#make up a quantum computer and call it good!

[cherubchoirs]

cold-hearted

[carionto]

Hyperbrake Racing

Everything in Human ships has a manual override. They love automating all processes and reduce any workload to nothing, but also have this compulsive need to be able to take direct control if so desired.

They also have emergency off switches for everything. Yes, including life support. Don't ask, you'll just get a variant of:

"But What If!?"

Obviously, this applies to things you should never under any circumstances shut down preemptively, such as a Hyperspace Jump.

The earliest space-faring civilizations quickly discovered that if a Hyperdrive has a power interruption even for a nano-second your atoms will get dispersed across a few light months. This is why all Hyperdrives have an internal chargeable uninterruptible power supply unit.

Humanity, however, did not allow "Not having any reason whatsoever" to stop them from figuring out a way. Utilizing their ridiculous quantum computer speed and the ability of their fusion reactors to charge a Hyperdrive mid-jump, and with an injection of a disgusting few million lines of hack code that manipulate all related pieces of hardware in just the most nauseating sequences, they created the Hyperbrake.

Also, not a metaphor - braking literally causes Humans to feel nauseous, sometimes throw up, rarely even pass out. Not a single volunteer crew member aboard joint vessels from any of the other Coalition species has dared to "test" what happens to them.

As with nearly all things Humans come across or invent, they will find a use for it should one not occur normally.

_____________________

Near Neptune

Daniel, Samantha, and Nicholas Schreier were three siblings ages 17, 19, and 20, respectively. Today they had "borrowed" their dad's General FordStar mark 980-MZ HaulerHound, a civilian grade transport typically used by small business owners. Dad, however, was an enthusiast, and had modified the "Hound Dog", as he calls it, with a military grade reactor and computer core. He's always been that guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who can get the thing legally enough.

There is a nearby research station that the kids often visit due to their mom working there, but today she was not. Instead, what they are doing, is racing against each other to set the best record. Well, technically the opposite of racing - coming to a halt.

Using the Hyperbrake, they are competing to see who can stop the closest to the stations outer point-defense range without entering it or you automatically lose. After Samantha's turn, they were suddenly contacted by the station. It was Yakovskii, one of mom's colleagues and a frequent guest at dad's barbecues, so they were on sorta good terms. Not by the tone voice coming through the comms rights now though:

"What in the Hell are you thinking!? At first I thought you were just messing around and accidentally did that, but TWICE now!?! I checked the trajectory, if you had stopped a half-second later, you would've ended up mere meters from Neptune's upper atmosphere! Did you account for the possible sudden gravitational pull? Can you maneuver that lumbering ship fast enough to not get pulled down? Not to mention Hyperbraking severely impairs your cognitive abilities for a moment? A moment that you need to be clearheaded for or risk DEATH!?!"

The three siblings could only hang their heads in shame and mutter out some weak apologies. After a moment of silence and reflection, Yakovskii speaks in a warmer tone:

*sigh* "Look, I understand it's a fancy new toy and you want to see what you can do. I get it, I really do. Me and my brother used to play vertical hockey the first time we got our hands on a surplus gravity field generator. But we first figured out how to make sure we didn't break our bones in case it failed. Seriously, never forget to consider your own safety first before you try out new things in a peaceful environment. You're not being chased by pirates or trying to avoid the law or whatever.

Take your time, pick a starting position that's further away and keeps Neptune and any of its moons to the side of the station, then aim for an area of space that only has the outer range of the defenses and empty space ahead from your point of view. And please set the regular Hyperjump destination within Sol, don't just pick a random place. The Hyperbrake sometimes loops in on itself and never executes the brake and can only be reset once out of Hyperspace. You don't want to get stuck in a pointless jump for hours do you?"

After this admonishment, the siblings apologized more energetically and took his advice to heart. They spent the next hour competing until all three were down to single meter differences and kinda got bored, so they docked at the station and hung out with the off-duty staff, played some poker, but then dad barged in and dragged them all home. They were not invited to the barbecue gatherings for two weeks, but only because mom told him to. Personally he was excited about all the data his kids had unknowingly given him with all their jumping and braking, a real stress test for his beautiful Hound Dog.

[mammalsofaction]

Lunch Break

Rating: M

Relationship: Heinz Doofenshmirtz/Perry the Platypus

Add tags: Human Perry, mute Perry, Professor Time timeline, AYA CATU and MML s2 compliant, established relationship, they're married y'all, concerns about Dakota and Cavendish being fired, inadvisable sex locations for anyone but especially 55+year old men

---

Perry has mixed feelings about the Clock Tower.

It was not, actually, to be fair. Named the Clock Tower. It was actually the Time Industries Headquarters. But everyone, including Perry and Heinz himself, called it the Clock Tower. It's a clever enough play on words, and they were both dads, at heart. 

It sat in the very middle of the Tri-State Area, a gleaming tower of titanium, gold and glass. It was largely sterile, cold and white, to match current aesthetics, and parts that weren't were gold or purple. It was beautiful, majestic, grand. On some days, it reminded Perry of the Stark Towers from New York, though he doubts their entrances were flanked by 10 feet tall marble statues of it's owner and founder. 

(And on others, it reminded him of a castle in black and vile green, on a separate yet parallel Quantum Plane manned by a twisted tyrant with a face both beloved and unfamiliar.

On those days, he had Heinz come visit him instead. They were both too old to be courting nightmares.)

We digress. While Perry's tastes may not generally align, love begged for compromises. Heinz would not be Heinz, if he did not demand for bigger, better, shinier, for bolder. In every universe and timeline, he is the same--Heinz was born for greatness, and he made sure everyone knew it. 

In the lobby, both people and bots made way for him. He'd preferred if they didn't, but Carl had laughed at him once, said that Perry had always carried an aura to him that  demanded respect. Larger than life. They would have made way for him even if they didn't (and within these walls, they all clearly did) know who he was. 

"Good morning, Perry the Platypus." Chirped N.O.R.M, in that familiar, cheerful sounding boom as he approached the reception desk. Heinz had been loath to dispose of his very first successful robot, even as the gradual progression of technology began to far exceed the capabilities of his initial body. He had the rust bucket stored lovingly somewhere deep within the basement of the building, Perry is sure: but the rest of his sentience, and computed consciousness was hooked to the entirety of Time Industries, making him their artificial eyes and ears all throughout every property on the globe, and some where there weren't. A gesture of pride and trust that had not gone unnoticed; it only took them 20 years and the development of time travel, but Heinz was finally proud of AI “son”.

Of course, the unfortunate side effects of keeping an AI that was so familiar with their history were names and labels so ingrained that they couldn't quite be re-programmed and removed. Perry had no complaints, and he knows Heinz feels at least a little bit of affection for them. How, despite everything, some things remained the same. 

Perry pats N.O.R.M's monitor affectionately, and pointed up. N.O.R.M beeps. "Ah! You are here to visit Dad." 

Perry chuckles, and signs freely, knowing that N.O.R.M would be able to read him. I am. Is he busy? 

The AI whirred in the approximation of a laugh. "Never too busy for you, Perry the Platypus! And it is almost Muffin Time. I have informed him of your arrival. Do you need me to carry those for you?" 

Perry looked down at his baggage; a folder and a take-away bag of take-out he had practically forgotten he was carrying. He thinks, and shakes his head. N.O.R.M beeps curiously, but complies with an easy, "As you wish, Perry the Platypus." 

The elevator empties as he is about to climb on, and Perry catches the eye of Dr Aloise Alpaca--one of his three chosen B.O.T.T council members in charge of domestic judicial matters. Aloise startles, and Perry raises an eyebrow. Instead of answering, the alpaca bows hurriedly, and clops away with the rest of the crowd. Perry hums, but slips in quickly before the doors of the elevator closes, and Perry slaps his watch to the chip Reader so N.O.R.M could grant him access to the penthouse. 

From outside, the top of the clocktower was simultaneously reminiscent of DEI as it was of Big Bertha, the old pride and joy of Jefferson County. The roof was a bulletproof dome of glass that could be retracted into an open space plan for the telescope and other large machinery that lets in natural light by day, and an unobstructed view of the stars by night. Four analog style clocks faced four cardinal directions, 3 of which portraying the timezones of each of Time Industries' major headquarters (Tri-State Area, USA; Greenwich in London, England; and the Null Island), and one, incomprehensible and erratic, which does not follow any sort of timezone known at all to man. 

When Perry steps out into the Penthouse, he finds his husband staring out the eastern clock, a one-way glass window looking out into Danville. The light of the late noonday sun paints him in strips of yellow and blue, bringing out the whites of his hair (more salt than pepper, now) and making him glow. 

He'd brought Melissa up here, once. Now Nicholson, not Chase. She'd said the backlight makes him look like an angel. She couldn't figure out why the comment had made Perry laugh as hard as it did. 

Heinz turns at the sound of Perry chuckling at the memory, his tired expression blooming into that wide, familiar smile that grows even wider as Perry circles around the imposing glass and mahogany desk to plant a sweet kiss on Heinz's lips. 

"Good to see you too, Schnuckiputzi." He said softly, and rolls his chair to the side to allow Perry to sit on the edge of the desk. "Ah, you  came here to cheer me up." He continues when he sees Perry put down the take-out bag, but sours when Perry pointedly takes out and waves the folder that had been tucked underneath his armpit. 

Read the rest on Ao3

Bad news. Perry signs importantly. Heinz groans, rolling his seat back close to his deak so that he is tucked between the vee of Perry's legs. Perry pats his hair sympathetically.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for handing off my facility to my trusty assistant?

Hello, people of the internet! C- uh, anonymous here (M, hell if I know), and I have a question for you. Do you like science? Of course you do! Now, my company has been a leading researcher in all fields of science for the past 30 years, especially with our quantum tunneling technology! Well in pursuit of that research, I made what the lab boys call "a wildly irresponsible purchase" of $70 million worth of moon rocks! Turns out, they're pure poison and I am now deathly ill.

See now, I've had a thought for a while now. We can store music and data on compact discs, but what's stopping us there? Why can't we store a person on one? I have the lab boys working on that now, but... I fear it might be too late for me. I decided to leave this facility to my amazing assistant, C (F, I don't think I ever asked her age). She's a modest girl, I know she'll protest, but she's smarter than she thinks and I know this place'll be in good hands with her. I also want her to take my place in the computer. I don't trust anyone else to take over and if C could run this place forever, I know she could handle it, but she doesn't always have the most confidence in herself.

I'm just worried I'm making her do something she really doesn't want. Like I said, she'll protest and say she can't, but I know she can do it. Unless those lab boys speed it up and manage to stuff me in a computer before I die, I won't change my decision, there's no one I trust more, but still. I want to know, am I the asshole for this?

[thatonebirdwrites]

Holy shit was this chapter hard to write. So many moving pieces. Also, upping the stakes appropriately.

I feel bad for what I'm putting Lena through. She's gonna need so many cuddles from Kara after all this.

____

EXCERPT:

Lena pictures boxes. Or Crystals. Objects to contain emotions and energy. Except even boxes that hold energy — potential wells as they are called in quantum mechanics — fail to contain. Particles still leak through the barriers, that quantum tunneling effect, which means energy too leaks out. Matter and energy are sides of the same coin really.

These are facts Lena knows by heart. One of her degrees dealt with quantum mechanics, specifically quantum computing. 

Yet knowing facts does not stop the problem that she currently leaks energy. Her so-called ‘magic’ tunneling out of her boxes. It rattles windows, shakes the ground, and Lena needs control.

It doesn’t help that her Uncail Fionn stands in front of her, the memory of his binding seared back into her brain. It’s taking most of her concentration to not lash out further at him. “I need you,” she points to him, “to make a list of what we need for this expedition. We must reach the forge before the full moon tonight. Understood?”

The tables rock back and forth around them, which makes her words perhaps a bit more ominous than she meant. 

Fionn nods. “Not much but food and hiking gear needed.”

She can see the fear in his tight expression, the way he has his own magic curling around his hand. Narrowing her eyes, she takes a step closer. He jerks backward. “If you dare to use magic on me again, Uncail Fionn,” she spits out his name, “I will make you regret it, understand?”

Her fury knocks over the nearby table and one of the windows cracks.

Fionn nods, his hand clenches into a fist, and his silver magic fades. “Don’t eat the head off me,” he says, a shake in his voice. “I’m agreeing to help. I want to make sure yuh survive this, okay?” 

Lena smiles humorlessly. “I’m simply making sure we have an understanding.” 

Fionn lets out a heavy sigh. “Control, Lena. To find the forge, yuh need control.” 

How absolutely infuriating. She knows that. But looking at Fionn has her anger flaring with a vengeance, which in turn somehow impacts her energy and that causes damage to the environment. All around them, the tables and chairs are knocked over and there are hairline cracks in the windows. If this is part of the gift the Morrigan gave her, it is incredibly unsettling, but Lena cannot afford to let anyone see that. She has to stay strong and confident, especially in front of her uncail. She finds using the Irish term for the word helps keep her distance from him.

“We definitely need lots of snacks,” Kara says, her eyes locked on Lena. “Nia, can you and Fionn cover that? I saw so many good ones at the ordering counter. Lena and I will meet you in the parking lot.”

“Sure thing.” Nia gives a mock salute. “Hey Irish dude. Ready?”

[crazy56u]

Okay, it’s NASCAR time!

And we start immediately behind the wheel, no recap, just go.

Ben, if you don’t floor it, the episode ends early. Gas it.

And the verdict is… Ben barely almost fucked up the episode from the jump.

Ben, you are doing splendidly at maintaining kayfabe today.[/sarcasm]

“Dad, I think Junior’s lost it.”

And that’s the rub: Ben gets another stab at preventing a heart attack.

“No breaks and no doctors. It’s like he wants a heart attack.”

“Hey, I said I’m good, leave ambulances out of this!”

“Look, either I race today, or I die on the spot, I die either way, but at least I die doing something I love!”

“Son, I know I can be a bitch, but doing that helps me ignore my health problems.”

Oh. Goody. Gideon found out how to make the Imaging Chamber work.

Gideon, stop giving Ben shit, he’s better at this than you.

“Who the Hell are you?” He’s a dick, Ben.

…

…

I fucking called it.

Good fucking job, Ben, by having a subplot with Hannah, you fucking caused the antagonist.

Gideon, Ben fucking saved your mom and tried to save your dad, get your head out of your ass.

GIDEON THAT IS NOT HOW THE FUCKING BUTTERFLY EFFECT WORKS YOU DIPSHIT

“Ben, by meeting my mom, you killed my dad, that is how that works, I am a smart man!”

…oh. Ben caused a divorce.

Okay, I still say Gideon is being an idiot here, but I also am on his side somewhat; Ben, you should’ve picked a different date to mail that…

Wow, Ben really did fuck up royal…

This is just the Evil Leaper Project on steroids.

I love how you asked that as if Gideon doesn’t want Ben dead on the spot…

Well, luckily Addison, you have enough wiggle room to fix this.

“Hey, bitches, you all thought I was gone from the show!”

This is now a fucking proxy war.

Ian ran to that computer like a kid running to Toys R Us.

Beth is 100% on board with this shit, I love it.

And now everyone gets to learn about “Mirror Image”, aka “What if Ben didn’t fuck up trying to save Josh”.

And cut to Ben trying to fix this from his end with a payphone.

And Jeffery is even more mad at you, Ben. Why did you call Collect…

“Addison, what the heck-“ “Quick recap, we remembered Janis existed, she set up Bootleg Quantum Leap.” “Okay, cool, Gideon is Jeffery, and I accidentally ruined his life helping Hannah.”

I still can’t get over the fact that Hannah indirectly caused this.

Jenn is gonna use an RC car to Jailbreak the Project.

Oh God, I missed those sounds…

Okay, so God just wanted this to happen then…

That’s the rub: Ben has between 20 to 42 minutes to save the future.

And so Ben steals a race car.

And fucking “Highway Star”.

Ben, causing more car accidents will not help you right now…

“You mean is Ben gonna have to strangle Baby Hitler?” I want that framed on my wall.

“Ziggy says we have to ruin a young child’s hopes and dreams, this will be fucking easy!”

And they forgot Gideon still had access to the cameras.

And Janis points out the elephant in the room: That goddamn chip.

If Ben smashes that computer, it’s a coin flip whether or not a Marty McFly happens.

And while Team A discusses paradoxes, Gideon is about to fuck over the leap.

And Jenn breaks the elevator.

And there’s Tom’s last contribution to the show, ladies and germs.

“SIR, STUART LITTLE IS ATTACKING US!”

And as Ben is burning through gas during a gas crisis, Jenn is fighting against the clock.

Okay, luckily this is a time travel show, so Jenn won’t be dead for long.

…okay, so now we have another notch in the “Ruin a child’s life” column.

“Ben Song did this.” DUDE YOU ARE THE ONE WHO ORDERED THEM TO FIRE

Addison, Jenn just died, maybe don’t do this now?

He had just enough gas to get close enough to the house. Symbolic.

“He named the computer gaffer his father.” Okay, so is Ben willing to literally kill his dad?

“You think an apology changes anything?” The alternative is Ben using that hammer, Jeffery, and there’s two things he can use that on…

“Look, Jeffery, if it makes you feel better, I ruined my life too.”

Ah, so time is the real antagonist.

I just realized this is technically now A Christmas Carol. Jeffery is past, Gideon is Present, Ben is Yet To Come.

“You want me to help you?” “Well, according to you, you would be better at this than me, so, how about a crash course?”

And Jeffery decides to steal Hannah’s car.

And Ben decides to invent the defibrillator.

“He failed.” “How can you be sure?” “Because we’re still here!” Gideon, the butterfly effect isn’t instant. Ben has to hit 100%.

“Time to meet my destiny.” Yeah, and it’s called getting Marty McFlyed.

And cut to Rick stroking out.

[I love how their solution to “How do we do a NASCAR episode but not have it involve a lot of car racing?” was time travel proxy war meets A Christmas Carol.]

And the noose is tightening…

Ben, any second now!

“Look, don’t ask what I’m doing, I have to save my dad!”

And it’s shaping up to be a buzzer beater…

Okay, Rick is saved, 1 for 2…

“Okay, Jeffery, did this fix things for you?” “…I mean, I guess?”

And there’s that butterfly effect, dickhead!

And the timeline is fixed! Yay!

…and Addison is the only one who remembers Jenn died, oh dear.

And Addison decides to go into the Accelerator anyway.

And Hannah still hasn’t fucking aged.

“Hey, sorry my letter fucked over your family.”

“Ben, your letter gave us more time with him. Granted, yes, he stormed out after finding it, and got in his car-“

And here we have another example of why NBC needs to renew this show.

“Look, Ben sacrificed his life to stop me from leaping, and so say that shouldn’t have happened.”

Ben, I have a hunch that code won’t work, even if NBC is being dicks about renewing the show.

“Home isn’t a place. It’s a person.” …calling it, Ben isn’t going home; Addison’s joining him.

And survey says…

YEP

There’s your third season pitch! Reusing the plan for OG Season 6!

And so Ben and Addison have to deal with another explosion.

NBC needs to fucking renew this show, dead serious.

[shadowmaat]

Small god of engineering miracles

There's a scene in S2 of Good Omens where Aziraphale borrows someone's mobile to make a call and does so by asking the phone nicely to do it.

All I could think of is the scene in Star Trek IV where Scotty tries to talk to an "ancient" computer by picking up the mouse and going "hello, computer!"

Obviously it didn't work. But imagine if it did. Imagine the reaction of the salesguy when some random weirdo comes in and talks to a computer and it answers him.

That alone would be funny enough, but then the hamster wheel in my head started spinning.

So now imagine that in some future time, Scotty is Known to some machine consciousness. He's considered a Friend of Machines. Maybe even factor in all that time he spent trapped in the transporter buffer for how this came to be. Add in some "quantum computing" thingamajig that sends ripples up and down the timeline. 99% of the time it isn't relevant because Scotty, as he's "known" in the future, doesn't exist yet.

But then you send that Scotty back in time to 1986. He walks into a computer store, picks up a mouse, and says "hello, computer!"

A lot of handwavy stuff happens and this desktop computer, existing centuries before Scotty was even born, suddenly gains enough quantum contamination (wave your hands harder) and realizes this is Montgomery Scott. I need to help him. And so the words appear on the screen:

Hello, Mr. Scott. How may I help you?

Cue the salesguy's jaw hitting the floor as Scotty happily chats with the computer that absolutely should not work that way.

Anyway, I know there's a billion reasons why it couldn't work (and I understand it was important for things to play out the way they did in Voyage Home) but I still find the idea vastly amusing.

[theverumproject]

Luce Balton

Era: The Awakening (2045)

Basic profile:

Birthday: 05.03.2024

Age: 21

Nationality: Australian

Hometown: Redville (fictional town), Australia

Sex: Female

Gender: Woman

Pronouns: She/her, doesn't mind being called they/them

Sexual orientation: ??? and ???

Appearance:

Head:

Shape: Somewhere between heart and diamond

Eyes: Green, slightly upturned and deep set

Nose: Thin, on the longer side and pointy

Mouth: Naturally red lips, down turned

Hair: Brown, straight, waist length

Body:

Skin: On the paler side

Build: Skinny, hourglass-y, long legs

Height: 183 cm (6”0)

Clothes:

Top: Likes hoodies and long armed shirts. Prefers dark colors like black and brown

Bottom: Likes jeans that are either black or dark blue. Rarely wears dresses and skirts, only on special occasions

Shoes: Likes sneakers and sometimes boots in black or brown

Accessoires: Doesn't wear much except small earrings and maybe a necklace sometimes

Childhood: 

Family: She grew up in a loving home with a mom, a dad and a brother. Most of her time as a child was spent with one of her family members.  

She often accompanied her father to his secret workplace (that nobody knew about) and learned all the secrets of his actual work(place). From a young age, he taught her about computer science, programming and AI. Luce had always been a nerd about many topics. But what her father had to tell, was her favorite one of all. 

Her brother Adam was obsessed with quantum physics. She also spent quite some time with him. Either playing or listening to what he had to say. Sadly, it all had to end when he began his studies and had barely any time for her (much to his regret, he loved his little sister).

Her mother was an astrophysicist. Similar to the other family members, Dorothy taught her many things too. She was the one who took care of her the most. They would spend many nights outside in the garden. They would set up a camp and a very good telescope to watch the stars and planets very closely.

When nobody was home, especially when she was younger, her uncle and aunt took care of her often. A love for science seemed to run in their family. Then they were a neuroscientist and an anthropologist. You can guess how they entertained Luce.

School: Luce was homeschooled. It does not come as a surprise that Luce would have been underwhelmed if she stayed at a normal school. She didn't solve complicated math equations at five years old, but she definitely already understood how to multiply numbers up to 100. Teachers also often got frustrated with her. She would always ask them the kind of questions she would ask at home, and always wanted to learn something that was not age appropriate.

Her parents could afford it and even knew a teacher personally, who would become Luce's teacher for quite a few years. He too helped raise her of sorts.

Friends: Being homeschooled, Luce didn't make too many friends in her life. She did go to the park occasionally to play with other children, but didn't really make any long lasting connections. Additionally, she would also be rejected sometimes. After all, she was a kid who they knew didn't fit into their school, meaning she was not seen as one of them. An outsider. 

As she got older she knew that she really lacked something during her childhood.

Conclusion: Luce had a wonderful homelife, but wasn't good at making deeper friendships, therefore having weaker social skills.

Relationships:

Bluctro: Boyfriend

Dethra: New friend

Michael: Father

Dorothy: Mother

Adam: Brother

Jacob: Uncle

Sophie: Aunt

Martin: Uncle, but haven't interacted with each other much.

Personality:

Type: INTJ/Architect (possibly)

Definition: The INTJ personality type is Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, and Judging, which means they are energized by time alone, focused on big picture ideas and concepts, led by logic and reason, and organized. This combination of personality preferences produces people who are analytical, innovative, and strategic. 

Interview: The Luce from this interview will be from the year 2093, so her personality might be a little different. Though I might make one for 2045. I will link it in here too.

Origins:

Protoversions:

1: I think it began when I was about seven years old. Like most little girls, I thought stuff like fairies and superpowers were super cool! So I imagined a hero who was something like that. She could fly, had fairy wings (sometimes) and was a robot. Fun fact: The robot part was inspired by Lego NInjago's Zane. I remember there was that one scene, where he opened his chest and revealed the mechanical parts inside. Protoversion 1 liked to do the same. Now, this little world I had was purely fantasy, no science fiction yet. (I didn't see being a robot as Sci fi as a kid). Protoversion 1 was an absolute Mary Sue. She had all the powers in the world! You see, there were a bunch of hearts inside her torso, every single one of them holding a different power: Fire, water, lighting, poison and maaaany more! Silly seven year old me…

2: When I was about ten or eleven years old, I absolutely fell in love with astronomy. I was obsessed! All I wanted was space, the universe and the cosmos. Logically, this is where my new fantasy world began to take place. Protoversion 2 didn't have wings anymore and wasn't a robot anymore either. But they were the queen of a star system. I think I must have had something with elements and stuff like that, because the system had a bunch of planets that were all themed after different elements and other stuff like that. They even had names! I drew a picture of it all these years ago:

With Protoversion 2, Sci fi elements began to take place, though it still was a world that was mostly fantasy. (Verum was meant to start 2000 years in the future, where they live in space)

3: Protoversion 2 didn't exist long, then she soon was replaced by 3. I think I was about 11 or 12 years old. And oh god was I weird and edgy! Ewgghhhh! (I mean, I'm probably still slightly edgy, but I was serious about that shit during that time!!!) I had the wonderful idea to create a secret organization! They were called the Spreatures, which is a mix between spirit and nature. At the time, I believed in subliminals and that humans had powers buried deep inside of them. And the Spreatures used these powers to help save the world! Their leader was called XVerum and later just Verum. Verum is the Latin word for truth. Today's Verum doesn't actually associate with that meaning though.

4/Verum: I suddenly changed all my views when I was about 13 years old and the actual Verum came to be! My nerdy ass couldn't leave science alone and changed up the whole world again. This time: Space, robots, aliens and the attempt to be scientifically accurate. When I was 14, I think, I began writing the first three parts of Verum as a final school project.  The first part was called How to be Immortal and it was what I call a Bridge today. This bridge played 2000 years in the future though.  The second part was Birth of a Digital Mind, which is actually the third part in Verum I: The Awakening. Discovery of the Undead and Interdimensional Beings was the third and last part. How one might notice, this part obviously had fantasy elements. Verum was at the very beginning supposed to be Sci fi fantasy, but I scrapped that idea. This is the first drawing of Verum:

Luce Balton: Verum obviously needed an actual name, especially if I wanted to write about her before she became Verum. I attempted to write the beginning of the book 2000 years in the future. But it didn't work. So what do you do, when you don't know how to begin a story? You jump two millennium into the past to tell the whole fucking story from the beginning! Fucking hell… This is the first drawing of Luce:

If you have any questions about Luce, ask away in the comments or in a reblog! I will put your question and my answer in this post.

Masterpost

[mariacallous]

Many times a year, as if on a hidden schedule, some tech person, often venture-capital-adjacent, types out a thought on social media like “The only thing liberal arts majors are good for is scrubbing floors while I punch them” and hits Send. Then the poetry people respond—often a little late, in need of haircuts—with earnest arguments about the value of art.

I am an English major to death. (You know us not by what we’ve read but by what we are ashamed not to have read.) But I learned years ago that there’s no benefit in joining this debate. It never resolves. The scientist-novelist C. P. Snow went after the subject in 1959 in a lecture called “The Two Cultures,” in which he criticized British society for favoring Shakespeare over Newton. Snow gets cited a lot. I have always found him unreadable, which, yes, embarrasses me but also makes me wonder whether perhaps the humanities had a point.

By the time I went to college, in the mixtape days, the Two Cultures debate had migrated to corkboards. In the liberal arts building, people tacked up pro-humanities essays they had snipped out of magazines. A hot Saturday night for me was to go and read them. Other people were trying drugs. I found the essays perplexing. I got the gist, but why would one need to defend something as urgent and essential as the humanities? Then again, across the street in the engineering building, I remember seeing bathroom graffiti that read “The value of a liberal arts degree,” with an arrow pointing to the toilet paper. I was in the engineering building because they had Silicon Graphics workstations.

Wandering between these worlds, I began to realize I was that most horrifying of things: interdisciplinary. At a time when computers were still sequestered in labs, the idea that an English major should learn to code was seen as wasteful, bordering on abusive—like teaching a monkey to smoke. How could one construct programs when one was supposed to be deconstructing texts? Yet my heart told me: All disciplines are one! We should all be in the same giant building. Advisers counseled me to keep this exceptionally quiet. Choose a major, they said. Minor in something odd if you must. But why were we even here, then? Weren’t we all—ceramic engineers and women’s studies alike—rowing together into the noosphere? No, I was told. We are not. Go to your work-study job calling alumni for donations.

So I got my degree, and off I went to live an interdisciplinary life at the intersection of liberal arts and technology, and I’m still at it, just as the people trashing the humanities are at it too. But I have come to understand my advisers. They were right to warn me off.

Because humans are primates and disciplines are our territories. A programmer sneers at the white space in Python, a sociologist rolls their eyes at a geographer, a physicist stares at the ceiling while an undergraduate, high off internet forums, explains that Buddhism anticipated quantum theory. They, we, are patrolling the borders, deciding what belongs inside, what does not. And this same battle of the disciplines, everlasting, ongoing, eternal, and exhausting, defines the internet. Is blogging journalism? Is fan fiction “real” writing? Can video games be art? (The answer is always: Of course, but not always. No one cares for that answer.)

When stuff gets out of hand, we don’t open disciplinary borders. We craft new disciplines: digital humanities, human geography, and yes, computer science (note that “science” glued to the end, to differentiate it from mere “engineering”). In time, these great new territories get their own boundaries, their own defenders. The interdisciplinarian is essentially an exile. Someone who respects no borders enjoys no citizenship.

You could argue that for all the talk of the university as an “intellectual commons,” it is actually an institution intended to preserve a kind of permanent détente between the disciplines—a place where you can bring French literature professors together with metallurgists and bind them with salaries so that they might not kill each other. The quad as intellectual DMZ. But those bonds are breaking down. Universities are casting disciplines to the wind. Whole departments are shuttering. The snazzy natatorium stays open, French literature goes away. And then the VC types get on Twitter, or X, or whatever, to tell us that poetry is useless. The losses are real.

And so what, really? Well, what I mourn is not a particular program at a college I never visited but the sense of institutions being in balance. I’ve spent most of my life wanting desperately for institutions to be disrupted, and now I find myself entering the second half of my existence (if I’m lucky) absolutely craving that stability. The delicate détente is vanishing, that sense of having options. A shorter course catalog is an absolute sign of a society in decline.

But also, we’re cutting off the very future that the tech industry promises us is coming. If the current narrative holds—if AI is victorious—well, liberal arts types will be ascendant. Because rather than having to learn abstruse, ancient systems of rules and syntaxes (mathematical notation, C++, Perl) in order to think higher thoughts, we will be engaged with our infinitely patient AI tutors/servants like Greek princelings, prompting them to write code for us, make spreadsheets for us, perform first-order analysis of rigid structures for us, craft Horn clauses for us.

I see what you nerds have done with AI image-creation software so far. Look at Midjourney’s “Best of” page. If you don’t know a lot about art but you know what you like, and what you like is large-breasted elf maidens, you are entering the best possible future. You might think, Hey, that’s what the market demands. But humans get bored with everything. We’re just about done with Ant-Man movies.

The winners will be the ones who can get the computer to move things along the most quickly, generate the new fashions and fads, turn that into money, and go to the next thing. If the computers are capable of understanding us, and will do our bidding, and enable us to be more creative, then the people in our fields—yes, maybe even the poets—will have an edge. Don’t blame us. You made the bots.

Perhaps this is why they lash out, so strangely—a fear of the grip slipping, the sense that all the abstruse and arcane knowledge gathered about large language models, neural nets, blockchains, and markets might be erased. Will be erased. At least art goes for the long game, you know? Poems are many things, and often lousy, but they are not meant to be disposable, nor do they require a particular operating system to work.

All you have to do is look at a tree—any tree will do—to see how badly our disciplines serve us. Evolutionary theory, botany, geography, physics, hydrology, countless poems, paintings, essays, and stories—all trying to make sense of the tree. We need them all, the whole fragile, interdependent ecosystem. No one has got it right yet.

[mysteriousquantumphysics]

Cutting Quantum Circuits into Pieces - why and how?

Even though quantum computing is a promising and huge field, it is still at an early development stage. We know algorithms with clear advantage towards classical algorithms such as Grover's or Shor's - however, we are far away from implementing those algorithms on real devices for e.g. breaking state of the art RSA encriptions.

Today's Possibilities of Quantum Computing

Thus, part of current research is to make use of the kind of quantum computers which are available today: Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. They are far away from ideal quantum computers since they provide only a limited number of qubits, have faulty gate implementations and measurements and the quantum states decohere rather fast [1]. As a result, algorithms which require large depth circuits cannot be realistically implemented nowadays. Instead, it is advisable to find out what can be done with the currently available NISQ devices. Good candidates are variational quantum algorithms (VQA) in which one uses both quantum and classical methods: One constructs a parametrized quantum circuit whose parameters are optimized by a classical optimizer (e.g. COBYLA). To those methods belong for instance the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) which can be used to find the ground state energy of a Hamiltonian (a problem which is in general often tackled without quantum computing, i.e. classical computing with tensor network approaches). Another method is solving QUBO problems with the quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA). These are promising ideas, but one should note that it is not sure yet whether we can obtain quantum advantage with them or not [2].

Cutting Quantum Circuits

So far, we have learned that current quantum devices are faulty, hence still far away from fault-tolerant quantum computers. Thus, it is preferable to make quantum circuits of the above mentioned VQAs smaller somehow. Imagine the case in which you want to use the ibm_cairo system with 27 quibts, but the problem you want to solve requires 50 qubits - what can you do? One prominent idea is to cut the circuit of your algorithm into pieces (in this case, bipartitioning it). How can this be done? As you can imagine, such a task requires sophisticated methods to simulate the quantum behaviour of the large circuit even though one has fewer qubits available. Let's briefly look on how this can be done.

Wire Cutting v.s. Gate Cutting

There are different ideas about where to place the cut. In some situations it might be advisable to cut a complicated gate [3, 4]. The more illustrative way is to cut one or more wires of a circuit by implementing a certain decomposition of an identity onto the wire(s) to be cut [5, 6]. In general, such a decomposition looks like

L is the space of linear operators on the d-dimensional complex vector space. How should this be understood? For example in [6] they apply a special case of this identity equation; in a run of the circuit only one of these terms (one channel) is applied at a time. This already indicates that cutting requires running the circuit multiple times in order to simulate the identity. This makes sense intuitively, since making a cut somewhere in a circuit makes it necessary to perform a measurement. As a result, some of the entanglement / quantum properties of the circuit are lost. To compensate this, one has to artifically simulate this quantum behaviour by sampling (running the circuit more often). This so-called sampling overhead can be proven to be

This can be derived with the help of defining an unbiased estimator and applying Hoeffding's inequality. A detailed derivation (which holds for general operators, not only for the identity) can be found in appendix E of [3]. The exact sampling cost depends on the explicit decomposition one wants to apply.

Closing remarks

Up to my knowledge, those circuit cutting schemes only work efficiently for special cases. Often, the cost depends on the size of the cut, i.e. how many wires are cut. Additionally, the original circuit should be able to be partitioned reasonably. In the title picture you can see a mock circuit with five qubits. You can see that on the left side of the cut, there are gates which act on the first three (1,2,3) qubits only, while on the right side they only act on qubits 3,4 and 5. Hence, the cut should be placed on the overlap on both parts, i.e. on the middle qubit (3). The cut size is only one in this case, but in useful applications the cut size might be much larger. Since the cost often depends on the dimension of the cut qubits, the cost increases exponentially in the cut size (since the Hilbert space dimension grows as 2^k for the number of cuts k).

Thus, we see that circuit cutting can be very powerful in special problem instances, in which it can e.g. reduce the required qubits roughly by half - this helps making circuits shallower and smaller. However, there are lots of limitation given by the set of suitable problem instances and the sampling overhead.

--- References

[1] Marvin Bechtold, Johanna Barzen, Frank Leymann, Alexander Mandl, Julian Obst, Felix Truger, Benjamin Weder. Investigating the effect of circuit cutting in QAOA for the MaxCut problem on NISQ devices. 2023. arXiv:2302.01792

[2] M. Cerezo, Andrew Arrasmith, Ryan Babbush, Simon C. Benjamin, Suguru Endo, Keisuke Fujii, Jarrod R. McClean, Kosuke Mitarai, Xiao Yuan, Lukasz Cincio, Patrick J. Coles. Variational Quantum Algorithms. 2021. arXiv:2012.09265

[3] Christian Ufrecht, Maniraman Periyasamy, Sebastian Rietsch, Daniel D. Scherer, Axel Plinge, Christopher Mutschler. Cutting multi-control quantum gates with ZX calculus. 2023. arXiv:2302.00387

[4] Kosuke Mitarai, Keisuke Fujii. Constructing a virtual two-qubit gate by sampling single-qubit operations. 2019. arXiv:1909.07534

[5] Tianyi Peng, Aram Harrow, Maris Ozols, Xiaodi Wu. Simulating Large Quantum Circuits on a Small Quantum Computer. 2019. arXiv:1904.00102

[6] Angus Lowe, Matija Medvidović, Anthony Hayes, Lee J. O'Riordan, Thomas R. Bromley, Juan Miguel Arrazola, Nathan Killoran. Fast quantum circuit cutting with randomized measurements. 2022. arXiv:2207.14734

[nobotderiz]

Aptare

Are you ready for the impregnable you?

'Omegadonssakesaytafet'

One needs to have known the before to cohere the now. Who made it so insecure? There is no 'luck' nor magic in this, proud to be parasites.

You all know what give them away, the paid to deviate lobbyists and corrupt sardonic American infects? Stats. Their brain is one hundred per cent soilage.

Anyways, the worst is always to be elucidated first.

Why specific like that? Who has lots of time and money to waste just to get their way? All this fakery and posturing for fake concerns is tax deductible.

The land where people make it rich misrepresenting facts. Where knifes are put in the back of genuine good people.

Not all bad? According to stats.

Bias is da signal.

Quelle conditions sont requises pour que chacun puisse être gagnant?

Clean air and water. ANYTHING that requires DEVIATING from these as REQUIRMENTS is PARASITE.

What we live in it's called universe, not diviverse. A verse it's a concoction of words. It explains that no matter how code is made, it's only words that will assemble it all. No human needed, chumps.

Physicists, is there such a thing as bloom theory?

Not too hard to understand eh? Orthogonal balloons with mirrors sets, cub sat with mirror sets... All out. Sanctus paratus. The crépitement it does has already been detected.

No matter where it's from, it's where it's at. You all got your motives well laid out?

So many empty frames...

If the void is conquered, all the diseases can be vanquished; and, much more.

All this indicates is that there needs to be a base on the moon.

Preventive, Predictive, Premonitive. Private Ai monitored jails... The swillbreds profilling the defectives and the frustrated...

You know that with a base on the moon watching earth, any virus can be sorted out. A model can simulate as if but it cannot account for the 'Time Delay'. If on a base on the moon all agreed they are in a village sovereign from the rest, what could go wrong? Don't need much people in fact; just eighty, a hundred...

The moon was put there to tend for and watch us. Calculate how much is spend in trying to just keep up and cope vs how much a base on the moon would cost. All countries would benefit right away, removing one common stressor from all the tensors.

You all know that the moon is ahead of the earth eh? Once Fusion figure out, there is not many impossibles left in the realm.

Ai is inhumane, it does not want guns nor the better of.

Who in the 'west' needs Vlad at the helm of Russia? Make the list.

'Itsnothardto:otdrahtonsti'

https://interestingengineering.com/science/general-relativity-quantum-physics-united

https://theconversation.com/cosmology-is-at-a-tipping-point-we-may-be-on-the-verge-of-discovering-new-physics-237695

[random2908]

D-Wave is so funny, like, who is even falling for their stuff? I don't think I've ever met a physicist who thinks there's a chance they aren't frauds. Even when I was in school and they first made the news, every grad student I knew was like, this is fake, right?? And then ran to their professors to make sure they'd correctly identified the fake news (because no student wants to call something fake if it's actually a really cool advancement).

At my current job, we have several people who at some point in their career have worked in or adjacent to quantum computing.

My main coworker, a passionate scientist who likes to give everyone the benefit of the doubt--like goes out of his way to figure out how a known liar might just have made an honest mistake (...long story, and to be fair that was my instinct at first, too)--just laughs if you bring up D-Wave and segues into it being an extreme example of quantum computing not being a viable industry. (I largely agree with his rant on this.)

The catty guy I like to gossip with dismissively says he can't believe people fall for that scam. But wouldn't it be nice to be that good of a con artist. But no, he'd rather make an honest living--you can't make as much money honestly, but it's much easier to make enough money honestly than dishonestly.

And the new guy, who is this super earnest scientist, just really careful about making sure he understands every concept and every button and switch and piece of math... If you mention D-Wave he scrunches up his face, like, why did you ruin the serious conversation he was trying to have. And then he continues as if you didn't say anything.

But somehow D-Wave lands these immensely huge contracts. Like, with Google you can say, maybe back then, they didn't have physicists on staff--and anyway, they're infamous for hiring experts and then refusing to listen to them. But NASA? NASA has physicists, so what even happened there?? But really, they charge so much for their fake computer, they only have to fool one or two deep-pocketed people per year to be very wealthy.

(I know this is old news, but, new coworker, new data point.)

[avatarskywalker78]

Side OC Masterlist

OC Creator Bingo 2023 was great fun and I’m already keeping the main OC masterlist up on my pinned, but it has also inspired me to finally make a list for side OCs!!! Again this will be an in-progress thing and more will be added later!

Main OCs found here!

Name: Alyssa Clayton

Fandom: The Flash

Fancast: Mary Wiseman

Series: The Shieldmaiden Saga

Tags = oc: alyssa clayton

Steph’s best friend at Athena Labs with a Doctorate in Physics, she becomes one of Steph’s confidants and the first person she tells about her powers. She’s known Steph for nearly six years and they jokingly call themselves the ‘Science Twins’ - Alyssa sees her as a younger sister, and is incredibly protective over her, especially once she gains her powers, and is the one overseeing Steph’s training.

Name: Dr Charlie Kumar

Fandom: The Flash

Fancast: Dev Patel

Series: The Shieldmaiden Saga

Tags = oc: charlie kumar

Head of the Astronomy Department at Athena Labs and a close friend of Steph and Alyssa, he’s not looped in to her meta status until a few months down the line, though has his suspicions given that she's one of the pioneers of the Meta Outreach Project. He doesn’t help directly with that, but is the one to alert them to the fact that there was another unknown energy source on the night of the explosion - which wasn’t thrown out by the accelerator.

Name: Tanya

Fandom: The Flash

Fancast: Janelle Monae

Series: The Shieldmaiden Saga

Tags - OC: Tanya

A biologist at Athena Labs and another member of Steph’s team, they agreed to help with the study of Steph’s powers, and they’re to be the main researcher for the Meta Outreach Project as they’re a trusted friend and team member, and want to make sure that all metas have access to the help they need.

Name: Zoe Thawne

Fandom: Legends of Tomorrow

Fancast: Freema Agyeman

Series: legends of earth-4 (hasn’t yet shown up)

Tags = oc: zoe thawne

A descendant of Eddie Thawne and Brianna Thawne’s first cousin, she is one of the most renowned quantum physicists of her era and one of only a few family members that Brianna feels she can talk too, partly because she was one of the few to accept that the Blue Flame was more magical in nature than meta powers traditionally are, and Zoe is one of the ones who defends Brianna after she stops Kate Allen changing time.

Name: Ashton Thawne

Fandom: Legends of Tomorrow

Fancast: Garrett Hedlund

Series: legends of earth-4 (hasn’t yet shown up)

Tags = oc: ashton thawne

Another descendant of Eddie Thawne and a distant cousin to Brianna and Zoe, Ashton specialises in 20th and 21st century electronics and computer restoration - something that is looked down on by several family members for being a ‘useless’ job. He’s good friends with his cousins, though, and also jumped in to defend Brianna, excited (and proud) about her joining the Legends and hoping she’ll bring some old-school technology back with her.

Name: James Connors

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Fancast: Matt Lintz

Series: Nicky Connors, Cobra Adjacent (will appear in the Cobra Kai segments)

Tag = oc: james connors

Nicky Connors’ adopted son, one of Robby’s friends (due to them practically growing up together), and later friends with Miguel and Aisha, James doesn’t have any interest in karate and would sooner spend most of his time in the library, but is supportive of his mother when she decides to become co-sensei of a revived Cobra Kai and often cheers on his friends when he can.

Name: Lizzie McKinney

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Fancast: Robin Wright

Wip: gemma laura mckinney au

Tags = oc: lizzie mckinney

Gemma’s mother and Johnny’s aunt - though she’s only older than him by five years - who came looking for her older sister after decades of estrangement, finally finding her a few years before her death. After Laura’s passing she decided to stay in the Valley, and became something of a good influence on Johnny.

Name: Sarah Barnes

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Fancast: Shailene Woodley

Series: bad boy (no more) - hasn’t yet appeared

Tags = OC: Sarah Barnes, bad boy (no more)

Mike and Leah’s eldest child, she is currently studying for a law degree out of state, though is always happy to listen to Elaine or Alex’s problems, and returns home when she can as she misses her family, though she doesn’t always admit that. She’s distinctly unimpressed with the karate wars, and is already crafting plans if her siblings happen to get caught up in them.

Name: Alex Barnes

Fandom: Cobra Kai

Series: bad boy (no more) - recurring character

Tags = OC: Alex Barnes, bad boy (no more)

Appearance: 5′5, white, black curly hair, blue eyes

Mike and Leah’s youngest child and only son, he has no interest in karate at all, being much more into football and thinking that karate is a stupid thing. He also took his dad’s warnings to heart, disdaining Cobra Kai and backing up Elaine in the stories whenever she ends up affected by the events.

Name: Bridget Alvarez

Fandom: Supergirl

Fic: to live and rise (and hope again)

Tags = oc: bridget alvarez

One of Eliana’s adoptive aunts alongside her partner Hilda, they were both good friends of Lana Lang’s back on their Earth, and promised to look after Eliana if anything were to happen. Bridget is currently a councillor in Coast City as well as a metahuman with the ability to manipulate water, which is why she specialises in environmental issues as she can use her abilities to suss out where water is polluted or contaminated. She has always known that Eliana would one day become a hero, and though she worries for her is nonetheless determined to support her.

Name: Hilda Green

Fandom: Supergirl

Fic: to live and rise (and hope again)

Tags = oc: hilda green

Bridget’s long-term partner and Eliana’s other aunt, she works at one of Coast City’s museums, a job she chose because she has the ability to tell the history of an object just by touching it. She was one of the first to realise what was happening on her Earth and worries about Eliana overworking herself by becoming a superhero on top of her studies to become an advocate for extraterrestial rights, but like Bridget is also supportive and willing to help her niece whenever she can.

Name: Isla McGregor

Fandom: Supergirl

Fic: to live and rise (and hope again)

Tag = oc: isla mcgregor

Eliana’s best friend at college who is strongly pro-alien and equally determined to become an advocate for extraterrestial rights alongside her friend, she ends up being the first person outside of her aunts that Eliana reveals her powers, as well as (some) of her backstory, later becoming Eliana’s ‘girl in the chair’ and biggest supporter.

Name: Zhān Xiulan

Fandom: Firefly

Fancast: Xu Jinglei

Wip: sophia reynolds au

Tag = oc: zhān xiulan 

Sophia Reynolds mother, a former ranch worker on Shadow, and one of Mal Reynolds closest friends, she was convinced that her life would be ruined when the man she was dating and in love with turned out not to care about her at all and left her days before she found out she was pregnant - she wanted to keep her child but couldn’t see how. Then Mal offered to marry her and take on the blame, which she accepted, and they spent seven happy years co-parenting before Mal left for war. She has always hated the Alliance, and this was solidified after she and her daughter ended up being one of only a handful of survivors from Shadow after the Alliance firebombed it - and though she never said so to her daughter she was convinced Mal was dead as well, killed in combat, and is relieved when it turns out he’s alive.

Name: Emma Taylor

Fandom: Diagnosis Murder

Wip: sophie sloan au

Tags = OC: Emma Taylor

Appearance: 5′8, white, black hair, brown eyes

Sophie Sloan’s maternal aunt who stayed in her niece’s life even after her sister Erin left, and who has a strained relationship with Erin as a result as she thinks her abandonment of her daughter was appalling. She adores Sophie and has a good relationship with Steve and Mark, often stepping in to look after Sophie when they were busy due to their work, to the extent that Sophie even has a room there.

Name: Ksenia

Fandom: The Witcher

Fancast: Antonia Thomas

Fic: when a friendship is found (across the seas) - hasn’t yet appeared in person

Tag = OC: Ksenia

A bard who specialises in the violin and loves nothing more than creating music, and a good friend of Áine an Tordarroch’s, she also happens to be a Żar-ptak - an Ember (or fire) bird- and is a few centuries old who has seen kingdoms rise and fall, and who has a terrible feeling about the rising threat of Nilfgaard. There are very few Firebirds left on the Continent, as they were often hunted for their blessings and then blamed for any misfortunes, which is why she made the choice to have a human form several decades before, and she rarely taps into her full power. Only very few people know what she truly is, but she makes the decision to tell Áine after it’s clear the Islander doesn’t hold the same prejudices, given her strong friendship with the witcher Eskel.

Name: Lia Mayfield

Fandom: Uncharted

Wip: joanna mayfield au

Appearance: Brunette, brown eyes, 5′7

A Canadian with a degree in history who lectures at universities, Lia dated Sam Drake for several months in 1992 and was very much in love with him, but also realised that he wasn’t one to stay around - figuring that he wouldn’t want to be tied down with a kid, so she made the decision to part amiably from him in September of that year, despite being three months pregnant. She was, however, determined to keep the child - she got kicked out by her parents as a result, but her sister Sonya helped her out and she moved in with her, her brother-in-law Nicky, and her niece Sophia. She was a devoted mother, and always planned to tell Joanna more about her father at some point, but that day came sooner than expected when she fell gravely ill in 1996 and she asked Sonya to track down Sam, not wanting Joanna to be without a parent. She recovered and became friends with Sam again, but was devastated to find out he was killed on a job, as she still loved him. Since then, she has focused on her family and tried her best to make sure Joanna gets a legitimate job, not wanting her to go down the same path as her father.

Tagging: @shrinkthisviolet​ @dream-beyond-the-fantasy​ @vexic929​ @negative-speedforce​ @starstruckpurpledragon​

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

[b9horpet]

#codetober 2023. 10. 13.

I was disheartened and annoyed about yesterday's progress so I went and dove headfirst into it.

Few points I could clear up. Performance wise it was a disaster. It was slowing down with a couple thousands (~30k) of entities and it did not look good for the future. I enabled tracy tracing, and saw that my logic only took microseconds of the frame and the blame was on the rendering. I removed the parts that added anything to render and the slowdown shifted to a couple of millions (~20M) of entities. I feel validated that the original idea of decoupling the rendering was the good solution here. Have to do it correctly when I get there.

The parent-child relationship was removed temporarily, the redesign for that needs other factors to be clarified first. Gonna do some prototyping and see what is the best course of action.

Give us your most nerdy computer fact

I can't rank them on nerdiness so here are a bunch:

Chip design came to a halt/slowdown because we reached the limitations of physics. Most notably the speed of light. Imagine a CPU that is not just some measly 5GHz clocked antiquity but let's say it has 10GHz clock, that means twice as much raw power. 1 cycle takes 1e-10 seconds (0.1 nanoseconds). The light (and any information) travels around 3 cm in that time. That is the hard upper bound of the size of the chip. No problem, let's make smaller transistors then! Turns out the transistor sizes today are pretty close to another limit. The small scales enable some really weird and wacky things to happen. Quantum tunnelling is possible and a real factor at the nanometer scale these components operate. The chips need to mitigate the leaking charges in ways like drain channels do. The leaking electrons from even turning "cables" can crosstalk if not isolated properly.

There is a CPU in your CPU. I mean another hidden one. The Intel management engine is running on a chip that your OS is not aware of. Privileges like ring 0 is considered the ultimate power, everything the kernel has access to. Hypervisors are above that, can manage and separate multiple kernels running, side by side. We can call them ring -1 if we want to. The management engine is above that. (AMD has its own probably). And it can alter the microcode in the CPU. Also has access to the networks. Also can be powered without the CPU cores. And it's entirely proprietary and undocumented. Technically your CPU can be back doored and do stuff while your machine is turned off (but still connected to the power grid).

the iceberg: https://suricrasia.online/iceberg/

[sciencestyled]

The Alchemical Marriage of Pi and DNA: A Hilariously Twisted Saga of Mathematics in Science Education

Ladies, gentlemen, and distinguished nerds of the jury, strap yourselves in and adjust your monocles; we're about to embark on a wild ride through the whimsically warped world of mathematics in science education. Imagine, if you will, a universe where Pythagoras DJs at the biggest raves, Newton’s apple is a viral meme, and Einstein's hair isn't just a style statement but the ultimate symbol of scientific rebellion. Welcome to the chaos.

Now, let's get down to brass tacks, or should I say, brass abacuses? Science education, that hallowed ground where the brave dare to tread, has long been the breeding ground for future world leaders, Nobel laureates, and that person who finally figures out how to get printers to work on the first try. But at the heart of this intellectual jungle gym is the unsung hero, the silent beatboxer to science's rap battle: mathematics.

Ah, mathematics, the language of the universe, or as I like to call it, the universal gossip column spilling the tea on everything from the atoms twerking in your coffee cup to the swagger of galaxies on the cosmic runway. It's the tool that transforms the abstract into the "Oh, snap, I get it now!" moments in various science disciplines. Whether it's statistical analysis, modeling, or computational methods, math is the secret sauce that makes the science burger taste so darn good.

Picture this: you're chilling in biology class, right? Suddenly, the teacher drops the bomb that DNA replication is basically just a very meticulous braid of nucleotides, kind of like your cousin trying to explain the plot of "Inception" – it's all about patterns, baby! And who's there, with a smug smile and a calculator? Math, ready to explain the party tricks of enzymes and the RSVP list of amino acids.

Or how about when you're knee-deep in environmental science, crying into your recycled notebook about deforestation, and boom! Math swoops in, cape billowing, with statistical models that predict the effects of human folly on Mother Nature's mood swings. It's like having a crystal ball, but instead of vague warnings about tall, dark strangers, you get graphs and charts showing precisely how screwed we might be if we don’t change our ways.

And let’s not forget the rock stars of the scientific world: physics and chemistry, where math plays the lead guitar and occasionally smashes it on stage. Want to know why atoms don't just decide to break up the band and go solo? Quantum mechanics, with its mathematical autographs, has the answers. Curious about the cosmic mosh pit that is the universe? General relativity throws down the equations to keep the party going at the speed of light.

But, dear audience, it's not all just numbers and equations, oh no. Mathematics in science education is like the ultimate crossover episode where every character from your favorite shows turns up. It's "The Avengers" of academia, where every discipline brings its own superpowers to the table, united by the common goal of understanding this weird, wonderful, and absolutely bonkers reality we call home.

And in this era of technological razzle-dazzle, computational methods stand at the forefront like the cool kids in class, coding their way through problems like hackers in a Hollywood movie, minus the dubious ethics and questionable fashion choices. From mapping the human genome to simulating climate change scenarios, computational science is the VIP lounge of the academic club, and math is the bouncer deciding who gets in.

So, as we stand on the precipice of knowledge, gazing into the abyss of ignorance, let us remember the words of the great sage, Weird Al Yankovic, "I was valedictorian, I got a full ride to MIT, and I was on a very strict diet of milk, fish, and honey - until I started to break out in Pi." Mathematics in science education isn't just a subject; it's a lifestyle, a state of mind, and the ultimate cosmic joke that we're all in on.

In conclusion, as we navigate the labyrinthine corridors of science education, let us clutch our graphing calculators like the swords of yore, ready to duel with ignorance and emerge victorious. For in the alchemical marriage of pi and DNA, we find not just answers, but the right questions, the kind that lead us to the edge of the universe and ask, "So, got any snacks?"

And remember, in the grand scheme of things, whether you're splitting atoms or merely splitting hairs over the Oxford comma, mathematics is there, the faithful steed upon which we ride into the sunset of understanding, leaving bewilderment in our wake. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go help Schrödinger's cat out of the box. It's been meowing for quantum assistance, and frankly, the suspense is killing me – or not.

[crazy56u]

In a refreshing change of pace from last season, I actually have to leave after the episode airs, so, here we go:

Last time on Quantum Leap: "Surprise, bitch, it's been three years, and Addison left your ass for some other guy!"

Meanwhile, in Vegas.

"Um, okay, I hate to bail on poker, but it's turtle time. (leaves without elaborating)"

It is bad that I briefly thought Magic was working at that jewelry store?

Ah, there's the rub: The plot started back up due to Ian breaking into the Project.

"He's been out there for three years. You can tell the time skip is an important part of the plot if we keep pretending it's 2026."

"This all feels familiar." It's almost as if it's Quantum Leap.

A good sign you're at a bank: The teller abruptly talks about three years having past.

Oh, that fucking beast of a computer...

And Ben shows how much he's learned by immediately going on break.

[And one of my biggest gripes of the revival rears its ugly head: Unless they explicitly state the exact date, we get shit. Seriously, even if it doesn't matter, just flashing the date on screen isn't that much too ask, man...]

"Quitting whatever job he has for some get rich quick scheme." ...like robbing the bank?

"There, we did 3 minutes of exposition, 2 minutes of leap, one minute of bank robbery. We deserve a commercial break."

Meanwhile, in COD.

Plot twist: In 2026, we're in the middle of World War III.

[You better fucking not, Dodgeball Boy...]

"Raise your hand if you are dead." It would be a fucking brilliant plot twist if it turned out Addison was secretly in Purgatory this whole time.

"They found him. Guess you shouldn't have flushed your wedding ring."

And meanwhile, back at the bank robbery.

Ben is about to get shot due to not knowing what a dye pack looks like.

Why does your little brother look like Dexter?

"I don't understand. What do you mean it's 2026?"

"He's been alive this whole time? You mean I flushed my ring for nothing?!"

"What do you think I should do?" "I think you should listen to your heart." "... ... ...so, like, dump you, and go back to him-" "N-not what I meant..."

Ian, you had the Imaging Chamber working last time, why is it on the fritz now?

The Pentagon pulled the Sam Beckett maneuver: "Okay, so, the leaper is missing? (yanks funding)"

"Ziggy says you need to get the bad guys out of here before the cops arrive. That may or may not require you to help finish the robbery."

Surprise, the town is poor, you have all of the money.

And here comes the cops! Now it truly is a Dog Day Afternoon.

Look, maybe if you let the hyperventilating woman leave, you will have a better chance of surviving.

"Ben, if you don't pick up that phone, everything will be fine-" "Pick up the phone, got it."

That is a skinny ass fucking revolver.

Detective Reynolds, why are you trapped in the Green Dimension?

I love how you can tell how pissed he is that Ben decided for them they were gonna start releasing hostages.

I technically called it: Hyperventilating Woman is one of the two.

"Okay, we released a woman and a guard, we can leave now, right?"

Time to get nice and cozy with a little game of "Vault Code or Broken Hand".

... ... ...did that guy faint, or did he die?

Sean looks like he can be taken out like Glass Joe. Ma'am, just clock him.

"Okay, I'm the guy with the gun, so I get to deliver the exposition."

[I have a sinking suspicion that Ben was supposed to have leapt into the sister...]

"Hey, Sean, you're doing good, don't get me wrong, but if anyone's gonna threaten your sister with a gun, it's gonna be me-" "I AM BEN SONG, YOU SHOULD BE TALKING TO ME, MY GHOST CAN GET YOU THE CODE, PLEASE DON'T SHOOT!"

Okay, Ben, you got four numbers, good luck, the Project's under arrest now!

Well, Ben, you got 10 tries, good luck! "They completely lock it after three tries!" ...like I said, good luck!

Ben, gotta admit, playing the menopause card is a bold move.

...makes sense: Three tries, the last digit is three.

"Hi, my name is Tom, and this is Addison, I say you can't arrest the Project anymore. My dad works at Government, here's a phone."

Look, to be fair, Risk is a bullshit boardgame.

"Good to see you, Addison, Ben is currently in the middle of a bank robbery."

"Look, Magic, I don't know what you have planned for the Project-" "You mean, besides what we did last season?"

"You okay?" "My brother fucking pointed a gun at me, what do you think?"

Okay, is it bad that I forgot that Ben is supposed to be a grandma?

"Come on, smile, we're robbing a bank!"

Guy, no offense, but you are a fucking idiot if you think the cops are gonna let you leave with the money.

Sean, you are a fucking idiot if this surprises you.

"(shows Ben on screen) And we're back." SUUUUUUBTLE.

"You're in the middle of a hostage situation. I'm not up to speed. "Ben's in a bank robbery. (begins shoving Addison into the Imaging Chamber)"

"Ma'am, you do know we're gonna kill the robbers if they try to escape, right?"

"... why do I feel like there's a camera in this direction?"

"So, what, now eight people die?" "...not eight total..."

And you can just fucking tell the cops refused to accept any blame for blowing up the bank.

"Hey, why does this bank look bigger on the outside?" "No, you had to call off the expansion and paint over it!"

"You got any rooms with no windows?" …a broom closet?

Okay, now they are in the office, Ben can start doing The Great Escape.

"Look, I know I'm supposed to be in my 70s, but shut up, today, I'm as fit as a 30-something from the 2020s. Let's break that wall!"

[I like to think that Raymond Lee ad-libed that bit with the wall. He just wanted to break something for fun.]

"I buried Ben, Jen. I took all of his stuff out of the apartment and buried it in the park. Everyone watched in confusion, Jen."

"I keep expecting you guys to point out how bullshit the Tom subplot is." "Look, Tom stopped us from getting arrested. This week, he gets a pass."

"Okay, everyone out- why is there a hole?"

And Sean decides to kill a man. That's how you know he completed his character arc.

"Sean, it's gonna be okay." "How?" The cops are breaking in, that's how.

"Look, either I kill myself, or I go to jail, either way, I lose!"

Sean, let your sister cover your ass.

"I won't take another step without you!" Meanwhile, Ben is thinking "Gee, why isn't Addison here for this?"

"Ian, you and I both know you lied about how you found Ben." "Jenn, we stopped a bank from exploding, and Addison and Tom have their stupid subplot. Can we just not do more plot shit today?"

[I still think the season's gonna end with Ben undoing the time skip; unless proven otherwise, Tom is a ghost to me.]

"Are you gonna tell Ben about us?" "He already knows."

"Boy, I'm sure glad I saved Sean and stopped the bank from explod- did Addison fucking leave me, is that why she never showed up?"

"Ian told me it's been three years. Yes or no, did you leave me for a Tom?"

"Ben." "…oh." And there's that dramatic reveal for ya.

And Ben does the smart thing and hits the eject button.

["Look, I know we dumped all that plot shit on your this week, but, like... next week has aliens, w-will that work? We good?"]

I had to switch to WordPad 3/4ths of the way in, that's how you know we're so fucking back.

But no, seriously, $5 even that Ben undoes the time skip.