, trying things out, fancy, whimsical records looped with webs, half-truth surface textures composed of swirls within swirls, a performance of information, scene-setting details with many impressive, more tongue-in-cheek, unforeseeable aspects relatively stable and evolving at the same time.

Distinctly transitional.

The trouble with love is it's hard to describe in simple and consistent words. Beyond the jolting familiarity of self-similar, self-referential tessellating hues, the little comedy-drama fictions... you see openness, possibilities toward change; our very existence together antidote to the dull grind of the paradox that we live every moment in an indifferent universe yet having so much fun with friends, local communities, places, faces, even muddy bog holes.

Music! A Tribe Called Quest, The Beastie Boys, The Breeders, Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, Santana and Crosby, Stills, and Nash, mud-caked at Woodstock, picking up Space Age scrap, cutting collaged paper, playing with magical little lights, heretically evolving in this meaningless, magnificent place fine-tuned just right to allow for life, love, and grunge to exist nevertheless.

Maybe what keeps me here, making art, is how beautiful it is for optimism to become the first expression of hope despite danger amid the disparate depth of our universe created by chaos.

Movement characterizes my "youthful, dynamic" journey, escapes to infinite other places somewhere else, afraid of considering complicated survival long-term, wherein risk is worth the reward. But something about your windy city reminded me what strange, cascading effects the fingers of two hands form together, intersect one another, interfere with fate, interlace like light radiating rays woven, at certain points, into dynamic singularities.

Mutualism is a happy hybrid of symmetry and chaos — a relationship, it's like the entire forest is blinking in sync.

Just as the fun is to make up a great story, the writer in me calls this piece, "Don't just play— do something!"

This time around, living offers a profound pivot from playing a game. Today we confront as animals, we're not far from dogs, domesticated punks at heart, manifold.

I am humbled, exhilarated, afraid yet strangely calm and clear "On Bended Knee"

(The term ground seems inapt.)

...Nor is it possible to describe...

The closest feeling to being the world itself? It is to have loved someone so much that you wanted to spend the rest of your lifetime with them, with each other.

We're writing a book. Adding a stroke of paint and words to illustrate what we became, a bright third dimension that can be seen from space to meet the generations to come, to simulate the uncountable whimsies they could achieve.

The mind already knows before the key touches the lock.

To watch firefly swarms with a mangy mutt.

That must be quite a sight to see.

BECAUSE THEY EXIST

NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH.

[somedayillbepeterpan]

My laptop died on me (I guess, it didn’t like how many gifs I was trying to make) but good thing I was already in the process of buying a new one. I’m also currently in the middle of transitioning to a new job, and starting to play more music after work.

But my thoughts over Polin are non-stop. I still think about these dorks all the time

My brainrot has become manageable but S3 has become like those movies that are part of my soul (like Interstellar or Empire strikes back or Bridges to Madison County).

So, I still hope to put out these analyses:

The butterfly ball analysis— part 5 (the blocking and where Colin was when Pen was revealing herself as LW), Part 6 (the camera shots and which LW line was addressed to), part 7 (the metamorphosis of Colin and Pen— an emotional analysis), and part 8 (Conclusion and where we find everybody after this very powerful ball)

The running creative themes of Polin season

The progression of how Colin fell in love with Penelope

The book quotes complimenting the Polin scenes

And then hopefully also put out fanfics:

It started with a teasing glance (or how the yellow sheets ended up in Colin’s room)

Sunday teas at Bridgerton house

A double date fic inspired by Blake Lively and Ryan Reynold’s love story

And another version of my A Eulogy fanfic about Pen and Colin dying on the same day (from an interview that Nicola mentioned).

See how much these two invade my mind? Getting rid of my 2-year writer’s block meant a deluge of thoughts and I hope I can stop all the negativity I sometimes drown myself in so I can write all of this because it’s really helping me practice my writing and English (which is my 2nd language).

I’m forever here.

[adashofniallandasprinkleoflunacy]

What does alien an Harry think of Valentine’s Day?

He spends a whole day researching Valentine’s Day and when Y/N gets home, she’s fiddling with the keys to open the door when it suddenly unlocks and swings open on its own. Harry’s standing there, a bouquet of flowers tagged with a handwritten note in one hand, a huge tray of her favorite chocolates in the other, holding the gifts out like trophies as he smiles at her excitedly, though she can see nerves flicker across his face for a split second.

“Happy Day of Saint Valentine!”

She presses her lips together to suppress laughter, correcting him gently as she steps inside their apartment and shuts the door behind her. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“Right. Sorry.” His gaze darts between the presents he’d gotten her, suddenly more self-conscious than before. His words come out more rushed than he wants them to, spewing clumsily as his wits fail him for some reason, as if she’s not already his girlfriend. “Will you be my valentine? I got you some candy and the flowers with a letter. I mean, the note says what I just said outloud anyways, but that’s the human tradition, right? The letter? With the plants and the food? That’s what everyone was doing at the store, so I figured it was a safe option. The lady said roses were the most popular choice for— why are you laughing?”

Y/N can’t stop herself from bursting into giggles this time around— not in a mocking way, just a soft sound of endeared amusement. He’s now looking at the items in his grasp like grenades instead of trophies, extending them out from his body as far as possible in her direction, as if he’s scared she’ll reject them and they’ll explode in his face.

“Yes, that’s the tradition.” She accepts the flowers and Ferrero Rochers gratefully, admiring the cursive handwriting on the card that he’d clearly practiced just for this moment. She smiles up at him warmly, eyes brimming with fondness. “And absolutely, I’d love to be your valentine. This is so sweet of you, H. Thank you.”

Harry’s shoulders slump in obvious relief, one of his arms falling back to his side as he scratches the nape of his neck with the hand on the other. He’s still radiating anxious energy, as if waiting for her to tell him he did something wrong.

Y/N ducks her head and takes a whiff of the roses, humming appreciatively at the pleasant scent. She arches one of her eyebrows at him, her tone playfully accusatory. “I’m guessing you spent the whole day researching this, didn’t you?”

Harry’s ears turn as red as the bouquet in her hands. “No.”

Her eyebrow inches up further. “No?”

He sighs in surrender. “Maybe.”

“You’re adorable.”

His sculpted cheekbones blossom with color, matching his ears. “I just didn’t want to make a mistake and ruin it.”

Y/N leans forward onto the tips of her toes and plants a delicate kiss onto his twitching lips. “It’s perfect, baby. Best Valentine’s Day gift ever.”

Harry finally feels the churning in his stomach subside, her reassuring gesture funneling all the angst right out of his system. Adapting to human customs hasn’t exactly been a smooth transition for him— each time a new holiday comes up, his curiosity leads him into digging up every aspect of it, which could take him hours of concentration and memorization. It feels like learning to walk all over again.

It’s all so new and so foreign, it makes him question how much he actually knows about the universe. He can spew endless facts about countless stars, galaxies, and planets in the sky, he can build and operate technology beyond human comprehension, and he can speak a dozen interstellar languages from civilizations most people can’t fathom exist. The potential that he could have misunderstood a simple practice dedicated to celebrating love, which he knows from experience is a universal concept…

He’d never live down the embarrassment. He’s just happy he managed to get this one right without her assistance.

Y/N’s fingers sift between his own, squeezing his hand affectionately as she situates her gifts into the nook of her free arm. She tugs him away from the door, slowly backing towards the living room as she grins at him knowingly. “Why don’t you tell me what you learned?”

Harry’s legs move of their own accord, obeying her silent order. He follows her almost numbly, his body buzzing under her attention. He racks his brain for all the information he’d forced himself to absorb just for her, reciting it like a lecture.

“Valentine’s Day celebrates Saint Valentine, who was martyred by the Roman Empire.” He frowns as an afterthought. “Sad story.”

“Mm.” Y/N agrees, carefully sets her belongings down on the coffee table, pulling him towards the couch. “Go on.”

“Christian soldiers were forbidden from marrying as persecution on behalf of the emperor. Despite it being dangerous and illegal, Valentine ministered weddings for them in secret; he believed love was a right no one should be denied.”

Y/N allows herself to fall back onto the sofa, the action yanking Harry forward as a result. She parts her knees and he stumbles to a halt between them, towering over her with his own knees pressed against the edge of the cushions.

His girlfriend gazes up at him below thick lashes, her expression casual and innocent, but he’s familiar with her antics well enough to know her intentions are anything but.

She blinks up at him patiently, her palms gradually working their way up and down the front of his thighs, massaging them temptingly. “Anything else?”

Harry ogles down at her, his face hot and stomach jittery. He may struggle with reading human behavior, but they’ve been in this position so many times to the point where he can sense her objective clear as day.

“Um…” His tongue feels like lead in his mouth. “He…He was arrested for his crimes and eventually executed. During his time in prison, he fell in love with a woman who used to visit him in confinement— the jailor’s daughter, I think.”

“And?” Y/N’s lithe fingers begin toying with the knot in Harry’s sweatpants, undoing the little bow daintily just to tease him. “What happened between them?”

Harry swallows thickly, his own fingers fidgeting under her sultry influence. “Right before he was executed, he wrote her a love letter. He signed it off with, “From your Valentine.” It’s where the whole tradition of writing valentines originated. Once a year, humans honor his sacrifice by celebrating with the people they love.”

“You got everything.” She notes, easing the waistband of his joggers down a bite to expose the coarse trail of hair along his lower abdomen. She leans forward and presses a wet, lingering kiss along the tinted skin, smiling against it when she hears his breathing hitch. “Smart boy.”

“I try.” He croaks sarcastically, chewing along the inside of his cheek as he clenches his firsts, warding off the impulse to bury his fingers into her hair.

“I have a gift for you, too.” Y/N murmurs, dispensing more sloppy pecks across his clenching tummy, her pillowy lips leaving behind a trail of fire in their wake. “Been waiting to give it to you all day.”

Harry can’t help the way his head lulls backward in bliss, hanging from his strong, taut shoulders as his inhales grow ragged and shallow. His eyes flutter shut as he swims in the feathery sensation of her touch, his mouth parting in a silent groan as her caresses descend even lower.

“I thought we could go out to dinner. Do something nice, y’know?” Y/N studies the heavy bulge forming through his boxers, her eyes glinting with hunger. “But I didn’t expect to see you waiting for me with those flowers, all giddy and nervous…I think we can postpone dinner for a bit, just so I can show you how well you did— so I can thank you. Properly.”

A low, gurgled moan filters from Harry’s parched throat, and the way his nails are digging into his palms in barely contained desperation only amps Y/N’s need to pleasure him.

“Is that okay with you?” She asks with feigned sincerity, as if he’d deny it. She proceeds to mouth along the outline tenting his briefs, reveling in how it jolts under her tongue. “Or do you want to wait until after dinner?”

A sharp, damp gasp rips from Harry’s heaving chest, and he can’t contain himself any longer. His hands grab at Y/N without permission, his long fingers raking into the roots of her hair and holding her in a steely grasp, eliminating any possibility of her drawing back.

His hips buck forward in distress, his body craving the feel of her silky tongue and filthy mouth. He needs to feel the way she laps at him, with shameless determination and experienced skill— the way she uses her lips to dismantle him entirely, gripping the back of his thighs to keep him in place as her head bobs feverishly, eyes watery as the edges of her mouth curl into a dirty grin around his cock. Needs to feel the way she digs her nails into his plush skin as she sucks and licks at the tip tauntingly, tracing sopping kisses down the veins that protrude along his length. Needs to hear her words of encouragement as she edges him towards release, goading him into making a mess— begging him to fill her mouth and get it all over her face.

All of Harry’s thoughts collapse together to form a single statement, which he utters in a gravelly voice through gritted teeth: “Fuck me.”

Y/N’s gaze sparkles with mischief, her fingers hooking along the hem of his underwear but not pulling down quite yet. She wants to make him work for it. “What was that?”

The garbled whine that escapes her boyfriend is full of so much bottled strife, it sends warmth flooding between her parted thighs.

“Fuck me.” He pleads, his accent deep and tattered, his grip on her locks tightening until stars dance across her vision. His head swings forward in order to lock eyes with her, his thick brows furrowed in deprived torment.

Under his white NASA t-shirt (which she’d gotten him as a joke when he first arrived), the alien hieroglyphic tattoos etched across the expanse of his chest begin to glow faintly. “Please?”

Y/N can feel her mouth begin to water in anticipation, and she’s nodding her head fervently in agreement before she can get a single syllable out. “Whatever you want, H. You—”

Her voice is suddenly cut off by Harry’s palm wrapping around her throat, his strength besting her due to her startled state. The dynamic of their encounter completely shifts as he tilts her face back harshly, holding her steady as he glowers down at her with a newfound darkness in the jade of his irises, the surrounding white glowing vaguely like the scripture on his body.

From the moment they started dating, it’s no secret that Harry usually favors being more submissive to her; he prefers to let Y/N take the reins most nights, based solely off the fact that she knows more about sex than he does. That preference also coincides with his nature— he’s reserved, quiet, and tends to fluster easily. It makes sense that he prefers letting someone else show him the ropes.

But Y/N is aware that his compliance is exactly that— a mere preference, and preferences can change over time. He can be dominating when he wants to, and though it took a while for Harry to be comfortable enough to reveal that side of himself, it most definitely exists.

Over the months they’ve been together, Y/N has taught him practically everything she knows, and over the last few weeks, Harry’s been taking authority of their sex life more and more frequently. She’s always more than happy to let him have it; it creates a sort of balance between them she didn’t know was missing. Having control over him is fun, of course, but giving up control to him is even more exhilarating, considering it’s newer territory.

She loves it, to say the least, especially when it’s sudden and unexpected. Such as now.

Y/N struggles to keep her composure in her boyfriend’s unyielding grasp, but she can’t deny the frothing at the pit of her stomach. Seeing him seize ownership like that— seeing him live up to his broad frame, chiseled features, and low register— satisfies her beyond anything else.

Her fingers crumple the fabric under her hands, balling into fists to hide the way she’s trembling with desire.

Harry ducks down, brushing his warm lips across her heated cheeks, the pad of his index finger admiring the outline of her Cupid’s bow. When he speaks, it weighs in low and dense, the way a humid fog would prickle her skin.

“You want to thank me, is that it?”

Y/N nods to the best of her ability, worrying the inside of her cheek with her teeth the same way he had earlier.

“I’ll show you how.” He rumbles, tapping the crescent atop her mouth lightly for significance. “Tongue out.”

She obeys without hesitation, ungluing her chapped lips and sticking her tongue out as far as it will go. Her whole face stings at the prospect of what’s going to happen next.

Sure enough, Harry moves his vice grip from her jugular to her jaw, keeping her in place as he spits into her mouth roughly. She winces at the merciless action, but there’s a certain electricity behind her eyes that shows she’s thoroughly relishing it.

“That should help some, hm? It’ll give some slip, make things go smoother.” He coos mockingly, a nasty smirk shadowing his features. “Are you going to thank me for that, as well?”

Though he phrases it as a question, Y/N can read between the lines— in truth, it’s a command.

Her voice is a frayed whisper. “Yes.”

Harry’s brows quirk into an expectant expression. “Go on, then. Thank me.”

Her lashes shudder as she collects her bearings. “Thank you.”

Harry squeezes her face in entertained acceptance, dusting a soft kiss to her sweaty forehead, the action drastically contradicting his others. “Such a good girl.”

The whimper that claws out of her is borderline pitiful. If her ears hadn’t revealed that to her, the cruel simper on her boyfriend’s face surely would have.

“Now how about you show me what that pretty mouth can do, and then maybe after dinner, I’ll return the favor.”

[vvideasdesign]

Interstellar Transit Branding Project

[yanban-san]

if it's not a bother,

could you show some more artwork of yours?

-a person who loves others art🩵

Sure! I've been doing a few sketches of some Android-mas (Yandroids, courtesy of Stardust on Ro's Discord <3) over on Discord- I'll share em here though. ^^

Here's the first one, I got bored when I got the legs lol:

Here's the second attempt- I once again got bored when I got to the legs but not too much

I saw some art of Android Ingo and Emmet with screen display faces and tbh that's my absolute favorite kind of "face" for any robot character- LED screens are really fun and cute looking, imo.

Some Headcanons about the Android boys: ◮ These two are bio-electric androids, rather than straight up machines. They're half synthetic cellular construct, half AI-powered battle machine- And beloved by the public as unofficial heroes and mascots of Android tech. ◮ They are completely autonomous, and can function for years without maintenance- They are self repairing, self fueling, and they were also some of the first androids ever released before someone realized it was a bad idea to give your lethal autonomous AI bots the ability to self-sustain. ◮ They have two "cores" that power their bodies- A biological core, much like a "heart", that supplies their biological functions with fuel, and a power core that provides them with all the power they need for their mechanical functions- They can also use their power core to power other machinery, or give themselves a super-boost in combat if needed. The bio-core is a biological hazard and contains chemicals known to the town of Undella to cause not just regular cancer, but probably Super Android Cancer- Luckily no one's trying to eat them or rub their eyeballs on their hearts. Their power cores, on the other hand, are radiation hazards when exposed- And protected by thick metal and polymer plating to prevent leaks.

◮ They are battle Androids, designed to protect interstellar transit routes or regular passenger transit- Protecting passengers is how they ended up becoming heroes as people recorded their battles against rogue drones and other threats.

◮ They have nanobots- Innumerable armies of miniscule robots inside of them that repair any broken pieces, heal/repair/grow any synthetic cells, or even specialized attack bots that dissolve any foreign materials in their bodies- Or outside. They also come equipped with the ability to synthesize human/pokemon medic bots to stabilize any injured passengers- And they can control their nanobots, as well.

◮ Androids have an extremely long list of precepts and codes they have to follow- If they attempt to disobey their precepts, their bodies literally stop working. Most precepts were things along the lines of the Three Laws of Robotics, but more and more kept being added with various legal cases and lawsuits and eventually P.R cases and public safety. ◮ They have regulators that prevent their synthetic neurons and other biological functions from acting on any... organic urges they might have, despite their genetically engineered origins. Sure would be bad if those broke, wouldn't it?

◮ Their LCD screen displays can make various emoticons for them to convey their meanings- Ingo and Emmet also use their signature triangle smiles to help differentiate the two for maintenance crews and the public.

◮ Also! Forgot to add, their limbs aren't attached to their body normally- They can launch them like drones at targets or grapple things from afar, and they can pull themselves to their limbs if needed.

And finally, some emoticon displays:

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Galaxies are much much bigger than we thought

If this galaxy is typical, then the study, published today in Nature Astronomy, indicates that our galaxy is already interacting with its closest neighbour, Andromeda. 

Where does a galaxy end and deep space begin? It seems like a simple question until you look more closely at the gas that surrounds galaxies, known as the circumgalactic medium. 

The halo of gas surrounding the stellar disc accounts for about 70% of the mass of the galaxy – excluding dark matter – but until now has remained something of a mystery. In the past we have only been able to observe the gas by measuring the light from a background object, such as a quasar, that is absorbed by the gas.

That limits the picture of the cloud to a pencil-like beam.

A new study, however, has observed the circumgalactic medium of a star-bursting galaxy 270 million light years away, using new deep imaging techniques that were able to detect the cloud of gas glowing outside of the galaxy 100,000 light years into space, as far as they were able to look.

To envisage the vastness of that cloud of gas, consider that the galaxy’s starlight – what we would typically view as the disc – extends just 7,800 light years from its centre.

The current study observed the physical connection of hydrogen and oxygen from the centre of the galaxy far into space and showed that the physical conditions of the gas changed.

“We found it everywhere we looked, which was really exciting and kind of surprising,” says Associate Professor Nikole M. Nielsen, lead author of the paper, and a researcher with Swinburne University, and ASTRO 3D and an Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma.

Other authors of the paper came from Swinburne, the University of Texas at Austin, the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, the University of California, San Diego, and Durham University. 

“We’re now seeing where the galaxy's influence stops, the transition where it becomes part of more of what’s surrounding the galaxy, and, eventually, where it joins the wider cosmic web and other galaxies. These are all usually fuzzy boundaries,” says Dr Nielsen.

“But in this case, we seem to have found a fairly clear boundary in this galaxy between its interstellar medium and its circumgalactic medium.”

The study observed stars ionizing gas with their photons within the galaxy. 

“In the CGM, the gas is being heated by something other than typical conditions inside galaxies, this likely includes heating from the diffuse emissions from the collective galaxies in the Universe and possibly some contribution is due to shocks,” says Dr Nielsen.

“It's this interesting change that is important and provides some answers to the question of where a galaxy ends,” she says.

The discovery has been made possible thanks to the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI) on the 10-meter Keck telescope in Hawaii, which contains an integral field spectrograph and is one of the most sensitive instruments of its kind in operation. 

“These one-of-a-kind observations require the very dark sky that is only available at the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea,” said one of the paper’s authors, Swinburne’s Associate Professor Deanne Fisher.

ASTRO 3D scientists gained access to KCWI through Swinburne University.

“Swinburne’s Partnership with the W. M. Keck Observatory has allowed our team to really push the boundaries of what is possible,” says another author, Associate Professor Glenn Kacprzak. “KCWI has really changed the game on how we can now measure and quantify the diffuse gas around galaxies.”

Thanks to the instrument, rather than making a single observation providing a single spectrum of the gas in the galaxy, scientists can now obtain thousands of spectra simultaneously with one image from KCWI. 

“It is the very first time that we have been able to take a photograph of this halo of matter around a galaxy,” says Professor Emma Ryan-Weber, the Director of ASTRO 3D.

The study adds another piece to the puzzle that is one of the big questions in astronomy and galaxy evolution – how do galaxies evolve? How do they get their gas? How do they process that gas? Where does that gas go.

“The circumgalactic medium plays a huge role in that cycling of that gas,” says Dr Nielsen. “So, being able to understand what the CGM looks like around galaxies of different types – ones that are star-forming, those that are no longer star-forming, and those that are transitioning between the two –we can observe differences in this gas, which might drive the differences within the galaxies themselves, and changes in this reservoir may actually be driving the changes in the galaxy itself.”

The study speaks directly to the ASTRO 3D’s mission. “It helps us understand how galaxies build mass over time,” says Professor Ryan-Weber.

The findings could also hold implications for how different galaxies interact and how they might impact each other.

“It’s highly likely that the CGMs of our own Milky Way and Andromeda are already overlapping and interacting,” says Dr Nielsen.

[cuprohastes]

The Black Market

Space is big. I mean... really big. Like even bigger than a really big rock.

And boring.

But sometimes you get an encounter...

Boring is the worst part.

You can go into space and there's all sorts of cool stuff like the microgravity, the amazing view... and after a while it's just dark and the computer goes 'Boop' every quarter time unit, and this amazing experience collapses into the same space as e.g., being in a nursing home until someone tells you that you've arrived, and you can go look at cool stuff again.

Hence Interstellar Cruise Liners.

Space travel is still not cheap - even a run up and down a space elevator needs paying for, so you want to take as much cargo and paying passengers as possible.

With automated shipyards, you can just pour money and resources into building a truly huge passenger module, stack it on top of some cargo modules and clamp on as many drive units and crew modules as you need.

Load everyone in, let them ooh and ahhh at the view for a day then spin up a gateway and fire the whole thing into superluminal space and drop it out around any world you have a beacon for.

The really great thing is even if you lose the beacon in transit, you are a beacon. Just drop out and wait. Anything goes wrong, the home office can send a rescue ship after you.

In the meantime, there's the ship's amenities: The lush mossy jungle deck, the galactic beach, the games rooms, the dining groves, the on-board university - Even the theatre for live and recorded entertainment.

Still passengers like to have an experience, and so the Sunward Sail out of Ggxcha with seven hundred passengers dropped out of Superluminal space, the bow wave of exotic particles heating the backstop up to a glowing red.

The Sunward Sail dropped into a lazy orbit around an ancient planet, orbited by a big station trailing glittering wreckage - Obviously something dramatic had gone down here.

The lights were on though - So not a derelict station - and the docking was smooth, so the first set of tourists stepped onto the station, onto the Market deck.

So much to see! So much to do!

Madam Shi-shi's bakery run by a happy Tsin selling classic Tsin pastries, and exotic purple rolls with various filling and other goods.

The Top n' Charmed Quarks Bar with the scarred Atrix obviously a veteran of some war or calamity, serving exotic and colourful drinks:

"Dare you try the Human Menu?" she suggests, pulling it out. "Watch out, the Temple of Shir-li is banned in twelve systems..."

They even have a chance wheel!

Then there's Honest Gar's Genuine Human Antiquities, the wares spilling out from the shop in a riot of colours and patinas, where one can buy a genuine antique reproduction Victorian Empire TV, or a genuine Human Made Brown's Kitchen Imp that can tell you how to make a thousand and five human style recipes with a little sheet glass projection hologram of a human in glasses and red horns. So quaint!

And if you get to the end of the market, or one of the traders tips you off, you can find...

The Black Market

There's someone there, a weathered old... unless they were young... spacer, in a patched and scuffed EVA undersuit with 43 on the chest, who'll spin you unbelievable tales for a couple of creds dropped into the old cracked space helmet he keeps on the table next to him and if you ask, he'll let you in -

The back rooms are dark, rowdy, and full of the coolest stuff. There are lots of humans here, and there's an Atrix little guy, with a set of goggles, riding low on the belly of this Atrix Mech.

If you're lucky you can see one of the humans with some grudge square off agianst the little guy. He's surrounded by switches and levers, with a little pair of waldos.

The mech lurches to life, an angry display on its faceplace, growling in a rattling synthetic voice:

Combat mode! Engaged! Polaron Claws. Charging.

It's claws glowing white hot as it swings into motion, and the Human pulls a little cobbled together blaster out and takes a pot shot. The Mech lurches and sparks, warning lights flashing ominously...

Reactor. Overheat. Reactor. Overheat. Emergency. Venting.

The stricken mecha whirls, the little guy screaming in rage and flipping clunky archaic controls... And then when everything seems to be about to go wrong, the mech begins to spray clouds of vapour from it's vents and the alerts wind down, while the scurrilous human takes the opportunity to flee.

It's very dramatic.

And after that you can buy a souvenir arm patch of Cat Fantastic's Mecha with glow in the dark Polaron claws, before it's time to head back - Don't forget to pick up a packed lunch from Madame Shi-Shi's!

--

"Ugh." said Dave, "I don't mind the tourist run but it ruins my appetite" she muttered.

"You shouldn't snack on your own stock." says Big Ma, touching up Gondy's makeup.

Phalanges, helmet off, chin up and enjoying the cool air blower form the converted life support rig that they'd modded into the mecha grunts noncommittally.

"How are we doing boss?" Raxy asks, potting up souvenir Tsin fungus with Atrix moss and human basil.

O'Patel flashes an OK hand sign. "We are... hitting the funding goals. One more shift - This time it's for the bonus pay." he says with satisfaction and Big Ma looks around, checking everyone's ready as someone helps Cat Fantastic back into his cockpit basket and Gondy makes sure there's enough grenadine left.

"OK people... Showtime!"

[copperbadge]

Austinite in fundraising who found your blog through the AO3 nonprofit answer -- I'm horrified that Salt Lick is being touted as THE metro Austin bbq, enough that I had to send this to you because god forbid that's what people think. If you ever come back avoid it. Check out Interstellar BBQ, Leroy and Lewis, KG BBQ (Beard award semi-finalist!), Terry Black's (not Black's, they are different), or Distant Relatives.

This is very validating actually because every list I've ever seen of Good Barbecue By State or even Good Texas Barbecue lists Salt Lick and like....I've never been to their freestanding restaurant but the shit they sling and call food in ABIA is truly disgusting. Not even bad barbecue, it's bad food. It's up there near the top of my Worst Meals I've Eaten, right after the Subway sandwich I had in the New Orleans airport that convinced me never to eat Subway again.

Thanks for the list, and I'm sharing it around! My folks are outside of Austin now so I don't actually get to do much in the city anymore, but it's nice to have a good solid list in my back pocket.

I'm considering going to Austin without telling my parents, so that I can actually experience the city. I've really never done much in the city itself because my folks always lived in the burbs and I don't like to drive, so getting into the city involved either going with my folks, who bitched the whole time about the "traffic" and the "crowds" and would decide we were done after about an hour, or a two-hour-three-bus ordeal. I could not give less of a shit about live music, but especially in summer there's other stuff Austin has to offer, and if I stayed downtown I wouldn't need as much transit.

[ronqueesha]

I've been thinking about altering something about Sarit and her backstory for a while now.

I think I'm going to remove the idea she was born in the poorest slums of Neon. Instead, she spent her childhood in The Well, the dirty, impoverished and hazardous community underneath the shining capital of the United Colonies.

The Well isn't quite as corrupt and full of desperation as Neon's capitalist hellscape. But people still struggle to survive in the literal underbelly supporting the gleaming beacon of civilization above ground. Sarit would still grow up sickly due to the industrial pollution that fills the air of the filthy underground environment. Her only companion on those long years spent in bed coughing up blood would still be the second-hand terminal her parents managed to give her. So she could browse the Net and educate herself on a multitude of topics. From technological skills to gender.

I've just been thinking that if Sarit grew up on Neon, it creates too many unrealistic steps for her to grow up as an educated UC scientist. She would have to not only forge multiple false identities and break multiple laws even before starting her mad science spree, she would have to spend years evading two different interstellar governments. That just seems like a stretch, especially since she does eventually become a wanted person due to her illegal experiments with cybernetics.

But if Sarit was always a UC citizen, even if one of its poorest, she wouldn't need to use so many criminal methods to obtain her higher education, or even utilize UC healthcare for her transition. Those things would be totally legal, if difficult to obtain for someone from her disadvantaged background. Which would give her more time to spend in universities without constantly looking over her shoulder.

Also, the longer I've developed Sarit, the more I've forgotten that I chose the "Extrovert" trait for her. Ingame, it means she must have a companion (Andreja) in order to avoid penalties to her stats. But over time, I've accidentally started thinking of Sarit as this anti-social, introverted, loner of a person. When my original idea is that she's supposed to be a ray of sunshine who thrives around people.... she just also is obsessed with cutting off her own body parts in order to replace them with machinery.

She can still find her own body frail and insufficient due to her multiple illnesses and frailties while still enjoying other humans quite a lot. And this would also vibe better with the spicy headcanons I've posted on pillowfort. Sarit is kind of a freak in bed, not a wilting wallflower that recoils at the touch of another person. (spending her youth on the net is 100% the reason. and hey, with access to the UC's net, Sarit might have had access to way more debauched stuff than Freestar's net)

[clonerightsagenda]

Watched the first two episodes of HDM: The Golden Compass! Going to break these posts up bc I had many thoughts:

A bit perplexed by the text overlay at the start. Even if someone somehow came to this show without knowing anything about HDM, I think they can figure out that it's not in our world fairly quickly. (Tbh I am watching with my mom who only read the first book once a long time ago, but even she remembered that much.)

Prequel lore! At least I don't think The Golden Compass mentioned the floods. Yes I read it yesterday. No I don't remember. Don't look at me.

I like the intro! The boy and the girl silhouettes walking on opposing stairs… wonder if the boy is Will? Possibly a fakeout for non-readers to think it's Roger. The whole thing reminded me a bit of Interstellar also.

One of our first images of non-baby!Lyra is her scratching her name into a desk. Ouch. I respect it.

The scholars' emphasis on academic freedom hits different rn as someone working in higher ed in a red state lol. Help me

Now the TV show!Dust looks more appropriately ambiguously sinister!

The gyptians holding a settling ceremony makes a lot of sense. Lots of cultures have rituals acknowledging someone's transition into adulthood, of course that would happen in this world. It also indicates that they don't have the same hangups about maturation that the more 'mainstream' British culture does. I wonder if Latin American cultures do the equivalent of a quince when girls' daemons settle?

Asriel dumping Lyra on the bed the wrong way up with her shoes on the pillow after forgetting her in the cupboard for several hours….. establishing him as dad of the year right here.

Showing Billy Costa as the kid getting snatched makes sense to keep us tied to the gyptian storyline, but the book's first intro of Mrs. Coulter tricking Tony was so effective, I'm bummed that they didn't do that. Establishing character moment of all time

The presence of daemons in crowd shots is variable. That's fair though, everyone's special effects budget is limited. I imagine that's also why Pan has a few key forms, although most of them being mustelids sort of spoils his final form a bit. Iirc in the book Lyra had never seen him be a pine marten before, and he's done it several times already.

Speaking of daemons, Pan sounds like a young boy. Do daemon voices drop……

Shuffling the sequence of events makes it seem like Roger got abducted on purpose to get him out of the way. Rip to him if so

Finally, Lyra initially rejecting the alethiometer and claiming she "doesn't want secrets" seems a bit out of character for the kid who started the episode breaking into the retiring room.