#its just the way it is with our current constraints

[highfantasy-soul]

So with the news that Netflix has cancelled Shadow and Bone season 3 and the Six of Crows spinoff, I feel extra justified in supporting the changes made to the show, specifically the advancement of Kaz's revenge story and Wesper. (This also goes for the Wheel of Time show that I feel shares many similarities to the process of adaptation that S&B faces)

In this day and age, showrunners can't expect 7 seasons of 24 episodes anymore. They have to cram as much into the (shortened) seasons they do get as they possibly can - which is where I and so many others get the frustrating feeling that they aren't sitting in the moments as long as we want them to.

BUT, script writers are having to work within insanely small parameters which makes sprawling fantasy stories (specifically ones based on books and with heavy internal dialogue and a huge cast of characters spread out over the world) extremely difficult to tell without having to cut massive sections to streamline the story or fast track some things/make things much more obvious than is shown in the book (as the internal monologues take care of clearing up confusion in written media).

So the frustration with ending 'slow burn' romances in visual media, while objectively I agree that it sucks we don't get more time to explore the character's feelings for one another, I'd much rather have canon, on-screen Wesper than another 'queerbait' flirtation that those who haven't read the books could just interpret as two guys being pals. Both Jesper and Wylan are side characters to the side characters in the show - they just couldn't get as much time to develop their relationship as say, a show with only two main characters who are the slow burn romance.

I'm glad the Crows got their due in the show - I felt they were all so incredibly in-character even doing things that weren't in the books (as of course, the Crows weren't in the Shadow and Bone books at all) and I love that we got to see more of Matthias in prison and Kaz got his revenge on Pekka in a wonderfully book-accurate way.

People who want one-to-one on-screen adaptations with books seem to ignore the logistical factors showrunners face with their shortened episode counts and the threat of cancellation looming over just about every single first season a show gets now. (Honestly, it's a miracle that Wheel of Time got a 3 season deal to start with so the showrunners could plan out three full seasons to make their bid to keep going with the story as Shadow and Bone didn't even get that).

Should we demand better from companies like Netflix that continually cut budgets and axe shows despite their massive popularity so they can save money? Yeah, duh. But let's put our anger and frustration where it deserves: on the powers that be, not those who are desperately trying to write a meaningful story in those terrible conditions.

Kind of a huge part of the writer and actor strikes was against these practices that make it so difficult for artists to make a consistent living in conditions that can sustain art rather than just content. We've still got a ways to go, but in the mean time, I'm going to enjoy the work they are able to create and view it from a more grounded perspective, understanding that they have time, monetary, and casting constraints they've got to work within.

If you want slow burns, go to books where authors have an infinite number of pages they can stretch the romance out in and you get all the juicy inner dialogues. For now, slow burn anything isn't really possible in the visual media sphere - not ones that are guaranteed to come to fruition at least.

[reasonsforhope]

"It is 70 years since AT&T’s Bell Labs unveiled a new technology for turning sunlight into power. The phone company hoped it could replace the batteries that run equipment in out-of-the-way places. It also realised that powering devices with light alone showed how science could make the future seem wonderful; hence a press event at which sunshine kept a toy Ferris wheel spinning round and round.

Today solar power is long past the toy phase. Panels now occupy an area around half that of Wales, and this year they will provide the world with about 6% of its electricity—which is almost three times as much electrical energy as America consumed back in 1954. Yet this historic growth is only the second-most-remarkable thing about the rise of solar power. The most remarkable is that it is nowhere near over.

To call solar power’s rise exponential is not hyperbole, but a statement of fact. Installed solar capacity doubles roughly every three years, and so grows ten-fold each decade. Such sustained growth is seldom seen in anything that matters. That makes it hard for people to get their heads round what is going on. When it was a tenth of its current size ten years ago, solar power was still seen as marginal even by experts who knew how fast it had grown. The next ten-fold increase will be equivalent to multiplying the world’s entire fleet of nuclear reactors by eight in less than the time it typically takes to build just a single one of them.

Solar cells will in all likelihood be the single biggest source of electrical power on the planet by the mid 2030s. By the 2040s they may be the largest source not just of electricity but of all energy. On current trends, the all-in cost of the electricity they produce promises to be less than half as expensive as the cheapest available today. This will not stop climate change, but could slow it a lot faster. Much of the world—including Africa, where 600m people still cannot light their homes—will begin to feel energy-rich. That feeling will be a new and transformational one for humankind.

To grasp that this is not some environmentalist fever dream, consider solar economics. As the cumulative production of a manufactured good increases, costs go down. As costs go down, demand goes up. As demand goes up, production increases—and costs go down further. This cannot go on for ever; production, demand or both always become constrained. In earlier energy transitions—from wood to coal, coal to oil or oil to gas—the efficiency of extraction grew, but it was eventually offset by the cost of finding ever more fuel.

As our essay this week explains, solar power faces no such constraint. The resources needed to produce solar cells and plant them on solar farms are silicon-rich sand, sunny places and human ingenuity, all three of which are abundant. Making cells also takes energy, but solar power is fast making that abundant, too. As for demand, it is both huge and elastic—if you make electricity cheaper, people will find uses for it. The result is that, in contrast to earlier energy sources, solar power has routinely become cheaper and will continue to do so.

Other constraints do exist. Given people’s proclivity for living outside daylight hours, solar power needs to be complemented with storage and supplemented by other technologies. Heavy industry and aviation and freight have been hard to electrify. Fortunately, these problems may be solved as batteries and fuels created by electrolysis gradually become cheaper...

The aim should be for the virtuous circle of solar-power production to turn as fast as possible. That is because it offers the prize of cheaper energy. The benefits start with a boost to productivity. Anything that people use energy for today will cost less—and that includes pretty much everything. Then come the things cheap energy will make possible. People who could never afford to will start lighting their houses or driving a car. Cheap energy can purify water, and even desalinate it. It can drive the hungry machinery of artificial intelligence. It can make billions of homes and offices more bearable in summers that will, for decades to come, be getting hotter.

But it is the things that nobody has yet thought of that will be most consequential. In its radical abundance, cheaper energy will free the imagination, setting tiny Ferris wheels of the mind spinning with excitement and new possibilities.

This week marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. The Sun rising to its highest point in the sky will in decades to come shine down on a world where nobody need go without the blessings of electricity and where the access to energy invigorates all those it touches."

-via The Economist, June 20, 2024

[mywitchyblog]

Why Having Multiple Significant Others in Different Realities Isn’t Cheating

Reality shifting, a concept rooted in the idea of moving one's consciousness between different realities or dimensions, has garnered significant attention in recent years. As individuals explore these alternate realities, questions arise about the implications of forming relationships across these different worlds.

In our conventional understanding, fidelity and commitment are core values in romantic relationships, often defined by exclusivity within a single reality. However, when relationships exist in multiple, independent realities, the traditional boundaries of what constitutes "cheating" may no longer apply.

This essay seeks to explore why having multiple significant others in different realities should not be considered cheating, by examining the nature of relationships across parallel dimensions and redefining ethical considerations in this unique context.

Masterlist :

Part 1: Understanding Reality Shifting and Its Implications on Relationships

1.1: Defining Reality Shifting and Its Context

Reality shifting, though once relegated to the realms of science fiction, has increasingly become a topic of interest among those exploring consciousness and the nature of existence. At its core, reality shifting refers to the practice of intentionally moving one's consciousness/awareness from the current reality to an alternate one. These alternate realities are often perceived as parallel universes or dimensions, each with its own set of rules, circumstances, and inhabitants. Unlike lucid dreaming, where the dreamer is aware of the dream state, reality shifting involves fully immersing oneself in a different reality, where the experiences feel just as vivid and authentic as those in the current reality.

The concept of multiple realities plays a crucial role in understanding reality shifting. According to this idea, there are countless realities, each existing simultaneously but independently of the others. These realities are often described as parallel worlds where different versions of ourselves might live entirely different lives. The choices and events in one reality do not affect or interfere with those in another, making each reality self-contained and distinct. This multiplicity of realities forms the foundation upon which reality shifting operates, offering individuals the opportunity to explore various versions of their lives in different dimensions.

1.2: The Nature of Relationships in Multiple Realities

In a single reality, relationships are typically understood as exclusive and monogamous, based on the shared experiences and commitments between individuals. These relationships are bound by the constraints of the reality they exist in, with societal norms and ethical considerations guiding behavior. Commitment, trust, and fidelity are often seen as cornerstones of a successful relationship, with any deviation from these principles considered a breach of trust or "cheating."

However, when relationships are considered across multiple realities, the dynamics change significantly. Each reality operates independently, meaning that the experiences, relationships, and commitments in one reality do not overlap or influence those in another. For example, a person might be in a committed relationship in one reality, while simultaneously being in a different relationship in another. Since these realities do not intersect, each relationship is valid and complete within its own context, without infringing upon the other.

This separation of realities introduces a new way of understanding relationships. Rather than being bound by the exclusivity required in a single reality, individuals can form multiple significant relationships across different realities, each fulfilling different aspects of their emotional and psychological needs. In this context, the conventional definitions of commitment and fidelity may no longer apply in the same way, as each relationship exists in a distinct and non-overlapping realm. This understanding lays the groundwork for reevaluating the ethical considerations of having multiple significant others in different realities, which will be explored further in the following sections.

Part 2: Ethical Considerations of Having Multiple Significant Others in Different Realities

2.1: The Ethics of Commitment and Fidelity Across Realities

In the context of a single reality, commitment and fidelity are deeply ingrained in the concept of romantic relationships. These principles are guided by societal norms that emphasize exclusivity as a key component of a committed partnership. Cheating, in this context, is defined as a breach of trust where one partner engages in an intimate relationship with someone outside the committed relationship without the other partner's consent. This violation is considered a betrayal because it undermines the mutual understanding and promises that define the relationship.

However, when we consider relationships across multiple realities, the traditional views on fidelity require reexamination. In a multiverse where each reality is self-contained and operates independently, the ethical framework for commitment might shift. Since the realities do not interact or influence each other, the emotional and physical experiences within them are isolated. Therefore, the exclusivity demanded in a single reality may not be applicable when a person is navigating relationships in different realities.

Redefining fidelity in this context involves acknowledging that each reality represents a separate existence with its own unique set of experiences and commitments. A person who has significant others in different realities is not violating the principles of fidelity as traditionally understood, because the relationships exist in entirely separate contexts. Each relationship is authentic and genuine within its own reality, and there is no overlap or conflict between them. As such, the ethical boundaries that govern relationships in a single reality may not be sufficient to address the complexities introduced by reality shifting.

2.2: Why Having Multiple Significant Others Isn’t Cheating

To understand why having multiple significant others across different realities is not cheating, it is essential to revisit the definition of cheating itself. In a single reality, cheating involves deceit, betrayal, and the breaking of agreed-upon boundaries within a relationship. The act of cheating is harmful because it damages the trust that underpins the relationship and causes emotional pain to the betrayed partner.

In the context of multiple realities, however, these elements of deceit and betrayal are absent. Each reality exists independently, with no awareness or influence on the other realities. The relationships in these different realities do not intersect or interfere with each other, meaning that there is no deceit or hidden behavior involved. Each relationship is conducted openly and honestly within its own reality, and the individuals involved are fully committed within the context of that reality.

Moreover, the non-overlap of realities means that the emotional and physical experiences in one reality do not affect those in another. This separation ensures that the ethical considerations that would typically define cheating in a single reality do not apply. The absence of harm, deceit, and betrayal in the context of multiple realities suggests that having significant others in different dimensions does not constitute cheating.

An important aspect to consider is that when shifting between realities, you are not abandoning or leaving a significant other in one reality when you shift to another. This is because you continue to exist in the reality you leave behind, with your consciousness simply shifting focus to a different dimension. Your relationship in the original reality remains intact, and the version of you that stays behind continues to live and engage in that relationship. In essence, the version of you in each reality remains committed to the significant other in that particular reality, without being aware of the relationships in the others.

This concept challenges the notion of cheating because it highlights that no relationship is being neglected or abandoned; rather, each relationship is fully maintained within its own reality. The individual is not consciously aware of the other relationships while engaged in one, and therefore, the ethical breach associated with cheating does not occur. Each reality is a complete, self-contained existence where the relationships are genuine and unimpacted by the others.

Additionally, personal autonomy plays a critical role in navigating relationships across different realities. Reality shifting allows individuals to explore various aspects of their identities and desires in ways that would not be possible within a single reality. This exploration is a form of self-discovery and fulfillment that respects the independence of each reality. The ethical boundaries are thus shaped by the understanding that each relationship is valid and complete within its own context, without diminishing or violating the commitments made in other realities.

In conclusion, the concept of cheating is inherently tied to the idea of betrayal within a single, shared reality. However, when relationships are spread across multiple, independent realities, the ethical framework shifts. The non-overlapping nature of these realities ensures that having multiple significant others does not violate the principles of fidelity or commitment. Instead, it represents a broader understanding of relationships and personal autonomy in the context of reality shifting, where each relationship is fully authentic and legitimate within its own distinct dimension.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the concept of reality shifting challenges our traditional views on relationships, fidelity, and commitment. When relationships are formed in multiple realities, each existing independently without intersection, the ethical boundaries that define cheating in a single reality become blurred. Since these relationships do not overlap and are confined to their respective dimensions, having multiple significant others across different realities does not equate to cheating. Instead, it reflects a broader understanding of personal autonomy and the complex nature of relationships in a multiverse. As our comprehension of reality expands, so too must our ethical frameworks, allowing for the recognition of diverse forms of relationships that transcend the limitations of a single reality.

[myfriendpokey]

tunnel notes

i wrote some extra little notes and thoughts for the bonus tunnels in anthology of the killer, and then removed them before release; i didn't like the prescriptive feeling of leaving that stuff in the "final package" as if it was something people should feel obligated to engage with. but as of today it's been 30 days since the loader came out, so i figured i'd dump some of them online, for the benefit of whoever is interested in these things.

History: HISTORY IS A NIGHTMARE FROM WHICH I AM TRYING TO AWAKE is one of many famous zingers given to Stephen in Ulysses and I’ve always wondered if it’s especially Irish as a sentiment, Ireland sort of feeling like the “Oops! All Peasants” edition of European history as a whole – same misery, exploitation and death minus the occasional episodes of feudal colour or triumphant empire-building that seem to make the past tolerable for other people, and give them their own sense of demarcated time. But then I’ve never been much good on Irish history, which has always just felt like an interminable, indistinguishable series of massacres and betrayals and missed shots. Was I not paying attention or was this how it was taught in school? Well, it would have fit the style at the time – I was born in 1989, smack at the start of the famous end of history era. The 90s in Ireland meant the peace process and infusion of American capital to our backwards shores, all the more reason to cosign the idea of an abrupt and permanent break with a history notably lacking in the non-depressing or picturesque. All our history textbooks seemed to trail off at the point we’d joined the EEA. And even as this new modernity just started seeming like the monstrous antiquity dressed up in different clothes – hooded prisoners transported to torture sites through Shannon airport, our patchy social infrastructure dismantled by burghers, ghost estates and half-completed monuments scattered around like the ruin theory of value with more leprechaun imagery – there was still a sense that any change was off the table. You didn’t want to drag us back into history, did you? History seemed to have “ended” in the same sense Freddy Krueger did – done away with in ways that none of the grown-ups ever wanted to talk about, and now officially a non-presence, even if all the kids in town were mysteriously disappearing.

--

Art: One reason I wanted to do an episodic series is just to see what would turn up, if any recurring interests would build despite a minimum of planning. One of the themes turned out to be, “art” – or specifically modernist art – and I am curious about why that would be. A recurring tendency in modernism was the idea that only by destroying the world as it currently existed could we clear space for anything better to emerge. Under the cobblestones, the beach! But this was always attended by a kind of fear: that clearing away the old structures would just allow something even worse to emerge, unmasked. Under the cobblestones, more corpses! And that the bleakest tendencies of the period would now run free without even the emptiest symbolic constraints to chafe against. Max Ernst’s painting of the fascist victory in Spain, of a huge, grinning oaf rampaging over the landscape like a kaiju while a miserable birdlike figure remains haplessly grafted to its leg – is titled both “The Angel Of Hearth And Home” and “The Triumph Of Surrealism”. As if to suggest that these are each the same thing, as though a cause of creative liberation worth devoting your life to and an empty cliché of domestic repression had so little light between them as to not even be worth the effort of distinguishing.

Part of the reason works like that make their way into the games in little ways is because I just like them, and go back to thinking about them. But the status of modernism in the 21st century is an odd one; the most tentative and inventive parts got dropped, while the brashest and stupidest aspects curdled into a kind of official state ideology – the idea of “creative destruction”, which just seems to mean a vague sense that it’s punk rock to create ridesharing apps. The monkey’s paw curled and the emptiest version of the modernist credo became something we all have to live with.. and yet I still can’t help but be moved by the source works and the goofy, ridiculous temerity of that wish to transfigure the world. sometimes it feels like only way to keep faith with those ideas is to travesty them, to try returning to them some of that sense of fear and doubt without which they just sound like so many web design agency manifestos. Kept alive in the breast of so many grimacing waxworks, underground.

Another reason to put this stuff in a horror game: to try getting at that feeling in a dream of looking in the eyes of people you know, people you love, and seeing nothing there anymore, seeing them look right past you. An earlier horror game idea I used to think about would have ended with the protagonist being dismembered and eaten by Gertrude Stein.

--

The moral: I’ve seen people express a sense, now, that merely working in the negative is not enough; to just outline what’s bad without also trying to give a vision of the good, some glimpsed utopia to shoot for. For the benefit of these people here is an epilogue. Imagine it’s the future and the long nightmare of prehistory is over; history proper unfolds as the full expression of human powers unhindered by material subjugation. Some students are given an assignment by a professor to investigate the meaning of a term that no longer exists, the meaning of horror. Well, the students do their best: they watch lots of old movies, put on rubber masks, comb through old fragments of the world that was. They’re enjoying themselves and that enjoyment warps the process, they keep drifting into pleasure, unsure what’s meant to be funny and what’s not. They get lost, get confused, lose the thread, famous faces appear under the wrong names, espousing things that are the opposite of whatever they believed. In the end they all have to admit defeat: they hand in their assignment with a note saying that in the new world, we can’t even imagine what horror may have been. The professor reads their findings, nods, and gives them all an F. No moral.

[image source: James Ensor, "The Intrigue"]

[unsoundedcomic]

Oh good jebus, where did that nipple thorn poke Sette? Subversive horror to all those mommy milkers suckler fans out there. It's like she makes the defining characteristic of mammals that is meant for nurture into something that can murder. Does bird lady hate human reproduction that much? Or is it just something that is part of her design that she appreciates?

I think... one can look at Lady Ilganyag - and all the senet beasts, in some way - as attempts by a third party to reverse engineer humans. If utterly alien gods saw Homo sapiens and all their baffling physical characteristics and behaviours, and then wanted to grow their own, they might use a test bed of senet constructs to first try and work out the human concepts they'd recorded in their notes.

Unfathomably long millennia later, some of those senet beasts still exist. Measured against the successfully grown humans, how nightmarish and wrong they do indeed appear.

But the initial, only partially understood concepts are still there within them, unrealised and painfully unsuccessful. For all their power, the senet beasts are pretty tragic things. Lady Ilganyag is a primo example of this. She's a maternal creature who was not properly designed to be a mother. She was built for a function she can only superficially perform, often doing more harm than good in her effort to ape a role her designer only had a vague understanding of. Like a Tesla cybertruck.

Lady Ilganyag doesn't appreciate or not appreciate her design. It's simply what she is. She has to act within its constraints, and according to the inscrutable perspective from which she observes current reality. We might interpret her behaviours according to our human standards - by, for instance, presuming she hates reproduction - but that might not be her perspective on the matter at all.

[dedalvs]

My apologies, what I meant is that most of your languages are made for fantastic, fantasy worlds, as opposed to a fictional culture on Earth. If you're creating a language for a culture set on Earth, you'd probably incorporate features that tie it to a real language, am I correct?

I think you still may be misunderstanding what the key questions are and how they factor into language creation. There are two questions:

Is this language supposed to be descended from an existing language (or set of languages) on Earth?

Is this language spoken by creatures that are identical to humans in all the ways that play a crucial role in language use, comprehensijon, and transmission?

These are the only relevant questions. Notice I didn't say anything about where the languages are spoken. That bit is irrelevant. Language has its own geography and it's the only geography that matters when it comes to a posteriori language construction.

For example, looking at Dothraki, the answer to (1) is no, and the answer to (2) is yes. For that reason, Dothraki should be a language that looks entirely ordinary, in terms of how it stacks up with languages spoken currently on Earth, but its vocabulary and grammar shouldn't be directly related to any language on the planet. How could it be, if our planet doesn't exist in that universe? But since Dothraki are completely ordinary human beings their language should be a compeltely ordinary human language.

If you look at the aliens District 9, the answers to both (1) and (2) are no, despite the fact that the movie takes place in South Africa. And, in fact, you see some very interesting linguistic phenomena in that movie, where you have two species that understand but cannot use each other's languages. Its setting, though, doesn't mean that the alien language should be influenced by Afrikaans in any important way, though. It may have "borrowings", but even those would be strange (calques, most likely), since the aliens can't actually make human sounds—the same way the humans wouldn't have "borrowings" from the alien language.

On the other hand, if you look at Trigedasleng, the answers to both (1) and (2) are yes. But the suggestion you seem to be making is that I might kind of haphazardly "borrow" features from an existing language into a language that I'm nevertheless creating from scratch. That wouldn't make sense. Trigedasleng is simply an evolved form of American English with some specific constraints (some quite unrealistic, due to the scifi setting) placed on the evolution. I didn't "incorporate" features from American English: it IS American English, through and through, evolved in a way that makes sense for the setting.

There are certainly a posteriori conlangs where the creator approaches the creation of the language by saying, "I took the initial consonant mutation of Irish and combined it with the triconsonantal root system of Arabic and added the Turkish plural suffix (with vowel harmony) and added the accusative from Esperanto", and the like. This is one of the hallmarks of an amateur conlanger. Not even a creole language in the real world does this. Creole languages draw influences from many different languages, but the resulting system can't be divided up neatly into different linguistic sources. Furthermore, the result is a coherent system that doesn't look like any of the sources. Tok Pisin gets a lot of its vocabulary and grammar from English, but also gets vocabulary from German and other languages that were native to the region. When listening to the language, though, it's not like it sounds like English, then it suddenly sounds like German for a word, then it sounds like a Papuan language, then back to English: the whole thing sounds like Tok Pisin. It's a seamless, coherent system—just like any language, since all languages on Earth have borrowings and features from other languages.

Also, minor nitpick: "real" language doesn't make sense. We say natural language vs. constructed languages. Both are equally real, in that neither has any kind of material existence. A constructed language is a real language with a fake history.

Does this make sense?

[talonabraxas]

Full Super Blue Sturgeon Moon in Aquarius

August’s Full Supermoon is not just any full moon—it’s the second Supermoon in a row, lighting up the sky in Aquarius on the 19th. Adding to its potency, this is also a Blue Moon, the third of four full moons this season—a rare occurrence that intensifies the lunar energy. As the last Supermoon before we head into Eclipse Season, this moon brings profound shifts in energy, both personally and for the collective, setting the stage for significant transitions as we move into the latter half of the year. Full Moons are already known for heightening emotions and revealing hidden truths, but the Supermoon effect amplifies everything, making the energies more intense and the insights more urgent.

Globally and spiritually, we’re navigating a time of profound transformation, and the energy of Aquarius aligns seamlessly with these shifts. Aquarius challenges us to break free from outdated norms, encouraging innovation and the embrace of change. As the collective consciousness expands, there’s a growing awareness of our global interconnectedness, the urgency of social responsibility, and the need for systemic change. However, these transformations require a shift in consciousness—a move from what’s plausible to what’s possible. Aquarius pushes us beyond the constraints of our current understanding and into the realm of imagination and potential. This is a time to envision what could be, rather than just accepting what is.

But as we navigate these changes, it’s crucial to remain discerning and cautious. The allure of easy answers and charismatic leaders promising hope can be tempting, but remember that those who benefit most from keeping the collective complacent, divided, and easily manipulated are often the ones with their own power and interests at heart. Now, more than ever, with the combined energies of Leo and Aquarius, it’s a powerful time to stand firm in your convictions. However, make sure those convictions truly reflect your own beliefs, not just what’s been spoon-fed to you by social media, ideologues, or those in power. Real change doesn’t come from blindly following; it comes from personal responsibility, honest self-reflection, and the willingness to do the hard work of challenging both ourselves and the status quo. In this moment of profound transition, let’s ensure that our actions and beliefs are authentically our own, rooted in truth and a genuine desire for collective growth and well-being.

This Full Moon reflects these themes, urging us to examine our roles within the larger community and consider how we can contribute to a more equitable, sustainable world. Aquarius, often linked with humanitarianism, technology, and progressive thought, makes this Full Moon a powerful catalyst for those looking to make a positive impact. It calls on us to challenge the status quo, open ourselves to new ideas, and embrace ways of thinking that lead to greater freedom and equality for all.

As I’m sure many of you are already aware and feeling it, we are in a massive transitional time and have been for some time. We’re just really ramping up, which is why everything feels both more intense and weirdly liminal, because we’re in the thick of it all. Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, the planet of sudden changes and revolutionary energy, thrives on breaking away from tradition and challenging the status quo. Under this Full Moon, you may feel a strong urge to question the structures and routines in your life that no longer serve you. This is a time for reevaluation and reformation, whether it’s in your personal life, career, or broader societal norms. The energy of Uranus can be unsettling, shaking us out of our comfort zones and pushing us toward greater freedom and innovation. This is a moon that doesn’t just illuminate—it disrupts, urging us to think differently and embrace new ways of being.

The asteroid Vesta, associated with home, hearth, and inner sacred space, also plays a role during this Full Moon. Vesta’s presence encourages a balance between the external, revolutionary energy of Aquarius and the internal need for warmth, stability, and self-care. While Aquarius pushes us to look outward and think globally, Vesta gently nudges us to turn inward, to tend to our inner world, and to find peace and stability within ourselves, even amidst external chaos.

Spiritually, this Supermoon invites us to release control and go with the flow. Life rarely adheres to our meticulously laid plans, and this Full Moon is a reminder that sometimes the most meaningful experiences come from unexpected changes. Instead of resisting the shifts, this is a time to welcome them, trusting that they’re guiding you toward a more authentic and fulfilling path, even if the destination is not yet clear. As the light of this Supermoon illuminates the sky, it’s likely to bring clarity to situations that have been confusing or unclear. Full Moons often reveal what has been hidden, and in the innovative and forward-thinking sign of Aquarius, this could mean sudden insights or truths that challenge your previous understanding. These revelations, whether surprising or confirming what you’ve long suspected, are pushing you toward a more liberated and authentic way of living.

This Full Moon also sets the stage for the upcoming fall season, marking a transitional period as we move from the outward energy of summer into the more reflective, harvest-oriented energy of Autumn. The insights and changes brought by this Aquarius Full Moon are not just fleeting moments but are seeds being planted for deeper work that will unfold as we move toward the end of the year. The timing of this Full Moon, occurring during Leo season just before the Sun shifts into Virgo, brings a unique blend of energies. Leo’s vibrant, creative influence is still strong, urging us to express ourselves boldly and seek recognition. But as Virgo season approaches, there’s a shift toward practicality, organization, and service. This transition encourages us to take the innovative ideas sparked by the Aquarius Full Moon and start considering how to ground them, turning visionary ideas into tangible reality as Virgo’s energy begins to influence us.

As you look up at the Supermoon this August, let it inspire you to embrace change, trust the process, and move forward with a sense of curiosity and openness. It’s a time to break free from what’s holding you back and to step into the future with both courage and excitement. Aquarius teaches us that progress often requires a leap into the unknown—and that’s where true magic happens. -The Paganista

Blue Supermoon Moon in Aquarius by Talon Abraxas

[pichongames]

It's time for a new DEV UPDATE! [February 2024]

Let's talk about the upcoming Nintendo Switch port, localization, plushies, and new content coming soon?

It's time for a new development update, we've been working on a lot of stuff behind the scenes so let's talk about some of it, shall we?

The Bunny Graveyard is coming to Nintendo Switch!

If you didn't know already, The Bunny Graveyard is on its way to Nintendo Switch. But this port will not just be any normal port, the game will receive some enhancements and changes both visually and gameplay-wise. Including motion-controls, HD vibration and more!

But do not worry PC users, even though some gameplay features will be exclusive to Switch, any content updates, improvements and future chapters will be released at the same time on all platforms.

More languages!

The Bunny Graveyard: Chapter 1 is currently being translated to more languages, some of these are:

Brazilian Portuguese

French

Russian

Japanese

Simplified Chinese

Korean

...and more!

Boxers Plushie!

You probably heard of this already, but yes! Boxers got himself his very own plushie, which is still available at the time of this writing, however, this is a limited edition plushie so make sure to grab one before they're gone. As of right now, there's still 8 days left, so think about it! You guys absolutely CRUSHED that funding goal by the way, 450 sold so far!

We're definitely making another one... hehe.

This is also our first piece of merchandise and we're open to do more merch stuff in the future! But for now we'll only be choosing things that don't slow us down during development. So, if you got any requests for merch, let us know and we'll look into it!

NEW free content is coming this year...

We are working on a new secret project for the game, it will be released as a free content update at the same time as the Nintendo Switch release. It's a small thing that we wanted to make for a while now, but never got the chance to do due to time constraints. Think of it as the next "4-1-1992" for now.

We'll be releasing a separate trailer for this soon, so stay tuned!

So... how's Chapter 2?

Finally, let's have a quick talk about Chapter 2.

We are still not ready to fully reveal Chapter 2, buuuut we can tell you a little bit about it. It is the most ambitious project we have ever done, we expect it to be about the same length as Chapter 1, but despite the length, this chapter has proven to be quite a challenge to develop... but you know us, we love ourselves a challenge!

The story has been fully written, the gameplay has been finalized, but there's still quite a lot of programming to go, and don't get me started on all the music and animations left. Oh, did I also mention that this chapter will be releasing at the same time on Nintendo Switch and PC? And that it will also release in multiple languages? And that I'm still working on this game mostly by myself?

Yeah, things are not the same as they were back when I was making Chapter 1, The Bunny Graveyard is no longer just a silly lil' indie game, but that's exactly what makes it fun. I seriously can't wait to show you guys what we've been working on, this chapter is going to blow you away. Expect a trailer sometime this year.

You can add Chapter 2 to your Steam wishlist now!

Final Thoughts!

2024 is looking like an awesome year for this game, I'm hoping that this year we can get more people to know about this game. I'm extremely thankful for all of the support that we've been getting lately, it's crazy that I can now FINALLY focus on this game full-time, something that I've been trying to do for a long time now. I'm still processing the fact that this game is coming to the Switch, but it really is! Truly a dream come true. If you got any questions, ask in the comments and I'll try to answer as many as I can! And as always, thank you all!

[anim-ttrpgs]

The Review Copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

Guess what is coming soon at the time of writing this? The review copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy!

This represents the first official pre-release release of a version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy that doesn’t look like an unformatted mess!

Don’t get me wrong, the version of Eureka you get for just $5 on our patreon is plenty readable, but in its current unformatted state the page count is hugely bloated, there’s a lot of blank space, and the flavor text is all just shoved under the body text with notes denoting it as such. Plus, it’s all just black text on a white background without much in the way of aesthetic besides the occasional snoop to break things up.

Well not anymore! The copy we are going to be sending to reviewers and rpg news outlets is going to be a test-run of our actual intended aesthetic for the finalized rulebook, that of a bunch of conspiracy and investigation notes pinned to a corkboard with red string connecting them!

(The text within the images you’re seeing here is slightly outdated because these are just mock-ups, the text in the actual review copy will be much cleaner thanks to some excellent copy-editing help we have been getting.)

Due to time constraints and being behind on deadlines, plus not having the Kickstarter money to pay for additional art yet, this version will not showcase the full scope of the intended aesthetic, but it will at least give you a pretty good idea of what we’re going for.

The final version is going to have a wider variety in the paper scraps so as to more efficiently use the space available, plus a bunch of different “styles” for the side text, which will help denote whether it is a rules clarification, an example, a bit of flavor text, etc—plus a whole Kickstarter campaign worth of art from theblackwarden, qsy, and chaospyromancy! The Kickstarter campaign is launching April 10th, 2024, and we are going to need about $3,000 to meet our base goal and $33,000 to meet all of our many stretch goals, so if you want a more stylish and artistic rulebook, please give what you can to our Kickstarter campaign in April!

We are gonna be sending this version of the rulebook to tons and tons of TTRPG personalities and news outlets within the next couple of weeks in hopes of an honest review or two that will help get Eureka on people's radar beyond the modest following we have here on Tumblr. If you are one such personality or news outlet, and you want to recieve access to the free review copy to read and write about, please do not hesitate to contact us, even if you only have a very small following! You can find our contact info on out website or just contact us right here on tumblr!

Check out our Kickstarter page for the best accumulation of info on what Eureka: investigative Urban Fantasy even is! The Kickstarter campaign launches April 10th 2024!

Check out our Patreon to get the whole prerelease rulebook + multiple adventure modules and pieces of short fiction for a subscription of only $5!

If you wanna try before you buy, check out our website for more information on Eureka as well as a download link to the free demo version!

Interested in actually playing this game, and many others, with the developers? Check out A.N.I.M.'s TTRPG Book Club, a club of nearly 100 members at the time of writing this where we regularly nominate, vote on, and then play indie TTRPGs! At the time of writing this, we are playing Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, and sign-ups are closed for actually playing it, but you can still join in to pick up a PDF club copy of the rulebook to read and follow along with discussion, and sit in on and observe sessions! There is no schedule obligation for joining this club, as we keep things very flexible by assigning multiple GMs with different timeslots each round, to try and accomodate everyone! This round, we had over thirty people sign up, and were able to fit in all but one! Here is the invite link! See you there!

[firstmate-sailor]

▪ »  𝖓𝖊𝖛𝖊𝖗 𝖑𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖉 𝖍𝖔𝖜 𝖙𝖔 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙 𝖈𝖆𝖚𝖘𝖊 𝖎'𝖒 𝖓𝖚𝖒𝖇𝖊𝖗 𝖔𝖓𝖊

Ah, the thrill of it ! The salty breeze, the creaking wood beneath my boots, the vast expanse of open sea. This is where I belong, not confined to the decrepit Isle of the Lost or the preppy halls of Auradon Prep. I, Harry Hook, son of the infamous Captain Hook, was born to sail the high seas, not to be shackled by the limitations of rules and boundaries. The plan was simple, but effective. A moonless night provided the perfect cover. The guards at the docks, lazy and inattentive, were no match for my cunning. Silently, I slipped through the shadows, my heart pounding with anticipation. I could hear the distant laughter of my crew, the only family I needed. Gil and the others would be proud once I returned with the spoils of our daring adventure. Stealing the boat was almost too easy. I chose a sleek, agile vessel, one that could outrun any pursuers. As I untied the mooring ropes, the boat seemed to come alive under my touch, eager to be free of its constraints. With a final glance over my shoulder to ensure I was unseen, I pushed off, letting the current carry me away from the dock. The sea was my mistress, and she welcomed me back with open arms.

 The open sea was a promise of endless possibilities, and I intended to seize every one of them. This was just the beginning. With every wave that rocked the boat, I felt more alive, more in control of my destiny. The sea was mine to conquer, and nothing would stand in my way. For I am Harry Hook, and the ocean is my playground.

Harry is cocky, sneaky and always ready to fight someone. He prides himself on being wild and unpredictable, off-kilter and a little mad. His only disappointment is the fact that he has to carry a hook as a weapon with his hands rather than possessing one instead of a hand. Behind his mask of sarcasm, he is very possessive and controlling to the people he loves, which is a very short list. Harry is described as a good-looking, tall and musclear man with messy dark hair and bright blue eyes that smoothly goes with his porcelain skin and high cheekbones.

— Harry Hook; son of Captain Hook full-time Pirate, part-time heartbreaker with a british accent. ▪ » available for adventure, romance, fantasy or non-fantasy plays. I mean boats exist everywhere, right?! — as long as we go wild, I'm down.

[strawberry-halla]

dragon age: the veilguard - a review: part one - the setting & reality

hello everyone! this is the first part of a multi-part review of dragon age: the veilguard.

disclaimer! i am not a professional reviewer, i am just another fan that thoroughly enjoys the dragon age series. my opinion is not at all the pen-ultimate truth, i'm just here to share my thoughts!

criticism and comments are welcome! i appreciate any and all discussions about dragon age! feel free to dm or send an ask if you'd like to share your own thoughts!

[this post contains spoilers for the entirety of dragon age: the veilguard, please do not click the 'read more' if you do not want to be spoiled! you have been warned!]

before we get into the setting of veilguard, we have to talk about the setting of dragon age itself. dragon age is labelled as a dark fantasy series. there's discussions of slavery, sexism, racism, and so much more. this dark setting is one of the most compelling features about the series. many people (myself included) praise dragon age for depicting such well-written worldbuilding of these dark themes.

in veilguard, these dark themes still exist in some forms. however, the themes have been watered down to some extent. for example, minrathous has been described in all previous three entries as the slave capital of tevinter. it is all but normalized in their society, engrained in the politics and economy of the imperium. i can't help but feel like it was deliberately avoided by the writers to depict this society.

i want to clarify that i am not at all saying veilguard NEEDED to show slavery to the worst of its' extent to be labeled as 'dark' in any way. i am a firm believer that depicting dark themes should be done as respectfully as possible. it should make sense in context of the world around it and shouldn't be done for 'shock factor' or a fuel to make an 'evil' character 'someone the player should dislike.' and it definitely shouldn't be carelessly thrown into the story for the sake of just saying, 'hey our game is dark! look at this bad stuff in it!'

this is just one example of a problem i have with the setting of veilguard. cultural identities between nations and societies seem to blur together or are completely omitted. this leads into a whole other problem veilguard has: the lack of past choice diversity.

when i found out veilguard not only was NOT using dragon age keep, it was only going to import 3 choices....from inquisition. and two of them were locked behind trespasser.....a dlc. ouch. i was....not happy. i still am not. part of dragon age's entire identity is that the previous game's choices were reflected in the sequel. it was an extremely cool and fun feature that had me excited to see how different decisions impacted current events and characters. yeah well! it's gone now. sorry!

veilguard suffers from this decision. part of dragon age's identity is wiped away and the sting still hurts. the setting is locked into a difficult path of vague references to past events, hiding them in codices strewn throughout veilguard, or never brought up.

however! this does not make veilguard unredeemable. the setting they do salvage from this difficult situation is still a compelling one. i thoroughly enjoy northern thedas, even if it is not exactly what i envision due to the constraints. each location is unique and memorable in their own way. i personally LOVE nevarra and the grand necropolis. i love the gothic imagery, culture, and the mourn watch faction as a whole. one of the great many new additions to the setting of dragon age.

veilguard does a good job of showing the player all the new or, offhandedly mentioned stuff in previous titles, without contradicting itself (for the most part). a lot of returning factions (i.e. the antivan crows, the grey wardens) have new layers of depth that make sense! the passage of time between entries helps with this, because it's perfectly understandable that organizations change overtime and adapt to new factors. i would not have liked origins's depiction of the grey wardens and the antivan crows 20 in-game years later. i'm glad things were changed or referenced as lessons for these organizations to learn from.

i'm not here to forgive and forget all that we could have had with veilguard. i agree with most criticisms with the game. the setting is the factor that suffers the most because of all that was taken away with 'the 3 choices.' i mourn what we could have had if dragon age keep was considered viable. but sometimes you just have to accept or reject what you get. people that reject veilguard aren't wrong for doing so. it's extremely sad and upsetting of what we COULD have had with joplin or morrison. but we didn't get those versions of 'dragon age 4,' to be honest it's a miracle we got a fourth game at all.

phew. there's part one! i got a bit heavy at the end but yeah, there we go. part two will come whenever i decide to write it i guess? part two is going to be about the storyline! i think this part is going to be a little bit more difficult to shrink down because i have many thoughts! so many! see you then!

[sicasole]

Why I Love Kpop (I think)

I’ve joked before that everyone who likes kpop secretly wants to be in a polycule, but like most jokes the more I think about that statement, the more truth I find in it. After all, kpop disrupts the way we think about homosocial relationships, and it often presents queer dynamics for its audience to ponder and sometimes even obsess over. Lately, (and by lately I mean for almost 8 years) I’ve been captivated by the question of why I and so many other queer people love kpop so much. The following is a stream-of-consiousness attempt at answering that question. I’ll be speaking from the perspective of a queer femme fan who listens to and watches mostly male idols, but of course I know this topic is richer than just this one dynamic. I don’t speak for all queer people or all kpop fans.

For as long as I can remember I’ve been listening to, performing, and analyzing music, but when I think about kpop, I’m thinking about it very differently than any other musical media. Because yes, kpop is about the music but it’s also about so much else. It’s about queerness and bodily autonomy and relationships both toxic and beneficial. I, like a lot of queer people, love fantasy worlds and characters because they present their audiences with beings who live outside the norm, people and places unbounded by logic and social constraints. They offer us an escape from a world that is unaccepting of our ever-expansive queer identities, and a vision of the possibility for a better one.

But kpop occupies this intensely fascinating space between fantasy and reality. Fans online talk about idols more like they’re fictional characters than real people, frequently speculating about an idol’s time away from the narrative their company puts out the way someone might headcanon a fictional character. These group narratives a company creates give idols an air of fantasy and mystery, allowing for this fan speculation to run amok on social media as they attempt to “fill in the blanks.” But kpop offers a grounding in reality that pure fiction cannot. Here exists a fantasy world you can really see and hear and walk through. These characters you project onto are actually real people.

So why do I love kpop? The answer changes almost daily, but lately I think it's because in many ways, kpop seems to be made to be enjoyed by queer people. The 20th century had gay men who were devoted to Judy Garland, and now we have the Jungkook lesbians.

Queers have always dominated fandom spaces. As people who are more likely to lack role models in our everyday lives, we’ll often turn to fandom media for guidance about how to love and how to be. I think “straight” mass media lately is obsessed with being “relatable” but queer people don’t usually relate to the narratives put out by the heterosexual media machine. This is why kpop is really appealing to members of the community. It’s overwhelmingly uninterested in being relatable, instead, it's aspirational. This parallels the queer self, who is often more invested in the journey of becoming than it is in running towards a more clean-cut goal like home ownership or a nuclear family.

But when I think about kpop, I also think about my own body and its autonomy (or lack thereof). I think about the performance of femininity. This feels a bit strange and vulnerable to admit, but a part of me has always been willing to hand over my body in exchange for love and devotion. This is the kind of transaction a kpop idol makes when they sign a contract. It’s easy to criticize when we see it put in front of us so plainly, but queer people (especially trans people) and those assigned female at birth have always been aware that they don’t entirely own their bodies or decide their actions.

Idols capture exactly the level of freedom I believe is currently possible for me because frequently as a queer person and a feminine person I feel like the only way I can be accepted and safe is if I offer up my body and self in a way that is sanitized and therefore marketable and commodifiable.

Queerness is more accepted today than it was even a few years ago, but there are still limitations to that acceptance. Queer people who remind the dominant heterosexual power structures of tropes and stereotypes are more accepted than those who are living their lives in active opposition to straight expectations. Of course, we know that stereotypes are oppressive tools used to dehumanize people, which is why the pressure many members of the community feel to censor their identities in order to fit into these tropes and stereotypes (while often done for their own safety) is especially demoralizing.

Kpop also relies heavily on tropes when it comes to constructing the narrative of their groups’ dynamics. We know that much of this is done to make the group marketable and commodifiable. But one positive is that a performative self can protect a kpop idol’s privacy from a world that demands celebrities provide their fans with an endless stream of details about themselves and their lives. In the same way, a performative self can protect a queer person from persecution.

This begs the question of how much someone can stand to perform an inauthentic self, even if that performance helps keep them safe. Lately, this is where I see myself most in the idol on my screen. Like me, I feel he is constantly engaged in a horrific balancing act, asking himself how much he can stand to inhabit a performative self for his own safety. Like me, I feel he is questioning whether an authentic self even exists and if it does, will its appearance cut him off from the audience’s love? Like me, I feel he is screaming for a way out.

These men have been locked into a performance their overwhelmingly queer and female fanbases are all too familiar with. Their personal and financial livelihood depends on their ability to appeal to their audience just as the safety of queer people is dependent on the way they are viewed by the domineering heterosexual power. The relationship between idol and fanbase is both symbiotic and toxic. Idols become what they think their audiences want, and this performance is terrifyingly reflected in the lives of their marginalized fans.

This is the point in my thinking where I ask myself what I even hope to gain from this line of inquiry. Is it some sort of twisted self reflection? Is it an unhinged brain-ego trip? Is there even anything here worth exploring? I believe (and hope) there is. I and most people who analyze media today are pushing back on the idea that someone has to be exactly like you for you to relate to them. On the surface, the male idol is nothing like me, but the aspirational nature of kpop media invites me to see him and myself as more hauntingly alike than I would sometimes like to admit. He is androgynous in ways I could only ever dream of, yet he is yearning like me. He is queer like me.

One of the pillars of anthropology (so much so that it’s almost become a cliche) is that its goal is to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. To the untrained eye, kpop might look like a shallower reflection of our everyday world, one that’s even more image-conscious and subjugated by the demands of capitalism. It certainly can be those things, but when I look at kpop I see the current human condition distilled. Most of us alive today have been trained to constantly seek validation from those around us. Kpop is both familiar and strange because it reminds us of the ways we perform for audiences either real or imagined. It can make us uncomfortable because it shows us just how much we are willing to sacrifice to satisfy the demands of those audiences. In censoring ourselves, we become our own voyeurs and are left wondering who has more power, observed or observer?

So why do I love kpop? I’m not always entirely sure that I do. What I do know is that it’s not really about some fantasy of receiving affection. I don’t turn to idols for tenderness. I never wanted to feel loved, I just wanted to see something beautiful up close. I wanted to see someone who was suffering in the same way I was. I wanted to seek some unprovable personal truth, that perhaps this ethereal creature I saw on my screen was, in fact, just like me. Sure, they had a surface-level beauty I could never reach, but we were alike in all the ways that mattered.

And here I am now, with all of this behind me, wondering if I am (and continue to be) just some more than slightly messed up and lonely child looking for connection in all the wrong places. But then again, aren’t we all?

[yupuffin]

I'd like able-bodied cosplayers to understand that when I say I adapt costume designs to my disability by reducing complexity during construction (namely for Genshin Impact, my current hyperfixation, which is also notorious for needlessly detailed costumes), I'm not simply skipping details because I feel like it* or "cutting corners" because I'm lazy.

It's like that one time a few years ago when I was on the second-to-last day of a sea kayaking trip with a group of other students from my college. Stick with me for this metaphor.

It was a ten-day-long trip, so we'd only packed what we could all fit on our kayaks, including food. Since we were nine days in, we were getting to the end of our food supplies--though, with our return to populated areas, we were able to make a grocery stop for ingredients for our final dinner of the trip, which would be a vegetable stir-fry.

We had $20 in the budget to buy ingredients for a meal to feed over a dozen people.

VOCALOID is one of my special interests, so the first words out of my mouth, without much consideration behind them, were "green onions."

In response, one of the guides wondered aloud, "Do green onions really add anything to a stir-fry?"

Don't get me wrong, I'll add green onions to any stir-fry given the opportunity; they do add that vaguely spicy-sweet kick that complements other flavors really well. So it's not like they don't add anything.

However, given our limited budget, in contrast to the size of the meal we had to make, it didn't make sense to spend a significant portion of our money on an ingredient that would function primarily as a garnish--something that serves mostly to enhance flavor; IIRC we ended up buying things like carrots and green peppers, which would instead add the substance we needed to make enough food for everyone.

With a disability that affects my motor control, constructing cosplays above a certain level of detail/complexity is like putting together a large meal on budget constraints--because I can only spend so long on a costume before I get burnt out, and every piece of fine detailing I add takes increasingly more time, just as every ingredient you add to a stir-fry takes increasingly more money.

So when I'm planning construction for a cosplay, it's like looking in the produce aisle of a grocery store and deciding what to spend $20 on. Metaphorically speaking, I'm going to want to prioritize details that add "substance," rather than those that function merely as a "garnish."

I have to look at every detail on the costume, think through how I would construct it--often multiple times, to ensure I'm using the optimal techniques--and consciously decide: What does this detail add to the costume? How much of my limited time and focus is it going to take? How well can I reliably replicate it given my disability? Considering all of these factors, does including this detail justify its contribution to the completed piece?

It's its own form of strategizing and problem-solving. I'm not doing it solely to make my life easier--I'm doing it because my disability effectively puts me on a sort of non-monetary budget and I have to optimize how I'm going to utilize that budget (on top of financially budgeting!).

Competitions, including cosplay competitions, are equal, not fair, so there's no way to completely remove ableism from cosplay judging. As you might say, judges gonna judge. They're just doing their job, and they get to make the final decisions in terms of scoring and placements, so I'm not going to pretend that I can influence the opinion of every cosplay judge out there with my metaphor.

Still, going forward, I'd like to see increased awareness of ableism in the cosplay environment--specifically, saving the judgment for the competition, and even then, realizing that a simple numerical score can never encapsulate the full nuance of any given cosplayer's experience with the construction of their piece; any number of factors you might initially think are conscious decisions on a cosplayer's part are actually responses to factors completely beyond their control, like dis/ability, budget, access to tools and materials, and other forms of privilege.

*Even if I am skipping details just because I feel like it, it's because I'd rather have a completed costume I can enjoy than get so frustrated and hung up on it that it makes me want to quit cosplay altogether. I resent that crunching and causing ourselves so many negative emotions over building a costume that just has to be perfect is so normalized that, from my experience, it's effectively a requirement for competitive cosplayers.

[nunuslab24]

What are AI, AGI, and ASI? And the positive impact of AI

Understanding artificial intelligence (AI) involves more than just recognizing lines of code or scripts; it encompasses developing algorithms and models capable of learning from data and making predictions or decisions based on what they’ve learned. To truly grasp the distinctions between the different types of AI, we must look at their capabilities and potential impact on society.

To simplify, we can categorize these types of AI by assigning a power level from 1 to 3, with 1 being the least powerful and 3 being the most powerful. Let’s explore these categories:

1. Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI)

Also known as Narrow AI or Weak AI, ANI is the most common form of AI we encounter today. It is designed to perform a specific task or a narrow range of tasks. Examples include virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa, recommendation systems on Netflix, and image recognition software. ANI operates under a limited set of constraints and can’t perform tasks outside its specific domain. Despite its limitations, ANI has proven to be incredibly useful in automating repetitive tasks, providing insights through data analysis, and enhancing user experiences across various applications.

2. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)

Referred to as Strong AI, AGI represents the next level of AI development. Unlike ANI, AGI can understand, learn, and apply knowledge across a wide range of tasks, similar to human intelligence. It can reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, and learn from experiences. While AGI remains a theoretical concept as of now, achieving it would mean creating machines capable of performing any intellectual task that a human can. This breakthrough could revolutionize numerous fields, including healthcare, education, and science, by providing more adaptive and comprehensive solutions.

3. Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI)

ASI surpasses human intelligence and capabilities in all aspects. It represents a level of intelligence far beyond our current understanding, where machines could outthink, outperform, and outmaneuver humans. ASI could lead to unprecedented advancements in technology and society. However, it also raises significant ethical and safety concerns. Ensuring ASI is developed and used responsibly is crucial to preventing unintended consequences that could arise from such a powerful form of intelligence.

The Positive Impact of AI

When regulated and guided by ethical principles, AI has the potential to benefit humanity significantly. Here are a few ways AI can help us become better:

• Healthcare: AI can assist in diagnosing diseases, personalizing treatment plans, and even predicting health issues before they become severe. This can lead to improved patient outcomes and more efficient healthcare systems.

• Education: Personalized learning experiences powered by AI can cater to individual student needs, helping them learn at their own pace and in ways that suit their unique styles.

• Environment: AI can play a crucial role in monitoring and managing environmental changes, optimizing energy use, and developing sustainable practices to combat climate change.

• Economy: AI can drive innovation, create new industries, and enhance productivity by automating mundane tasks and providing data-driven insights for better decision-making.

In conclusion, while AI, AGI, and ASI represent different levels of technological advancement, their potential to transform our world is immense. By understanding their distinctions and ensuring proper regulation, we can harness the power of AI to create a brighter future for all.

[constantlymisspelled]

24 - CLOSING STATEMENTS:

Manda’lor Jaster Mereel

An introduction as to why he felt he needed to write this codex

Acknowledgment of his previous misdeed (not trusting law enforcement to remove his corrupt superior)

Extrapolation in the Mandalorian Code, or Canons, and why each of the four sections must be taken with a grain of salt, as they come from a time of great crusades. Each section is further defined and researched.

Honourable conduct, explanations on and what the standard was in times past, who previously has changed and improved the standard, and why it must be even stricter.

Adoption law, discusses the historical cases that inform certain decisions and rulings, regarding adoption in particular.

Marriage and divorce, an evaluation on the sometimes-difficult subject of oaths, why breaking certain ones is required to honour others and why that matters. Historical cases, and why Mandalore needs better laws regarding intercultural marriage.

Resol’nare, its meanings, thoughts on each individual version of the resol’nare. Thoughts on creeds, and Ways, and oaths, Final thoughts and reasonings for current interpretations put forth.

Clan and House, recognition of the traditionalists resistance to accepting Houses as a new part of Mandalorian politics, with or without a Manda’lor to follow and inform. In depth debate into whether or not Houses improve Mandalore’s political climate or if it makes it unnecessarily complicated and convoluted.

Language protectorate, expands upon Mando’a and its forms, and defends its practice, condemning the ostracizing of language speakers in Republic Space, and by New Mandalorians.

The position of Manda’lor, states that the people are the decider, and how that will bring greater stability. The Court of Stars are the people. Discusses why the position needs to be both protected, and watered down to allow for better diplomatic process. Discusses Manda’lors who overextended their power, and those that used it with honour and respect.

Education, and Culture, discusses the breaking of family units after Kyr’tsaad, New Mandalore, the Republic, and the Civil Wars destroyed the systems’ stability. Comes to the conclusion that for things to get better for all Mandalore, education must be a right, not a privilege, and defended as such by all in Mandalorian space, and accessible to all readily.

Electoral process, discusses the systems its based on, and discusses the concerns regarding meddling, and future amendments and changes for new worlds, and future events. Discusses what particular methods were utilized just for Mandalore.

Court of law, why we have to have separate sections and a Mandalorian specialty court for the sake of Mandalorian victims, and Mandalorian perpetrators. Why Republic Courts, and relying on their system to defend rights and a culture they don’t understand is not good enough.

Responsibility, reshuffling the expectations of an old nomad culture on one that now has a permanent home.

Foreign politics, why the rest of the Galaxy matters, and how to maintain your rights in other systems.

Employment, discussion on events that changed Mandalorian and galactic law, and why Mandalorian behaviour and contracts are important to the work and reception of Mandalorians around the galaxy.

Property and payment, discusses the unification of outside cultures and concepts with mandalore’s ancient ones, and why a modern, yet traditionalist approach is important for our cultures own sake.

Beskar, discussions on its sacred nature, its properties, its utility, and its incredible galactic value. Discusses why allowing the trade federation to trap us is a bad idea.

Coverts, and sects, and explains why certain inclusions were made, and why excluding death watch and New Mandalorians was crucial.

Armour and weapons, defines non-combatant to the basic word ‘civilian’ which is a foreign concept in Mandalorian culture, and explains why constraints and bans for particular equipment and materials for particular peoples were made. Brings up workplace accidents with untrained individuals.

Criminal sentencing, crimes and their historical example, and why they were included, the likelihood of them occurring again.

Military and law enforcement, discusses the current structure and why it has to change for efficiency, safety, and decentralisation.

Land rights, discusses the conquests, and the destruction of arable worlds, and why being careful with limited resources is important for any future government and people.

Commerce, business and integrity, why keeping business accountable protects Mandalore from internal and external threats.

Discrimination, direct call out to the new Mandalorians, death watch, and the republic, and uses history to show why these thought processes prioritising xenophobic views are shallow, shortsighted, and stupid.

Final thoughts, including thoughts of donating the dark sabre to the universities, setting up star touched schools in Tarre Vizsla’s teachings, and locating the mask for the sake of sending it to a museum.

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[This is the meat and potatoes of the Codex, and has a great deal of the moral explanations and reasonings behind certain decisions. I won't be able to fully start it until I complete most of the other sections, and get feedback and comments on what needs to be expanded on and justified to a Mandalorian Audience. If you have any ideas, let me know!]

[Back to main Codex]

[thetechempire]

James Cameron: Why the Reality of Artificial General Intelligence is Scarier Than Fiction

In a world where films like The Terminator and Avatar spark our interest in the future of artificial intelligence, it’s fascinating — and perhaps unsettling — to hear what one of Hollywood’s most innovative directors believes about the real-world potential of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). James Cameron, the creator of these legendary films, recently revealed his opinion on how the reality of AGI could be scarier than anything we’ve seen on screen.

So, what’s got Cameron so scared? Should we be concerned, too?

Understanding AGI: More than just smarter machines.

First, a brief introduction: AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, refers to robots capable of understanding, learning, and doing any intellectual work that a person can. Consider AI with the flexibility and adaptability of the human mind — essentially, intelligence without the constraints of programmed instructions.

While current AI systems (such as Siri, Google Assistant, and even chatbots) are extremely specialized, AGI would be a general-purpose intelligence capable of reasoning, problem-solving, and potentially making decisions without human intervention.

Cameron is more concerned with the basic unknowns that AGI introduces into our world than with AI turning rogue.

Why the reality of AGI might be scarier than fiction

Cameron, who has created iconic apocalyptic visions, is no stranger to examining how technology might go awry. But what disturbs him the most is that fictitious villains are simple to manipulate. Writers develop their motivations, constraints, and final defeats. However, in the real world, AGI does not come with a manual and does not follow a plot arc. Instead, we’re dealing with very unpredictable technology that adapts to its own data inputs, patterns, and feedback.

Cameron emphasizes that, unlike in movies, there are no guarantees in reality. “When you start working with systems that learn independently,” he explained, “you lose the ability to control outcomes.”

How AGI Could Disrupt Our World, For Better or Worse

Cameron’s concerns are valid because AGI is projected to produce big changes. Here are a few ways it could disturb our world:

1. Employment Shifts: AGI has the ability to automate complicated tasks beyond what existing AI can do, potentially resulting in job losses in fields we never imagined feasible, such as law, medical, and even creative labor.

2. Security hazards: An AGI may be created with benign intentions, but if it learns independently, it may redefine its own goals, posing unexpected security hazards. Self-improving AGI systems, for example, may evolve to the point where they outstrip humans’ ability to control or understand them.

3. Ethical Challenges: Who is accountable for an AGI’s actions? Unlike a hammer or a computer, an AGI can make decisions that reflect biases or ethical quandaries, raising concerns about accountability and moral responsibility.

4. Existential Risk: This may sound like science fiction, but experts argue that if an AGI becomes super intelligent, its aims may no longer be compatible with humanity’s well-being. Cameron says that this “reality” is more difficult to imagine in movies than it is to believe in real life!

Lessons From Cameron’s Films: What Can We Do?

Despite his anxieties, Cameron’s films convey a sense of hope and human endurance. Sarah Connor, in The Terminator, demonstrates human adaptation and courage. Cameron believes that in the face of rising AGI, humans must be watchful and proactive. This entails creating ethical norms, rigorous oversight, and a public discussion regarding AGI’s position in society.

It is critical that developers, governments, and communities collaborate to guarantee that AGI evolves in the best interests of humanity. Cameron’s advice? Don’t just sit back and watch technology expand unchecked; be a part of the discourse.

Final Thoughts: Reality Bites Harder Than Sci-Fi

James Cameron has given us epic visions of technology gone wrong, but his thoughts on AGI remind us that reality doesn’t need a script to be scary. As AGI continues to advance, it’s essential for all of us — not just scientists and tech enthusiasts — to think about its implications on our world. By keeping our imaginations, ethical compass, and collective resilience as sharp as Cameron’s characters, maybe we can navigate this journey together.

So next time you watch The Terminator or Avatar, remember: sometimes, the scariest stories aren’t fiction — they’re the ones unfolding in our own world.