#junior scientist power hour

[abby-howard]

I'm going to be asking a lot of artists I follow this question, but how did you develop your style? It SEEMS like most people find their style and stick with it forever, just making improvements and iterations. I tend to work in a lot of different styles because I enjoy doing that, though I know there are things I gravitate towards as well. But I wonder what your journey was and how you got feedback and improved while staying true to what you enjoyed?

Hi there!

I definitely wouldn't say that I've found my style and stuck with it forever-- I feel like each of my projects has asked for a certain kind of art, and has presented new challenges that push me in new directions.

Some of that comes from seeing someone else's work and having something click into place that might fix errors/faults in my own, and then I might try to incorporate that, such as bigger outlines on my characters to help distinguish them from the background, or maybe a way someone else simplifies eyes that can help make mine look less weird.

When I first started drawing, I can see where I encountered certain influences because my sketchbooks suddenly switch to incorporating some new stylistic element that I liked from whatever I was reading/watching at the time. But it was never QUITE right, it was never just copying, there was always something ~wrong~ with it. And that wrongness was my style! As much as I hated it, that was what distinguished my art from being just a copy of someone else's. I hate it less now, and understand that other people see something there that maybe I don't, because it's just what happens when I filter other people's work through my head. My soul, if you will.

There are definitely through-lines with my work, driven by what I like drawing and what comes easily to me-- hatching is almost always a major component, and I like making expressive characters. Here's some of my earliest available stuff, from my old webcomic:

Then not long after that, I started The Last Halloween, which pushed me to challenge myself in both layout and style:

And here's the same comic, years later:

And here's a series I did for kids, where I had to use full color and lay off on the hatching, as well as learn how to reconstruct animals that we have no photo references for, which is definitely a place where style comes majorly into play, whether I wanted it to or not:

Then there was the horror book I did, where I tried to push my work to be less cartoony overall, and to work very hard on improving my hatching:

Then I started work on Scarlet Hollow, where I incorporated a limited/muted palette and had to once again push myself to make less-cartoony art, as well as learn more consistency so I could draw sprite sets. This was a big challenge for me, and has helped me grow as an artist so much!

And most recently, I wrapped up work on Slay the Princess, which required that I go back in the cartoony direction, but in a very different way than I was used to. This took a lot of sketching to figure out, and there's still a decent amount of artistic stumbling in Chapter 1 while I settled into it.

She's drawing on anime/Disney influence, but each Princess required a bit of stylistic variability. Some are more anime, while some are more realistic than even the Scarlet Hollow characters.

So I wouldn't worry too much, honestly! A person's style is often something that reveals itself over the course of their career, rather than something they choose and then try to stick to forever.

Even if you don't think you have a style, you do. It might vary a lot piece by piece, especially if you're trying to closely imitate another person's art, but the more work you do, the more you'll figure out your own strengths and interests!

[ronearoundblindly]

would you ever write an invisible reader? Like let’s say she’s an agent or a scientist. Quiet and stuff right? She always keeps to herself has the biggest crush on Steve but because she’s thinks she’s invisible she doesn’t ever think he might be interested too. There’s a mission she goes on and things go awry and she actually turns invisible. Something akin to how in the Fantastic Four movies they get their powers she gets this one? But it takes time to get under control. Steve thinks it’s his fault so he tries to help out. And through the the process of helping her gain back visibility she realizes Steve has seen her all along. Lol this really just came to my head when I was thinking about Steve using paint on someone’s body as a way to show them he thinks they’re art.

This. Is. Spectacular. I'm gonna fudge it a bit. Headcanon/stream of consciousness format. No warnings just canon-level "action." gif credit: @meidui

Erasure (Steve Rogers x junior agent!Reader)

My first instinct is to make it an ability to alter someone perception--i.e. you're constantly a little embarrassed of your input, so you tell people to 'forget you said that'--and let's say that constant hope that you won't be remembered badly is the innate trigger for your ability.

Probably a science experiment of Tony's gone wrong. He and the team are arguing about something that needs to be recovered before a damaged thing reaches critical mass. You sneak in to just grab what he wants and not waste time arguing. Tony doesn't know you're in there and locks the lab down until the dangerous pulse dissipates. (Steve doesn't know you're in there either because you popped in while he was facing and yelling at Tony, fwiw.) Maybe Tony saunters in once the doors open, finds you there with the part in your hand and knocked on your ass.

Your skin touches his as he reaches for you and the part. You jokingly tell him there's nothing to worry about, nothing to see here. You're surprised that he listens and walks off immediately, chatting and leading the team away down the hall to show them something else he's working on in the hangar bay.

Overall, once you catch your breath, you're fine. You don't want to go to the infirmary and tell them you did something so dumb.

Life continues.

Through a lot of trial and error, you realize what you can do--forcibly--by erasing people's memory of you being around. The head count for meetings is off. Several teammates you know you spoke to see security footage of you at the time and curiously remark that they don't recall you being there. Things like that. It works on everybody, or so you think.

There's a brainstorming session about how to infiltrate a possibly corrupt corporation's facility to gain intel. Everyone agrees to this elaborate rouse where two ripped agent dudes pose as janitors and blah blah blah. It's a little absurd.

You check the companies job listings, and knowing you qualify for one, submit an application the next day. The woman in HR who hires you doesn't work on the same floor as where you are technically snooping, and you can handle the work they actually want you to do in just a few hours a day, giving you a bunch of time to access nearly everywhere and nudge everyone to forget you were there.

The attempted break-in of fake janitors is the talk of the office on your last day, the one where you find the info Stark wanted to begin with, and then you quit, still quietly, returning to the Avengers the next morning.

You drop off the intel to Tony's office when he's not there, but just as you get situated back at your little desk, Steve comes up.

He looks concerned, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the flimsy cubicle wall.

"Feeling better?"

You're so confused.

"You were out for over a week. Did you need to go to the hospital? Was a family member with you at least? You could have called in for help."

On impulse, you grab his arm and tell him not to worry about you, yet he...doesn't move. After a flawless use of the power hundreds of times in a row, you don't understand.

Blinking up at Steve, you blurt, "I should be erased. Why are you still noticing me?"

He's bewildered, sure, but Steve tucks his head and smiles shyly.

"Can't erase you, doll," he chuckles, so soft only you can hear. "I draw you in pen--" Steve taps his temple "--up here..."

He bends down, his hand gently gripping your arm and his cheek touching yours.

"...now where you been for a week?"

And then, yes, some beautiful closeness and Steve paints on you to highlight what parts he drew so permanently on his mind!

🤗

a/n: Thank you for sending in this lovely idea, nonnie! I'm sorry everything I'm writing has been short and convoluted the last...while, but this is such a sweet premise. (Also, my apologies if you really, really wanted straight invisibility as the power. Just send in another ask, and I'll try to come up with an alternate version!)

[Main Masterlist; Light Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

[iffeelscouldkill]

Fic: the old stars are of no importance

Summary: In which RJ McCabe has more emotions about listening to a drunken group singalong than they'd expected. Set during season 1 episodes 9 & 10 and the aftermath of episode 10.

Also posted to Dreamwidth & AO3, or just keep reading for the fic!

---

Junior Agent RJ McCabe is having a terrible day.

A terrible week, actually. Or make that a terrible career.

RJ is no stranger to hard work – no-one can power through the Academy and get a Junior Agent role at twenty-three without working incredibly hard. But since Park was tak- since Park was rightfully apprehended, it’s not felt like hard work so much as desperately paddling to keep their head above water. All the weird stares, the muttering, the pointed questions from their superiors that RJ answers as honestly as possible while frantically analysing the words for anything that could reflect negatively on them.

They go from urgent briefing to the office to one-on-one report with the Major General to another briefing to the office to home, finally, though they’re barely sleeping. RJ is pretty sure their blood volume is 95% caffeine, lately – thankfully the IGR doesn’t test for that.

In recognition of the awfulness of break room coffee, they brew it at home and bring a big flask with them. Or they would, except that this morning they tiredly fumbled the pot while pouring and scalded their hand, causing them to flinch and drop it, splattering half of the coffee across their tiny kitchen floor. They lost ten minutes to the clean-up and they have half as much coffee as they need, damn it.

All of which is to say that they’re not in the mood for Junior Agent Goodman’s attitude.

“Twelve hours of nothing?” RJ repeats as they stare down at Goodman, whose normal mask of impassiveness has given way to annoyance. He looks tired, but RJ is no stranger to all-nighters, and Goodman shouldn’t be either if he wants to get anywhere in the Republic.

“The crew was mostly asleep for part of it,” Goodman responds. “Is there coffee?”

“It’s dreck,” RJ says. They’re wondering if padding out their stock of coffee with the break room sludge will result in halfway drinkable coffee. It will probably just taint the decent stuff.

“Yes, because I drink break room coffee for the delicate aroma,” Goodman says, his sarcasm acidic, and RJ’s patience snaps.

“I don’t want to write you up for insubordination—”

They listen to Goodman’s rationale for throwing away a full twelve hours of audio, interjecting with pointed questions. When Goodman says, “Trust me,” they almost snort. Trust Goodman. Trust Goodman after his leading questions about Park and his poorly-hidden recording device. After RJ had confronted him about the recording, he’d simply smiled and said, “You can’t be too careful.”

RJ is just taking his advice. They hold out their hand. “Hand me the headphones.”

The audio picks up mid-conversation, and at first it sounds like so much nonsensical rambling, until RJ is able to pick up the thread of what the insurgents are talking about. Edict 1837. Any confession by a known criminal needs to be transcribed, analysed, and examined for veracity – no matter what the contents.

RJ has to suppress a smirk when they realise what Goodman has been dealing with all night. For once, they’re glad they’re the ranking Agent.

They’re tempted to skip over it, but they can at least listen to the entirety of the group’s confessions. Patel and Tripathi’s knowledge of Republic laws and edicts gives them the advantage in creating, if not convincing confessions, certainly detailed ones. Jeeter’s is less elaborate, but would require a qualified Ancient Pre-Crisis Languages expert to verify. The Dwarnian Krejjh’s ‘confession’ is a pure flight of fantasy – no-one rational has believed Dwarnians can shapeshift since at least 2175.

As for Violet Liu – RJ would have expected her to choose a confession oriented towards her history as a Republic scientist. “The lead singer of Birdie and the Swansong” is just silly.

Their finger hovers over the fast forward button as Patel drunkenly challenges Liu to “prove it”.

And then –

Violet Liu starts to sing.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn, red light shines on and on and on and on and on...”

RJ has heard Violet sing before, during 'Report 1: Violet Liu', but there's something startling about hearing her suddenly strike out into song, a little unsteady but clear and melodious.

The note hangs there for an uncertain few seconds before Patel takes up the next line.

“But it’s not the sea that’s coming for me-”

And then Liu joins back in-

“-and it’s not the storm, no, it’s not the storm…”

Tripathi starts playing a guitar – they’ve heard her idly strumming it in her room during downtime – and suddenly they’re all singing.

“When I go to sea, don’t fear for me,

“Fear for the storm, fear for the storm!”

RJ squints in confusion, forehead creasing. What are they all doing? Is this a taunt? Because they know they’re being listened to? Why else would the whole crew be sitting around singing like they don’t have a care?

(Fleetingly, RJ wonders what it would be like to have that level of comfort with a group. An image of Nan and Ferdy flashes across their mind’s eye before they quickly squash it. They’re getting distracted).

“So gather your charts and your portents,

“Throw them aside,

“The old stars are of no importance,

“They’re not what I navigate by...”

In hours of monitoring, RJ has never heard the crew sing together, yet they harmonise seamlessly like they’ve done it a hundred times.

The words are – nonsensical, just old-world seafaring imagery of seas and charts and stars. But the way the group sings gives them an energy; makes them important. Like they might be the last thing you’ll ever hear.

“Though I may burn, the heavens may learn to fear for the storm...

“Fear for the storm.”

Liu sings the final lines, and then Krejjh exclaims, delighted,

“Oops – I guess we’re all Birdy and the Swansong. What a coincidence!”

The whole group bursts into laughter, and RJ’s finger stabs angrily down on the fast forward button.

“Don’t tell me it’s all like this.”

They pretend not to see Agent Goodman rolling his eyes.

---

The rest of the day blurs past, the usual chain of reports, audio, meetings, exchanging terse words with Goodman (who’s even more sarcastic thanks to his all-nighter), more reports, more audio.

They dismiss Goodman at the end of the workday, even though overtime is the norm in the Republic to the point where the ‘workday’ doesn’t really have a beginning and an end. (This was less depressing to RJ when they thought the agents were all getting overtime pay). He quickly goes, obviously not wanting to wait around for them to change their mind.

Silence descends.

RJ mechanically fills in a few more forms, initials some reports, getting caught up on the endless paperwork that’s generated by active cases. The Rumor audio isn’t being logged as it’s coming in; last night was an exceptional case in the aftermath of the insurgents making contact with the other Violet Liu, but based on the subsequent twelve hours of audio and today’s similar experience, they’ve determined it’s a more prudent use of resources to analyse it after the fact.

So, there’s no reason for RJ to be going over to the bank of audio desks and slipping on a pair of headphones. An audio file has just come in, but RJ pulls up an older file and scrubs through it, looking for the right timestamp.

They’re just double-checking Goodman’s work – making sure nothing was omitted when investigating the insurgents’ confessions under Edict 1837. A missed detail could give rise to a lot of additional paperwork, and their department can’t afford another blot on its track record. They pull an empty notepad towards them and poise a pen over it, ready to take notes.

But the notepad stays blank throughout the confessions, and then the singing begins.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn, red light shines on and on and on and on and on…”

Maybe the lyrics could be – could contain some kind of code? RJ scrawls, The old stars are of no importance, and then just as quickly scratches it out. Code for who? That wouldn’t make any sense. The words don’t mean anything.

“So gather your charts and your portents,

“Throw them aside...”

RJ has never been one for music or singing (especially in public); they always shrugged Nan off when she tried to cajole them into karaoke. At the Academy, they’d sat on the sidelines during that kind of drunken, raucous group bonding, nursing one drink and wishing they could be literally anywhere else. Eventually, they’d started making excuses about work to catch up on.

Listening to the Rumor crew sing should sound like that – the kind of alcohol-fuelled stupidity that RJ has never wanted to be a part of.

It shouldn’t sound like –

Like family.

“Though I may burn, the heavens may learn to fear for the storm…”

The song ends, and RJ quickly hits ‘stop’. Almost guiltily, they navigate back through the audio to where the beginning of the song would be.

Distant footsteps sound in the corridor, and RJ goes very still, listening. Clark went home hours ago, so it’s not her.

They refuse to look around furtively, because that would be childish and also, they’re not doing anything wrong. They’re just doing their job.

RJ hits ‘play’ again.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn…”

---

Chaos reigns as RJ, Park, Liu, Patel and Krejjh dash towards the window where Tripathi hovers with the heisted spaceship. The Vre Chel Noke nanoswarm, which had been a thick, shimmering mist around them seconds ago, hovers ominously like a warning.

It’s enough to keep Goodman and the other guards from trying to retaliate as Tripathi begins helping each of them into the open spaceship door. (RJ was tempted to take a potshot at Goodman in the chaos, but they told themself they’re better than that. Also, they didn’t want to waste any time). RJ is keeping their eyes fixed on Park, deliberately not thinking about what they’re doing, just thinking about the next moment. Stay alive. Get out of here. And then – we’ll see.

As Tripathi holds out her hand to RJ, though, they can’t resist a last glance behind them at everything they’re leaving behind. They thought this building would be the site of a long and (hopefully) distinguished career; it was practically their home, their life – until recently.

A line bubbles up in their mind, and RJ stifles the absurd urge to laugh. The old stars are of no importance – They’re not what I navigate by…

RJ turns away and accepts Tripathi’s hand up into the ship.

---

All things considered, it’s not surprising that only a few hours after joining the crew, RJ finds themself in the middle of a group singalong.

The mood is a mixture of tense and exhilarated in the immediate aftermath of their getaway. Everyone is visibly exhausted, Park possibly most of all, but it’s clear they’re all too wired to sleep or rest. They wander around the new ship, acquainting themselves with the layout and the rooms. The Rumor crew all exclaim over the size of the mess hall, which is pretty small to RJ’s eyes, but they guess anything would seem impressive compared to the homemade junk bucket the crew were flying in before.

The crew have a couple of bags stowed away, stuffed with supplies – all that’s left of the old ship. RJ thinks fleetingly of their small, bare apartment. There’s nothing they’ll miss.

Jeeter – Brian – makes some food and crucially, coffee, which is as bad as the break room dreck, but RJ will inhale anything at this point. The group chatters, their voices still surreal for RJ to hear in person and not through headphones.

They glance at Park, who looks more relaxed than they’ve ever seen him. The Rumor crew are sharing details about what happened to each of them during ‘The Plan’; Park volunteers a little about his own part, though there’s a conspicuous lack of detail about anything related to Zone Z. Sometimes the conversation falls awkwardly silent when the subject comes up. RJ isn’t about to push, and can tell the others don’t want to, either.

Trip- Sana and Krejjh determine it’s safe to set the new ship to autopilot, and Krejjh comes into the mess, intensifying the noise and cheerfulness. RJ tries not to stare; they’ve never been in close quarters with a Dwarnian (well, before shooting Krejjh earlier) and have only ever seen them in Republic training footage and, uh, Sh’th Hremreh. But Krejjh seems to find them fascinating, too, gamely questioning them about their ‘sharpshooting’ skills. Apparently sparing their life carries more weight than shooting them in the leg.

Eventually, Krejjh’s attention turns to their fiancé and the wider group, and RJ, no longer observed, lets their shoulders slump. They’ve drained the last of their coffee and want to ask for more, even though they’re practically vibrating. Adrenaline has carried them this far, and they don’t want to find out what happens when they crash and the reality of what they’ve done hits them. Part of RJ feels like they left their body back at Headquarters; or like they’re about to blink and wake up in their office chair with Goodman glaring at them.

“You okay?” Park asks in an undertone, and RJ jolts, upsetting their thankfully empty cup. They open their mouth to reply, but then Sana calls, “Okay, everyone!”

She’s holding a guitar, and RJ stares, wondering how much space that must have taken up in the supply bags. Arkady groans, but she doesn’t look angry. Violet covers her mouth in amusement, and Krejjh cheers.

“I thought we could christen our new ship with a bit of a song,” Sana says earnestly (RJ is learning that ‘earnest’ is Sana’s default mode). Park’s eyes widen, which makes RJ glad that they’re not the only one experiencing slight panic. Is it too late to sneak out? Sana plucks at the guitar strings, twiddling the pegs to tune them. She strums a chord and nods, satisfied.

“What shall we start with? Any suggestions?” Her gaze alights on Park and RJ, and she smiles encouragingly. “McCabe – do you want to suggest a song? You don’t have to sing if you’re not comfortable.”

“Uh…” RJ would like to suggest something less – incriminating, but unfortunately, there’s only one song currently on their mind. “What about... ‘Fear for the Storm’?”

To their relief, Sana doesn’t ask questions. “Good choice!” she says, and RJ feels, ridiculously, pleased. Park quirks an eyebrow at them after Sana looks away, but RJ just shrugs, not wanting to explain.

Sana strums a few opening chords, and Violet and Arkady begin, singing the first line together.

“So long, can’t dodge the dawn, red light shines on and on and on and on and on...”

RJ sits back in their chair and fractionally, begins to relax, letting the singing wash over and around them.

Quietly, too quietly, to be heard beneath the singing, they hum along.

---

A/N: So the idea conception for this fic went something like this:

Me: Okay, I've got this fun idea I want to write about the real lead singer of Birdie and the Swansong listening to the Iris casefiles and reacting to the group singalong-

My brain: I have an even better version of that idea!

Me: Yes?

My brain: What if McCabe-

Me: OH MY GOD

...Go on...

I have one (1) character whose perspective I'm consistently inspired to write from and can do so at the drop of a hat xD (I was trying to write this in a few days for the Small Fandoms Surprise Scramble on Dreamwidth. I succeeded!

The idea that became this idea was sparked off by listening to the full cast version of Fear for the Storm and having some Emotions about it again :D I remember how captivated I was by this song when listening to Episode 9 for the very first time, and so the idea of giving McCabe some of those Emotions was a very appealing one. Poor thing is going through it.

This also gave me a chance to write about the immediate aftermath of Episode 10, which I had not done before!

[tickfleato]

smh at slay the princess fans. REAL abby howard enjoyers are the ppl who like her stuff cause of junior scientist power hour

[ironchef13]

Psychic Boogie Bot (Psychonauts x Poppy Playtime OC)

Hey there, so for those of you who don't remember I previously made a post of a story idea involving a crossover with the games Psychonauts and Poppy Playtime. Well, I just came up with an OC that would fit into this AU perfectly. Now does anyone remember the psychic Brain Tanks created by Coach Oleander from the first psychonauts game?

And do you also remember the Poppy Playtime character named Boogie Bot?

Well, what if someone at PlayTime Co. took Oleander's idea but instead created something a little smaller than a tank?

My OC would first start off as a small orphan boy living in PlayCare before the Hour of Joy starts. One of the head scientists would discover that the child possesses blossoming psychic abilities. Seeing an opportunity too good to pass up, the scientist would experiment on the boy, by removing the boy's brain and placing it in a larger more advanced version of the popular toy Boogie Bot. The toy would probably be the same size as Raz. The plan would be to use the toy as a sort of security drone to patrol restricted areas of the factory and remove intruders. Like the brain tank, Boogie bot would be able to access its psychic abilities through the arms that can transform into blasters (kind of like Mega man)

Psy-Blasts would come out as energy blasts, telekinesis would be tractor beams, Pyrokinesis would be a heated laser. Boogie bot would also possess Technopathy (a power that hasn't been seen in psychonauts yet) which would allow him to interact with machines telepathically. such as opening a door without the use of a GrabPack. Unfortunately, before Boogie Bot could be tested the Hour of Joy occurred causing him to be left in stasis for many years (Much like Helmut Fullbear in Psychonauts 2) Then when the Junior psychonaut agents came to investigate the abandoned Playtime factory, they discover the deactivated Boogie Bot and turn him on. At first, he has no memory of who he used to be and assumes he was always a toy. Boogie bot would have a playful personality and enjoy music and dancing. He would then join the junior agents in exploring the toy factory and along the way would slowly begin to regain his human memories.

Now at the end of Psychonauts 2 (spoilers ahead) we are hinted that Helmut Fullbear would eventually get his body back from the frozen lake in Grulovia. So, to add a hint of tragedy to Boogie Bots character, what if he regains his human memories, but doesn't have a body to return to? Because while the scientist experimented on his brain, he sent the boy's body to be incinerated in the factories recycling mill aka the Destroy-A-Toy center.

so, even if they did find his body, it would only be a burnt skeleton. Meaning he would be stuck as a brain in a robot toy for the rest of his life.

So, there you have it I hope you all find this idea inspiring and as always, my ideas are free for anyone to use.

[rockislandadultreads]

Hot Summer Reads: Fiction Picks

As the sweltering summer heat settles in, don't forget to add these hot summer reads to your TBR list!

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman named Emma slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. But what if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together? 

This is the third volume in the "Part of Your World" series.

Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris

Told from the alternating points of view of four siblings, this emotional story about the power of family and letting go follows CeCe, Junior, Nance, and Angeline as they return home to North Carolina to save their ancestral land after the death of their father. While fighting to save the land, the siblings must also save themselves from the secrets they've been holding onto and from the personal battles each sibling is fighting.

Malas by Marcela Fuentes

In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguierre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family. More than forty years later, when her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu Muñoz finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives alone and shunned on the edge of town. Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past.

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

Outside the island there is nothing: the world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island: it is idyllic. One hundred and twenty-two villagers and three scientists, living in peaceful harmony. Until one of the scientists is found stabbed to death. And then they learn that the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within 107 hours, the fog will smother the island - and everyone on it.

[bookgeekgrrl]

My media this week (25 Feb - 2 Mar 2024)

nancy is the superstar of this show. she's in it for 5 seconds, drops the best line, steals the scene

📚 STUFF I READ 📚

🥰 What I Used To Be (thepinupchemist) - 117K, stucky, omegaverse trauma recovery fic - a relatively light tone, mostly escapist fic focusing on the recovery, not dwelling overly much on trauma details, kidfic but I really dug it

😍 The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi #1) (Shannon Chakraborty, author; Lameece Issaq & Amin El Gamal, narrator) - just gonna KJ Charle's review bc she's better with words than I'll ever be: "Good god, this was incredible fun. Absolutely cracking. A sort of take on Sinbad but with more historical accuracy (apart from the demons, marids, etc), with a middle-aged retired lady pirate getting the crew back together to take on a Frankish coloniser/sorceror/baddie. It's just fabulous exuberant fun." I cannot wait for more!

😊 The Werewolf Companion (MargaretKire) - traumatized derek hale, intriguing larger worldbuilding, hot, wet, messy sex that really leaned into the 'definitely not human' aspect of werewolf fucking without going full xeno. super enjoyable

🥰 My Man Jeeves (Jeeves #1) (PG Wodehouse) - our intro to Bertie & Jeeves 💖 [via Serial Reader app]

💖💖 +50K of shorter fic so shout out to these I really loved 💖💖

A Fine Cure from Fennel Seed (Lucius Parhelion (Parhelion)) - original work, 10K - absolutely delightful amuse-bouche of an original fic; short, hot, slapsticky hilarious, set in the '30s

📺 STUFF I WATCHED 📺

Matt Berry and Peter Capaldi read a FIERY letter exchange

Hot Ones - Quinta Brunson

D20: Adventuring Party - s3, e1-5

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "The Mystery of the Haunted Subway" (s7, e3)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "We Need to Talk About Cody" (s7, e4)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Trouble at the Tunnel" (s7, e5)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Collaborators" (s7, e6)

D20: The Unsleeping City: Chapter II - "Parade of Peril" (s7, e7)

Ghosts (US) - s3, e3

Um, Actually - s9, e1

D20: Fantasy High: Junior Year - "Fracas at the Frostyfaire Folk Festival" (s21, e8)

D20: Adventuring Party - "I See Your Butt Plug and I Raise You a Fist" (s16, e8)

🎧 PODCASTS 🎧

Up First - The Sunday Story: The Diaspora's Troubled African Dream

How To! - How To Let Go of a Friendship

⭐ Switched on Pop - Beyoncé's Country

The Sporkful - Gary Gulman’s Ice Cream Joke Was A Cry For Help

Overinvested - West Side Story (2021)

Consider This from NPR - How The Underground Railroad Got Its Name

⭐ It's Been a Minute - Da'Vine Joy Randolph on 'The Holdovers' and becoming a matriarch

⭐ 99% Invisible #438 - The Real Book

⭐ Vibe Check - Be Forreal!

Pop Culture Happy Hour - Wendy Williams

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Jerry’s Hat Museum

Short Wave - Is It Possible To Feed To World Sustainably?

Decoder Ring - The Gen X Soda That Was Just "OK"

Off Menu - Ep 228: Ray Winstone

⭐ Twenty Thousand Hertz+ - All About That Bass

I Said No Gifts! - Oscar Montoya Disobeys Bridger

Throughline - The Right to An Attorney

The Assignment - Polyamory Is Having a Moment

The Atlas Obscura Podcast - Black History in Plain Sight with Places Editors Jonathan and Michelle

Short Wave - Could Dune Really Exist? What Scientists Think of Our Favorite Sci-Fi Worlds

What Next: TBD - The Supreme Court Takes on Content Moderation

Dear Prudence - Am I a Bad Father If I Don't Want to Acknowledge My Kid Publicly? Help!

Welcome to Night Vale #243 - Lost and Found

You're Dead to Me - The Inca Empire

Today, Explained - It’s Shotime!

It's Been a Minute - Three ways to think about journalism layoffs; plus, Aaron Bushnell's self-immolation

Consider This from NPR - Are We Alone In The Universe?

99% Invisible - Roman Mars Describes Santa Fe As It Is

Under the Influence - Seeing is Believing: The Power of Demonstration Commercials - Part 2

🎶 MUSIC 🎶

CREDITS: Carole King

Chromeo Radio • Party

Pop Radio • 1990s

"Easy" [Commodores] radio

Steely Dan Mix • Focus

'90s Dance

Billy Joel Radio • 1980s

[fractalcloning]

Time Troubles

"Alright, you three, let's keep this one simple and by the book, we're just here to collect some good, old fashioned surface telemetry. Maybe scan a few plants and see how well they cope with the weather," Pike said.

The junior lieutenants at the controls of the transporters were at the ready, the computer was tracking the ion storms around them, and still Pike felt a bit off. It was a bit excessive, having the room fully staffed for a simple survey mission, but Pike hadn't liked the look of those ion storms. From the moment they'd entered the system something about them had set him on edge. He was seasoned enough that he knew to listen to his gut in situations like this.

"Aye, aye, Sir," La'an answered automatically. Lieutenant Noonien-Singh stood at perfect attention, weapons stowed and expression even. Una stepped onto the platform and took position in front of her, her expression professional but knowing. Pike shared a look with her that noted her judgement about his overt paranoia, and then glanced between the three of them. Spock, as usual, looked prepared bordering on inscrutable. At least these three weren't the sort to willingly engage with trouble. That was probably the best he could hope for.

"We'll have another fifteen minute window in three hours," Pike explained to the assembled crew. "If there are any hostile species on this planet, try to play nice until then."

"We'll be on our best behavior," Una assured him, her tone mostly serious, and Pike gave her a long look.

"Alright, get out of here. Ensign: energize."

This system was uncharted, was well beyond the edges of Federation space, but even at a distance the readings it gave off were exceptional. The stellar phenomena were truly breathtaking to behold. This star system was sunk into a larger nebulae, formed out of the outer edges no doubt, and it had a haze about it. The particulate matter that permeated the open space between the celestial bodies was lovely, akin to colorful fog. Unfortunately, pretty as it was, it gummed up their sensors, their collection systems, and made engineering almost as paranoid as Pike, spiking the power in their deflector, shields, and the engines at random intervals. Closer to the planets, the fog coalesced into a perpetual storm of ion energy, swirling like clouds between the moons and the atmosphere, discharging bolts of energy across open space. The whole light show flooded their sensor data with an absurd amount of static and noise.

It was a good system to hide in and, more than anything, that was what had the Captain on edge.

They couldn't scan the surface, the surface (presumably) couldn't scan them, and everything outside the windows read on screen like electromagnetic soup. Pike couldn't have engineered a better location for an ambush if he had tried, but so far, there were no signs of any other ships. There were life signs on the planet, hazy though they appeared on Enterprise. In the absence of tangible danger, it was their responsibility as scientists to stop and take a look. So, with the usual Starfleet aplomb, they checked atmospheric composition and sent an away team. Unfortunately, advanced as the Enterprise was, they were at a disadvantage. They had no idea that they should have scanned for chronitons, nor did they technically have the capability to do so. They couldn't have known that those clouds were heavy with chronitons like they were getting ready to monsoon. It was a fluke, nothing more than pure chance that they managed to time their transporter signal just right to send it straight through a chroniton discharge. The temporal particles split the beam apart like a prism and all three officers ended up on different parts of the surface at different points in time. They weren't separated by much, either distance or time, so that was a spot of luck, but they most certainly didn't materialize where or when they'd expected. (A closed starter for @starfleetsxvulcan and SNW Spock)

[dishaclasses1234]

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[jcmarchi]

Reflecting on a decade of SuperUROP at MIT

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/reflecting-on-a-decade-of-superurop-at-mit/

Reflecting on a decade of SuperUROP at MIT

The Advanced Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, or SuperUROP, is celebrating a significant milestone: 10 years of setting careers in motion.  

Originally mapped out by Dean Anantha Chandrakasan (then the head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, SuperUROP is designed to act as a launching pad for careers in research and industry, allowing juniors and seniors to experience an authentic — and authentically challenging — research experience. Students begin their year-long effort by identifying a project and building a relationship with a faculty member or senior research scientist, before spending many hours per week engaged in closely focused research on a specific question; writing a high-quality research paper and bringing it through the review process; and finally, presenting their findings in a scientific poster conference attended by key stakeholders, including faculty, peers, and generous supporters of the program. 

Unlike most homework or exams, which usually have a highly structured result, SuperUROP research is frequently very open-ended, morphing into graduate theses, startup plans, or industry positions as students continue their work well past the semester’s close.

“Research, especially as an undergraduate, is always very challenging,” says Chelsea Finn ’14, an alumna of SuperUROP who is now an assistant professor at Stanford University working on robotic interaction. “Doing research as an undergraduate student is the best way to get a flavor of the ambiguity, challenge, and thrill that comes from trying to solve problems that no one has solved before. SuperUROP is super useful for figuring out if a career in research is a good fit.”

Students come to SuperUROP to get ahead not only on research skills, but on the entrepreneurial skills they’ll need for careers in startups and industry. A SuperUROP scholar in 2015-16, Eric Dahlseng ’17 went on to co-found Empo Health, a medical device company. “At its core, I think the SuperUROP program teaches undergraduates how to create things that don’t exist (whether that be processes, ideas, technologies, etc.) and share those creations with the world effectively,” says Dahlseng, whose company has introduced a device used to remotely monitor patients at risk of dangerous diabetic complications. “This is an important set of skills for research and academia, but also an immensely important set of skills for entrepreneurship.”

Dahlseng also found that SuperUROP stretched his communications abilities — “I took the communication portion of my SuperUROP very seriously,” recalls the entrepreneur, who received the Ilona Karmel Writing and Humanistic Studies Prize for Engineering Writing award for the paper portion of his project. “As I advance in my career, and especially as Empo Health grows, the importance of good scientific communication is only expanding. I find my role focusing more and more on the communication pieces as I work on growing the team and establishing strong collaboration amongst everyone, sharing our learnings with key stakeholders, and highlighting what we’re creating for end customers and users.” 

Luis Voloch ’13, SM ’15 can also testify to the power of SuperUROP to transform strong students into strong scientific communicators. When Voloch was enrolled in SuperUROP, in 2012-13, he investigated how sources of information, including viruses, can be concealed or revealed in computer networks. He is now the co-founder of Immunai, an AI-driven cancer immunotherapy biotech company based in New York City which employs over 140 people and develops technologies at the intersection of AI, genomics, big data, and immunology. In addition to his career at Immunai, Voloch lectures within the Stanford Graduate School of Business on management and entrepreneurship topics in data science and AI-heavy companies. In both roles, the communications skills he acquired during his SuperUROP experience help him connect with students. “In my SuperUROP, I started to learn how to do better scientific communications, which I built up further during my graduate research work and beyond. Communicating clearly is a core professional and research skill, and I’m thankful we got started with it that early.” 

As careers change and grow, those core skills can flex to meet new challenges. Jennifer Madiedo ’19, MNG ’20, a senior software engineer in Industry Solutions Engineering at Microsoft, credits her SuperUROP experience with developing her skills in scientific communication and storytelling. “How do you introduce your work to someone who may understand the overarching concepts of your field but not all the details? How do you figure out what background work is relevant and pull it into a cohesive backstory? How do you explain your methodology without losing your reader in too many details? It’s all about the communication; learning to communicate deeply technical ideas in a way peers can understand was a whole new challenge I hadn’t really encountered before at MIT.” 

Madiedo started her career in a half-engineering, half-research natural language processing team at Microsoft, and now works directly with customers and their engineering teams to solve multifaceted problems. “I’m completely out of a lab setting now, but the skills I learned in undergraduate research truly form the bedrock of how I communicate with my teammates and peers.”

Again and again, the alumni of SuperUROP stress that communication — often regarded as a “soft” skill–was one of the most important abilities to be tested and developed by the program. “Communication is important in many areas, but is truly an essential part of science,” says Chelsea Finn, who balances her research and teaching responsibilities at Stanford with a role on the Google Brain team. “The ultimate outcome of science is knowledge, and that knowledge is not very useful if it is not communicated to others!” Finn credits much of her passion for science communication to the “infectious passion” of her SuperUROP advisor, the late Seth Teller: “Seth instilled in me the importance of conveying enthusiasm for things that I am excited about, especially when talking to students and mentees.”

With 10 years of enthusiastic alumni now engaged in groundbreaking work across many fields, that legacy of enthusiasm continues to pull new scientists into the lab, and new students into a productive year of critical thinking, communicating, and creating through SuperUROP.

[rauhauser]

Straight Into Nonlinearity

If you read the hardcore climate science news, say the stuff that appears on phys.org, you probably noticed the articles over the last few years that mentioned scientists fretting about things becoming “non-linear”. Last year seemed to me to be an inflection point; I began saying “2100 is here, 78 years early”. That was based on anecdotes piling up, things that had never happened before coming one after the other in quick succession. That graph is science.

We have to call it something. These are the early years of the Anthropocene, which could be conveniently dated to 1945, thanks to unnatural radioisotopes that started with the Trinity test. But these events of 2022/2023 have the same relationship to the Anthropocene that the Chixilub bolide had to the Paleogene. One is an event, the other a period of time.

I’m glad that’s settled. Welcome to the Nonlinearity.

This is a recurring theme for me. First Dead Gods of Atacama in 2009, then Gamma Draconis Rising in 2017. They’re not precisely the dictionary definition of jeremiads, but I’m no Puritan.

The Book of Jeremiah prophesies the coming downfall of the Kingdom of Judah, and asserts that this is because its rulers have broken the covenant with the Lord. There’s a different covenant that forms the basis of my views – Thomas Covenant. His Wikipedia article describes him as “an embittered and cynical writer, afflicted with leprosy and shunned by society, and fated to become the heroic savior of the Land, an alternate world.”

I read the first two trilogies as they came out in junior high and high school. Donaldson took a twenty one year break between 1983’s White Gold Wielder and 2004’s The Runes of the Earth. Back in 2010 I read all 4,250 pages of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower over the summer. Given the condition of my reading queue I don’t see myself adding something the size of the final Covenent tetralogy, let alone revisiting the first two trilogies, and I wouldn’t read the tetralogy without that review.

Maybe it’s easier for you to sit and listen for a little over six minutes to a fifty year old song.

Some of them were angry At the way the earth was abused By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power And they struggled to protect her from them Only to be confused By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour And when the sand was gone and the time arrived In the naked dawn only a few survived And in attempts to understand a thing So simple and so huge Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge

=================================

Twenty five years ago I stood on the fantail of a tour boat in Resurrection Bay, holding my infant son, watching a tower of ice a fifth of a mile tall come off the front of a tidewater glacier. More than half of the rest of the passengers were throwing up over the railings, having made the mistake of eating the smoked salmon on the buffet.

Today the salmon runs are fading and without the phosphorus they transported upstream the forests of the Pacific Northwest are nutrient starved. They'll burn, sooner rather than later, and the conditions under which they evolved are gone.

The tidewater glaciers of the Kenai Fjords still put on one of nature's greatest shows, but we stopped at the visitor center at the far end of the Turnigan Arm on our way to that cruise. The place where the visitors center stands was under a thousand feet of ice when my grandparents were born, right at the end of the 19th century.

I don't mention Last Of The Laurentide nearly so often as I do the other two essays I mentioned above, but today seems like a good time for that.

[drgreg]

Dr Gregory Arther Hough In Port Elizabeth, South Africa

What a superb initiative to lift consciousness of Southern African chook and marine life, the necessity for conservation and restoration of eco systems. Having raised in excess of R3 million in funds and being a world first voyage into this a half of the Southern Ocean makes this a major conservation exercise to be recognized.. The annual Captains Dinner is on Sat 12th August at 6pm, the weekend of the US PGA Champs, and the day of our last Jack Nicklaus Major of the year. The dates have been set for our annual away trip, and this year once more sees us heading all the way down to the Ezulwini Valley for three days of golf and fun on the excellent venue that's the Royal Swazi. After 3 notably hot days of golf just an hour away from us at Pecanwood, our staff triumphed over our Nicklaus cousins to lastly win again The Golden Bear.

Yesterday our Junior pupils came visiting to the “BIG” school to be shown a factor or two about being a scientist by our Senior Pupils. At our finish of time period Assembly yesterday afternoon we handed out our Sports Awards for the second term. Congratulations to all pupils who had been awarded for his or her contributions to our winter sporting programme.

This weekend would have been our Chapel Anniversary Service and we thought it might be becoming to look again at this historical moment in our Kingswood history. For this week’s #ThrowbackThursday we go back 26 years to our centenary 12 months celebration in 1994 when an inventive impression of our college campus was accomplished to commemorate that year. Our #WellnessWednesday blog this week comes from our faculty psychologist Mrs Teresa Yell. Teresa seems at methods in which we can find elements of happiness in our daily lives.

Assemblies similar to these give us the platform to acknowledge the efforts and keenness that our pupils display in the dr greg hough sporting sphere. Stanley Muranganwa receives an Honours Award for Rugby. [newline]Lethu Gwarube receives an Honours Award for Rugby. Tadiwa Chikutiro receives an Honours Award for Rugby.

The end result was an unbelievable trip all spherical – from the fact of being the 1st cruise liner to Marion Island, all the informative talks by specialists, the incredible sightings of seabirds and wonderful experiences I shall treasure for ever. Birdlife South Africa’s Flock To Marion was a completely distinctive and wonderful expertise. It was well planned, highly organized, and provided a once-in-a-lifetime expertise to birders worldwide who are keen about birds and their conservation.

On the 14th and fifteenth of May, ten of our women took part within the Eastern Cape Netball trials that have been held at Hudson Park in East London. Of the ten, 5 ladies have been selected for Eastern Cape groups, and one for the Sarah Baartman district team. On a quiet winter’s evening and within the darkness, a lone bell rang out. Getting louder and louder with each ring, the bell signalled that every one was not nicely. The first subtle odor of smoke grew to become stronger and more powerful with every whiff, because it drifted off throughout the valley and over our town.

For today’s #MusicMonday we would like to share some pictures from our Strings Concert which occurred on Thursday 5 November. This morning, for the first time ever, our little Grade R pupils held a Graduation Ceremony to mark their move from Kingswood Pre-Primary to the Junior School. The Summer Sunset Concert on Lords on Saturday afternoon was by all accounts an excellent dr greg hough success! The individuals, all one hundred ten of them, enjoyed offering the music. The programme included the String Ensemble, First Band, Concert Band, Saxonettes and six Marimba Groups. It was all about giving everybody a possibility to perform after such a very long time.

Shingirai Manyarara receives an Honours Award for Rugby. The Cape Town Medical Research Center is a high notch medical facility that always strives to improve the lives of sufferers taking part in studies. The Research Centre is run by Dr Landi Lombard, Endocrinologist and his team of highly certified personnel. Due diligence is most necessary when conducting medical research and nobody understands this higher than our staff. The utmost care is at all times taken to guard the confidentiality of patients, while additionally taking care of their safety at all times. These guidelines require a team method to the number of suitable surgical candidates, pre-operative preparation, peri-operative care and life-long post-operative follow-up to ensure on-going good health.

[arkadiaasks]

Why exactly do Misawa’s decks(that we know of) revolve around inconsistent gimmicks when he is supposed to be the guy that works his decks out to “mathematical perfection?” Where are the Giant Rats and Warrior Ladies for the EARTH deck, the Mother Grizzlies and Abyss Soldiers for the WATER deck? Where are all the limited staples that make decks actually competitive? Why does he use a Ritual monster in a deck that doesn’t run Ritual support? He is supposed to be smarter than this, for god’s sake!

Because his gimmick is he's Junior Scientist Power Hour Boy, lol. Not Meta Jackass Chad Lee Thundercockington Esquire IV 24.

He plays six decks based on scientific knowledge. The chemistry behind water, magnetism, the Litmus Test. And these Decks are capable of, or are meant to, in story, of obliterating anyone he's able to plan against.

Besides Judai who is Mr. Man Who Vibes. Misawa is more the specialist rogue player who designs quirky bullshit that snaps spines when given the chance.

(For those curious, Konami DOES Try to follow this concept of science Decks on this in Tag Force)

LIGHT: Good Stuff with Light Rays/Reflections (TF1); Batteryman (TF3)

DARK: Anti-Meta/Control DARK with Litmus (TF1 & TF3)

WIND: Bounce + Simorgh with "Atmospheric Currents" (TF1 & TF3)

WATER: Water Dragon + WATER Good Stuff (TF1 & TF3)

FIRE: Ultimate Baseball Kid (TF1); Ultimate Baseball Kid Featuring Goka (TF3) (Likely a reference to him being good at Sports)

EARTH: Magnet Warrior (TF1); Yokai (TF3)

[abby-howard]

Feelin this classic today, lads

[thewebcomicsreview]

Abby Howard has a lot of educational comics, but none more useful or true than these journal strips about how much New York sucks. It super sucks! I’m a dirty Warren-supporting neoliberal (Elizabeth Warren: The Thinking Man’s Socialist), but nothing turns me into Chapo Trap House faster than driving down the endless garish nightmare of neon capitalist excess that is downtown NYC. Going from Boston to New York is like going from White Trash Star Trek to Real Trash Star Wars. Why do you people leave literal piles of garbage in the streets? Get a bin! They’re not that expensive! 

Like, if you’ve never been. You see how in the second strip there’s a bunch of trash bags just lying on the sidewalk?

And it’s just as smelly and disgusting as you’d imagine and I asked a New Yorker why they live like this and he couldn’t answer me so I went home hugged my bin.

Like, that you to all my readers from New York, but you live in the Bad Place and I hope you’re able to escape

[a-year-of-twrp]

Tupperware Remix Party: The Comics

In case you didn't know, the incredibly talented Abby Howard made some killer comics about our resident space boys! Check them out here:

1. Tupperware Remix Party

2. TWRP: The Device-- part I

3. TWRP: The Device Part 2-1

4. TWRP: The Device Part 2-2

(And here are links to Abby's archive, Twitter, and Tumblr if you want to see more of her work!)