#making it make sense in terms of tectonic plates and what not

[yourstrullyme]

its about the world building

[sidekick-hero]

Written for @steddieholidaydrabbles, prompt "spring" | wc: 1.000 | also written for the Stranger Things writing guild prompt "new beginnings" to celebrate @pearynice's birthday 💜| tags: second chances, blind date, exes to lovers, modern au

Eddie often wonders why he can't say no to Chrissy. It's become as much a part of his life as his love for Metallica or his ambidexterity. Whenever Chrissy insists, "You can't stay home every night and mope, Eddie. It's time to get out there and meet new people. You should start dating again, Eddie. New city, new opportunities." he tries to reason with her. He explains that he's not moping, for heaven's sake, and that he's meeting lots of people through his guitar lessons. He insists that he's content to be single. But Chrissy is relentless, wearing him down until he finds himself clad in black jeans and a burgundy button-down he never knew he owned, heading to his favorite bar to meet the mysterious blind date Chrissy has arranged for him.

Chrissy hasn't provided much information about the guy, just that he's about Eddie's height, athletic, and apparently very handsome and 'dreamy' - whatever that means. Eddie isn't convinced that this is his usual type, nor is he sure that he fits the bill for what this guy might be looking for. But Chrissy has a point; it's been over five years since Eddie's last serious relationship, and none of the guys he's dated since have been anything more than casual flings. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to try something different.

Since moving to New York eight months ago - first as Chrissy's roommate, then as her friend - Eddie has been searching for a sense of purpose. Los Angeles had lost its allure; too superficial, too jaded, too artificial. The only real connection he had there was Steve, who left the city and Eddie years ago, leaving Eddie adrift. Eventually, Eddie came to terms with the unlikelihood of his rockstar dreams and decided it was time to face reality.

Hence his move to New York in search of a fresh start. And maybe, just maybe, a chance at a lasting relationship - one that can mend the Steve-shaped hole in his heart.

It's hope more than anything that brings Eddie to the Hideout to meet his blind date on a warm spring night in late May. According to Chrissy, the guy would stand out with his overly preppy attire - a stark contrast to the Hideout's dive bar atmosphere.

The bar is bustling, as usual for a Saturday night. As Chrissy predicted, Eddie spots his date almost immediately - not because of his outfit, but because of the familiar figure perched on a barstool, nursing a beer.

It's Steve Harrington sitting across from Eddie, every bit as captivating and alluring as the day they first met seven years ago, when they were both waiting tables in Los Angeles.

The moment Steve spots him is unmistakable and his wide eyes convey that Steve, too, had no idea that Eddie would be his blind date - a twist of fate that brings them together again after so many years and miles apart.

"Steve," Eddie croaks, his throat dry and his heart racing as he approaches. "I had no clue, I swear. If I'd known Chris was setting me up with you, I would've warned her that you'd probably never want to see me again. Been there, done that, right?" He chuckles nervously, realizing he's on the verge of putting his foot in his mouth - his usual tendency. "God, I'm so sorry, really."

Steve continues to stare at him, blinking as if trying to make sense of the situation. Slowly, like shifting tectonic plates, he returns to the present, acknowledging the awkwardness of being set up on a blind date with his ex.

His voice, slightly breathless, finally breaks the silence, accompanied by a faint smile. "Well, you didn't ramble quite as much on our last first date."

Eddie can't suppress the laughter that bubbles up from within him, recalling fondly their first first date. "I have no idea how I pulled that off, to be honest. I was so nervous, I thought I was going to puke."

Steve's laughter fills the air, drawing a grin from Eddie. "Yeah, you looked even paler than usual, and the bar for that was actually pretty low."

"Oi, just so you know, it's called alabaster skin and it's considered very sexy."

Steve lets his eyes roam over Eddie's slender form in a way that still manages to fluster him, heat creeping up his neck and onto his cheeks.

"Sure," he agrees easily after a moment's pause. Then, meeting Eddie's eyes, Steve continues, his tone serious. "Listen, I had no idea you'd be my blind date, but now that we're both here... maybe we can catch up? It's been a while, and truth is, I miss you. I've been thinking a lot about you, about us. I know we broke up for a reason, but I feel like... maybe we could've tried harder, y'know? I could've tried harder."

That's so Steve, Eddie thinks, feeling a pang in his chest. He's never met anyone who wears his heart on his sleeve the way Steve does.

Pulling a five-dollar bill from his pocket, Eddie places it on the bar before reaching out to Steve. "Wanna get out of here? Take a walk and talk?"

"There's nothing I'd rather do," Steve replies, intertwining their hands as they leave the bar and step out into the warm, spring-scented night air.

They find themselves in a nearby diner, where they spend the night talking - about their past, their present, and, tentatively, their future. They only part as the sun begins to rise, a soft kiss goodbye all they allow themselves to end this magical night.

A kiss and a confession.

"I'm so glad we got a second chance, Eddie," Steve whispers, voice full of sincerity. "I don't want to start it off with a lie.A friend stood me up; that's why I was at the bar. Not as your date."

Spring, with its promise of new beginnings, has never smelled sweeter, Eddie thinks as he kisses Steve again with a grin on his face.

[saturnsbabyboii]

💮Random Astro Notes, Answering Questions and a lil Rant💮

🪷The house that Saturn resides in can tell us what items we have been more careful and gentle with. To name a few, people with Saturn in 3rd house may have their books degrade faster, and their phones break often. Saturn in 4th need to be careful with their furniture, photos, kitchen, and even their entire home. Saturn in 7th may lose or damage their jewelry. Saturn in 11th may electronics break and malfunction.

🪷The house that Scorpio and Pluto reside in gives us some insight into how/where we are mistreated, misunderstood, taken advantage of, and perhaps even abused. However, it’s also where you’ll eventually come on top. If you thought Saturian karma doesn’t play then wait until you see Plutonian karma. Unlike Saturn, it is public and done indirectly. Because it’s the house of death (symbolically more than literally) and transformation, Pluto works slowly but on a large scale. Just like tectonic plates, they're slow and great. It may very well (especially for Scorpio) happen after your death or in a different lifetime. 

🪷The Pisces paradox of being obsessed with yourself and taking pictures 24/7 and also desiring to escape your mortal flesh

🪷Side bar but I love how the sign of most season winners and of miss congeniality on Ruapul Drag Race is Taurus followed by Libra. It makes for Venusians to dominate a beauty competition show.

🪷Leo and Libra placements are obsessed with having an aesthetic. They drown themselves in whatever they find beautiful, and they do it well.

🪷I never understood the obsession with spouse, wealth, fame, and indicators in the chart. To me personally, when it comes to these subjects is that if you aren't actively trying to have or working in whichever way that suits you and seems the most effective, you won't attain it. How are you getting anything without putting an effort into it?

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Questions Asked:

🌸@brielledoesastrology thank you for the message, but I don't want to tell people about my chart 😅. I like to be as impartial as I can when it comes to doing astrology. I do it to help people and for fun not for fame or any gratification. It may seem dramatic but I swear it's easier when people don't know 😭

🌸 @spixcyy "Can I ask if you're gay?"

It's giving (Yes, I am very colorful and zesty)

🌸 Question from @iproposedtoyomamaandshesaidyes: “Heyy wassup bro how’s everything? I have Chiron in Leo is that a good placement?” 

Heyy, I am good thank you and I hope you’re healthy and happy. Well, it depends on what we mean by “good”. In terms of the role of Chiron in Leo’s role in your trauma and healing. 

Here are some of my interpretations of Chiron in Leo:

Sensitivity to your sense of person

Having limited self expression or authenticity (The house Chiron resides in can indicate where, how, and in some cases by whom.)

Being forced into the collective and not allowed to have a sense of independence

Individuality and unbecoming is a major life themes/struggles (regardless of the house)

Problems with self esteem, courage, vitality, creativity, and originality

Having a hard time accepting your possibilities and fearing success

Fear of disappointing role model/guide 

Pressure from an early age for living a prodigy

Having to play a “role” or a character for a large portion of your early years

Trouble feeling that you do not have a central purpose or reason for existing

Difficulty understanding what it is you are ‘supposed’ to be doing with your life, yet having an overwhelming sense that you are supposed to be doing something.

Excessive rebellion or conformity 

Healing and Moving on:

Learning to be content

Finding yourself as you move along life

Accepting that you won’t find instant solutions and results

Allowing yourself to grow 

Forgiving yourself for being the person you were and needed to be

Helping others embrace their qualities (especially those that are viewed negatively by society) will help accept yourself

Leading with love and compassion, not detachment

As Chiron is the great healer that can’t heal his wound, your life purpose is:

To lead by example

Break the mold

Be the new “normal”

Perseverance

Act as a leader of the collective rather than be part of the group

Depending on the themes of the house Chiron resides in, you’ll work as a great motivator and healer in that aspect of life.

Hope this was of any help and thank you for your question.

🌸 @astro-lab asked :” So what is “the other Lilith” that comes with every chart? Which one is more relevant? How are they related?”

There are four asteroids that are part of Lilith. 

- First, we have the Black Moon Lilith or Mean Lilith (h12), which is the most commonly used and referred to when people say “Lilith”. This is the one that is usually used in birth chart tools you find online.

The others are Asteroid Lilith (1181), True/Osculating Lilith (h13), and lastly, we have Dark Moon Lilith/ Waldemath Black Moon (h58).

Mean Lilith uses the average orbit of the theoretical Black Moon. This is why she is called Mean Lilith. “Mean” refers to the average, not her temperament. For True Lilith, her orbit oscillates or interchanges constantly. This Lilith uses the actual, real orbit of the Black Moon rather than the average in comparison. As for Dark Moon Lilith, some people have claimed to have seen this Moon, although its existence is debatable. Asteroid Lilith is the only Lilith that is an actual astronomical body.

In terms of their relevancy and importance depends on what areas of life are you looking to get insight from. Like other asteroids, they can shed light on things we tend to overlook. However, when it comes to Lilith, in general, these are things that we feel but never understand period. 

The Mean Lilith is widely used because it takes the average orbit of Lilith and its mystic influence astrologically. In the birth chart, it represents the unconscious mirages that we create to protect our most vulnerable parts and deepest fears. Where we tend to be mistreated the most as Lilith had been and how can we fall victim to others but also heal, transform, and regain that power.

True Lilith in contrast is what we might now refer to as “your villain origin story”. This is where we find ourselves pushing the boundaries of ourselves and others. Our darker instincts and desires. 

Asteroid Lilith is where and how we embody Lilith through the chart and in our everyday life.

I hope I was able to explain it well but thank you so much for your question 💕

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That's it, thank you for the questions and for reading.

Adios PUTAAASSSS

[meredoubt]

I do think i'm going to go for Emmrich this first run.

Lace is adorable, but thematically/aesthetically I think Dirge/Emmrich makes the most sense. It also appeals to me as someone studying Mortuary; that old man's catnip. But beyond even that, and most importantly, I think...Emmrich feels the gentlest and calmest. Like gentle describes Harding, sure, but she's more plucky. And that's very cute!! But I don't know that that's what Dirge needs.

I was thinking about what defines him, for me, and like, yes, vicious, yes, aloof, yes, intense and earnest. But also, yes, weak for any care. Like with Astarion, right, there wasn't something real there until the vampire starts meeting him back. Then it's deer in headlights, tectonic plates shifting, Dirge is unmanned. For the initial chunk of their courtship, it's...rote. they are joth completing roles, to an extent. Dirge is a leader, so he cares. He's dutiful. He takes over and protects. But so often he is not treated well, or softly. Astarion starts to understand that this warrior doesn't need to be cajoled to be safe, so it starts being genuine and equal. That's wgen Dirge gets in trouble, its because he is seen, thought of, handled with particularity. That's why Ethel gets to him. And that same care definitely is evident in Emmrich.

At least that means, ostensibly, I could get to see both Taash/Harding (which is good, I need Taash to start showing characteristics I like tbh), AND Lucanis/Neve. Like in terms of seeing dynamics, that's a good spread for a first run.

[ifuckinglovedinosaurssomuchjesus]

Pretending End Cretaceous mass extinction event never took place, do you have any thoughts on speculative evolution and how dinosaurs and their contemporaries may have evolved through the years?

Like the explosion of mammal biodiversity probably wouldn’t have taken place, but what else? Assuming other global processes like plate tectonics, and the accompanying changes in currents, oxygen cycles etc, if you only take away the asteroid and it’s direct consequences, how do the dominoes fall?

Well, AFAIK the asteroid wouldn't have had any long term affects on the planet's tectonic activity or the climate. It was an apocalyptic event for sure, but depending on what scientist you believe, the immediate effects of the impact were over anywhere from a couple thousand years to only a few months.

So the plates would still move the way they have in the Cenozoic and the climate would still cool down and dry up due to the Earth's orbit and Milankovitch cycles. There would still be an Ice Age and animals would have to adapt to it.

The main difference would be life of course, and I cannot stress this enough, everything would be different. There would be no placental mammals, plant life would be mostly angiosperms but not in their total domination we see today, teleost fish wouldn't fill almost every aquatic niche like they do today, and of course there'd still be a shit ton of dinosaurs.

The thing about the asteroid was that it basically wiped the earth clean of entire clades, and those vast expanses of open niches is what kickstarted the biosphere we know today. There would be literally nothing in common with our "timeline" if it hadn't hit, except for some extreme cases of living fossils like Triops or Lepisosteus. No Mackerel, no Poison Dart Frogs, no Rose Bushes, no Great White Sharks, no Leopard Slugs, no Bears, no Giraffes, no Komodo Dragons, no Coconut Trees, no Crows or Ravens, etc.

In that sense though, 66 million years isn't that long in the perspective of the Mesozoic, so there wouldn't be anything crazy different from the Cretaceous. I doubt we'd see any dinosauroids for example. There would still be big sauropods and big theropods to hunt them, there would still be pterosaurs and marine reptiles of all kinds, there'd still be Ammonites and plenty of lobe finned fish, etc.

I think it's safe to say the arms race between armored Ornithischians and Tyrannosaurs would fizzle out, and much like the Stegosaurs and Carnosaurs of the Jurassic, they'd go extinct to make way for other animals to take their place. Maybe gigantic dromaeosaurs and quadrupedal ornithomimids or extremely armored sauropods and pterosaurs with bone crushing beaks, the possibilities are endless and I'm sure there's a million speculative evolution projects out there trying to answer that question.

Basically, we wouldn't be here making these posts.

[jjaynze]

I really love your art and I especially love the Borderlands stuff. In particular the Hyperion Rebirth AU. I would love to see more or even just explore the idea. Like just how Athena took over, how she did it with Janey and Fiona, they're relationship, Janey's hand, their status in the Borderlands and much more.

If your open to it I do have certain ideas for it.

Like Hyperion falling into what amounts to a civil war with Jack's death, how badly he ran it, and all the money and resources he sunk into Pandora on top of Helios crashing Planetside. Athena and Janey are dragged into one side and Fiona by a another on the company planet of Theia. (The wife of Hyperion and Goddess of sight and brilliance along with gold, silver and gems with their brilliance and value). All three meet once again and start to work together to win control over Hyperion themselves.

oh my god hi!!!! tysm for the ask i never expected anyone to ask me about this old au <3

side note btw that i apparently decided to exclude Fiona from this au 🥲 she’ll likely have an appearance other places but won’t have any direct connections to Hyperion

under the cut is a very unorganized set of pictures + explanations of what i had in mind for Hyperion’s Rebirth:

—-—-—

ORIGINS

to start, i just want to mention how this au came to be.

it was mostly fun and games tbh, where i was in an era between playing BL3 and BLTPS constantly. although i never used them, i found it ironic that in BL3, the Hyperion weapons had shields extremely similar to Athena’s shield.

since i was SUPER disappointed that Athena didn’t even at least have a mention in an ECHO, and i was SUPER deprived of content of her, i decided to make a FUN, NON-CANON ALTHOUGH HEAVILY LORE-BASED, COMPLETELY SELF-INDULGENT AU where Athena had taken over Hyperion just bc she wanted to 😇 starting this project in 2021, i would work on this on and off for my own enjoyment

flashforward only one year later—

………..hashtag goals 🤟🏼. never worked on it for a while even before ntftbl was announced unfortunately 💔

HYPERION ITSELF

you were very spot on with the concept of Hyperion being on the planet Theia, i was super confused seeing it bc i never remembered sharing anything about this 😭😭

i wanted Hyperion to be SUPER heavily reinforced, because of how widely loathed the company is, its history, and because of the overall environment of Theia. every few hours, the surface shifts from entire slabs of the floor, taken from the idea of plate tectonics.

i was also gonna work on the unique fauna, just like how Pandora has skags and Eden-6 has jabbers !! i had only given it caracals since they’re my favorite animal :,3

blands LOVES their greek myth motifs so i wanted to apply that here also

a common trend with the corporations was that each tend to have some kind of second base. i used Selene and Eos, since they were also the children of Theia and Hyperion (Helios isn’t present since it crashed obv).

i never had any ideas for Selene, but an idea i had for EOS was that it was an underwater ship.

CHARACTERS

THIS I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE MOST!!!

a very specific headcanon i have for Athena is that it isn’t her real name. she was very young at the time she was taken into Atlas, where they had actually given the assassins different names. her real name is Gayle Alvarez, to which she rejects as symbolism to how she’s letting go over her past after all these years, accepting who she is now. (she gave herself that last name “Hoplite” tho LMAO)

^^ this all comes from that fact that i was VERY petty over the fact that her sister, Jess, should’ve been named Minerva. it makes more sense to me idk

ANYWAYS this just describes Athena and Janey’s positions in Hyperion just a little bit. Athena is obviously the CEO and Janey has taken position to where she had designed almost everything.

in terms of the third point, i had actually wanted to make the Voice of Hyperion to be a prominent character in here also!! i didn’t get too far with her unfortunately 💔

FUN FACT i was actually also gonna bring HoloJack as a character concept, although he’s just stuck in an ECHO device. i was thinking that in order to run Hyperion, Athena would need the advice of an ex-CEO. they both only agree to an exchange of management tips for a new body. Athena obviously flanks out after getting Hyperion into a suitable condition, then stuffing the ai into a submachine gun and launching it towards the furthest planet 🤔 it was a funny concept but i dropped it after a while

—

on to something more specific, i do wanna mention this art piece, which ties into another one of my headcanons.

Janey was born on Elpis, being present before and after the Crackening. as it occurred, she had been exposed to whatever unstable eridium had managed to leak through, all without her knowledge—she barely remembers anything of the sort happening

TO SUMMARIZE, Janey is like the Lost Legion Eternals, specifically, a Phasewalker!!!! from the game, the LLEs only ascend once reaching a near-death situation, which explains why Janey never figured it out. the closest she did was when she and her ex gf were mauled by Flamey, where her Phasewalking activated and she managed to get away.

STORY

there is no story, sorry. 😓🤕

the closest i have are unofficial concepts, since i had literally almost zero experience and knowledge in world building.

the main idea i had focused on was something to do with Athena’s old Atlas squad, the Omega Assassins. from some, currently undecided decision, Vulcana, Hera, Minerva, Ceresia, and Helicon found themselves alive, even after supposed elimination from the BL1 Vault Hunters. despite her betrayal, they wanted Athena back, and would do anything to prevent her from settling away.

ALSO, another idea was that after the Omega Assassins found out that Athena was married/engaged, they had cut off her ring finger. this explains why i drew her wearing her rings on a chain near her chest.

below is an extra character development attempt which i had named “scene where janey plays the guitar”

this takes place moments after the assassins kidnap Athena and destroy their home for, again, some undecided reason 😭 i wanted to study Janey’s devotion towards a happy life, since i would also think of her having extreme attachment issues. she’s typically the optimistic character that sees the good through any situation, so i wanted to try to see how she would face against her everything being taken away from her again.

i also gave Janey a resentment of anything that resembles a kraggon, no matter how friendly☝🏼

—-—-—

i wish i had worked on this au so much more than what i shared. i was extremely passionate about it and i kinda still am!! even with how half-assed most of the lore is with blands, i still absolutely DEVOUR any little bit of canon Athena content available.

a COMPLETE story of Hyperion’s Rebirth is unfortunately unlikely now, especially with how it’s heavily implied to be. CANON now 😰😰. i would love to work on it again, but i just don’t really see a reason to 💔

tysmm for the ask again, i appreciate it a lot!! i rambled a bit too much but i wouldn’t mind talking much more about the little ideas i have ^_^ 💐

[realmmaker]

Any idea is a potential world. Really. Commonality Part I (the Geography).

While rummaging through a drawer, I came across a scrambled Rubik's Cube. Now like the average person, I can't solve the puzzle but kept fiddling with it regardless. As the blocks continued to shuffle and click, it set off an idea that turned into a whole world.

The name of this post and subsequent follow-ups will be Project Commonality. So stay tuned for regular updates. What is the closest thing to a Rubik's Cube we can relate to? The answer lies right in front of us, rather we live on the answer. A small rock floating in space, neatly divided into quadrangular segments by imaginary lines. Earth is divvied by latitudes and longitudes.

These segments are called Graticules (technical term, I checked). How does this tie into a Rubik's Cube? Well, like how every piece on the cube turns, let's have the graticules turn around, shall we? Imagine Earth where the graticules turn at periodic intervals vertically and horizontally like a Rubik's Cube. Also like a Rubik's cube we have to make the opposite central squares immobile, that is the North and South Poles.

So we have a world in which chunks are moving freely (except immobile ones), now for that to happen in some realistic sense let's make sure each graticule is its own tectonic plate (which slides down all the way into the mantle from the crust) that is capable of moving freely across the mantle.

We have boundaries made, but can they be expanded upon? Let's jump deeper into the scientific aspect itself. There are 4 spheres- atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere each representing air, land, water, and life respectively.

Since life (the carbon-based one we are very familiar with) originates within the water, it's very reasonable to merge both spheres onto the same lines. Meanwhile, lines denoting atmosphere and lithosphere will always be apart. Since water and aquatic life are continuously connected across the latitudes there will be continuous oceans along the laterals (East-West) of the world.

What about the atmosphere, lithosphere lines then which represent thematic opposites? How about we create a literal divide (contrasting the literal combination of hydrosphere and biosphere)?

From the image, we can see the world's graticules divided into continuous steps. Each unit has an altitude rise as we move north along the graticule, a common apex height, and then an abrupt drop into a gap where lava erupts from large geysers (these develop rock caps that blow open as the graticule moves and cool down again into caps). Beyond the lava lies the next graticule and its lowest point where this trend is repeated again. This continues throughout the world. The dead space is empty, mostly uninhabitable land that is exposed to lava outbursts as wind is funneled from the top of the graticule downwards, resulting in pushing lava into the dead zone. These lava eruptions also make contact between North-South graticules next to impossible while East-West graticules can easily interact as they are connected primarily by water and don't have the mantle bursting regularly.

From the picture below we can see how the world looks like a giant, spiky ball that constantly shifts. The altitude gradients support the wind flow and how air would result in accumulating lava periodically in the dead zone.

Due to this interesting structure, the people of the world mostly interact only along the East-West direction while never attempting North-South contact due to inherent risk.

This behavior will give rise to many different peoples, ideologies, and cultures which we will be detailed in the following parts with inspirations different from the Rubik's Cube.

Stay tuned for the next part. Releasing soon! Mr. Real Make

[survivingcollegeonefanficatatime]

Natural disasters chapter 2

I got an 86% on this exam let's goooo

Ok heads up this chapter includes the first section about volcanoes, a lot of volcanic terminology is based on Hawaii and includes Hawaiian terminology. Like all real-word specific terminology I was not sure whether or not to leave it (and sorta imply Hawaii exists in star wars) or change it. I decided to leave it for a few reasons.

If that bothers you 1) why are you reading this

2) it’s very much a “they don’t even have france” situation where there are ALREADY things in star wars that sort of imply real-world places or concepts exist. A good example is Tea, in the real world “tea” is very specifically created from the Camellia sinensis plant. Something NOT made of this plant is called an herbal tea (sometimes it’s called a tisane but my tea snob friend tells me a tisane is actually created from mixing the Camellia plant with any other thing in a brew (so infused teas or flavored teas are often tisanes) and a non-camellia plant brew is an herbal) so that means Tea in star wars is either made from the real-life camellia plant, or more likely there’s a sci fi version of that plant OR “tea” is a generic term for something you put in hot water and brew, which would make the most sense as I doubt the same goddamn plant grows on every planet that has tea. 

So, whether or not sci-fi Hawaii exists, I’m putting it in here. If it bothers you, just do the talking thing and say “oh well canonically they’re not speaking english they’re speaking basic so obviously the whole thing is TRANSLATED into english and that explains anything that shouldn’t exist”

“Master Obi-Wan! Master Obi-Wan” Anakin shouted as he ran down the hall.

“What is it, little one?” asked the master in question.

“I passed my exam! Remember the natural disaster’s class you helped me study for? I just had my exam and I passed it!” 

“I’m so proud, my dear, I’m very glad our method worked, we’ll have to try it again before your next exam.” Obi-Wan said.

“Promis?” Anakin asked, and Obi-Wan nodded as the two wondered how to start the rest of their day.

Anakin couldn’t help but be excited the next time his natural disasters exam approached. Obi-Wan had promised to study with him. He had already gathered up all his study materials onto a ‘pad and all he had to do was wait for Obi-Wan to be finished with whatever paperwork he’d been working on. 

When Obi0Wan had finished, Anakin walked right up and presented his datapad “my next exam is in a few days” the boy admitted. Obi-Wan smiled and took the pad to examine the material on it. 

“Well, then we’d better get studying?” Obi-Wan said he spent a few minutes examining the material Anakin had given him. “Alright, there are three modules this time around, so let’s start with Volcanos, shall we?”

“Yeah, it builds of what we were talking about last exam anyways, Volcanoes are closely related to plate tectonics, which means they often occur along fault lines, but not always” 

“Very good Anakin, can you tell me the difference between lava and magma?” 

“Of corc, master, Lava is what it’s called when it’s on the surface, and magma is beneath the surface. And a volcanic vent is the opening at the surface that lasva and other stuff comes from.”

“Good job and you know that the outer core of most planets is liquid but other layers are solid, so what does that mean for volcanoes?”

“It means the magma comes from the outer core, and also the asthenosphere is weak so it can flow slowly because it’s near melting temperature, it can melt rapidly and then the melts will rise and collect with changes in temperature and stuff.”

“Excellent anikin, can you tell me the three melting processes?” 

“Decompression, addition of volatiles or addition of heat!” Anakin declared. He paused to think for a minute before conditioning “decompression melting happens when the pressure of overlying rock decreases and the rocks will melt even though the pressure stays the same. And adding volatiles is when you add chemical compounds that evaporate easily and lower the melting point by breaking chemical bonds. It’s important when it's added as a fluid to rocks. And adding heat is fairly self explanatory. It happens when surrounding rocks melt and rise or when stuff just metals and mixes, basically as long as something increases heat it will cause this.”

“That’s a very good explanation Ani, did you know magma is made of melted silicate rocks and siloved glass?”

“Yes, I did master, and there’s two types right, basaltic and rhyolitic, I don't remember what the details of them are.”

“Oh, well, basaltic magma has a lower silica content, and has magnesium and iron in its composition, it’s created via the melting of the asthenosphere. Whereas Rhyolitic magmas have a higher silica content, and are felsic, a mix of feldspar and silica, they're made via the mixing of continental crustal materials.”

“Oh, tat makes sense” Anakin said, 

“The next thing to cover is buoyancy where magma is less dense and will rise though the crust, before collecting near the surface in magma chambers. Magame can also evolve with crustal assimilation along the way or within the chapter where the magam will become more felsic, do you remember what felstic means?”

“Oh, we just went over it, Felstic means a mix of feldspar and silica right?”

“Very good little one, there are three properties of manga that start with a V, can you tell me what they are?” 

“Uh, viscosity, volatile content and volume. I remember what they are too, viscosity is the resistance to flow of a fluid, so colder magma won’t flow as fast, and it also induces the surface mobility and the velocity of flow and the thickness at the surface. Basaltic lava is less viscous and therefore flows a lot  faster, whereas rhyolitic lava is more vicious and flows slower. And volatile content is the concentration of uh dissolved volatiles, volatiles can cause explosive eruptions of the magma which is a big explosion. The amount of volatile content increases with silicon content so andesitic rhyolitic magma has more dissolved glass and makes explosive eruptions where basaltic magma has less dissolved gas and makes effusive eruptions that also affects pyroclastic debris. All types of volcanic materials which are explosively ejected from a volcano. The last V is volume and it’s the important fraction of how much a volcano affects the surrounding environment.”

“That was a lot of information, good job And. There are a lot of variations in volcanos, including size, shape , composition and how they erupt; these factors are determined by the three Vs of volcanism. On top of this eruptive behavior is classified and can most often be predicted by analyzing the behavior of previous eruptions, there’s an index for this, it’s called the volcanic explosivity index or the VEIL, which is a relative scale to allow people to compare different eruptions based on the height of the explicitly and the volume of the material ejected. There’s a few types of volcanoes, one is a stratovolcano, can you tell me more about it?”

“It’s a cone shape, and has a variety of lava compositions, and high viscosity magma builds the height of the volcano when it coles, and it’s composed of pyroclastic debris and effusive lava flows, they have a high water content and are typically the most common volcanic eruptions, especially on a planet like Alderan where 80% of explosions are this kind.”

“Perfect my dear. Can you tell me about a lava dome?”

“Yes master! A lava dome is smaller and it’s dome shaped, they typically form independently or in a vent of a stratovolcano. They have highly viscous felsic magma and don’t have a whole lot of volatile content.” 

“Excellent, and shield volcanoes?”

“They’re some of the largest volcanoes and have wide low angled slopes, they’re frequently on islands and common at hotspots in oceanic crust and plate boundaries. The vent is usually in a collapsed caldera. They have a few common types of eruptions: Hawaiian type which are effusive and normally passive, Icelandic type which are generally effusive, and volcanion type which is an explosive basaltic eruption which happens when magma is in contact with groundwater, or ice, or snow.” 

“Very good Anakin, can you tell me about cinder cones?”

“Yes master a cinder cone is a pretty small pile of tephra near a volcanic vent, they’re conical because of the pilining of scoria, and scoria is the name for vesicular mafic volcanic rock type of cinder condes they are common on the flanks of bigger volcanos, or faults or fissure.” 

“Excellent, now continental caldera”

“Oh!” Anakin announced “those are the ones made from the collapse of land stufice or when a volcano follows a partial emptying of a chamber. They have explosive releases of magma and other stuff, and they’re the largest and most destructive eruptions so they’re fairly rare on most planets, right master?”

“Correct, is there anything else you know about them?”

Anakin hesitated for a moment to think, then his eyes lit up and he proudly continued “large caldera eruptions are called ultra-plinian which is a totally wizard way to call it, they’re huge destructive explosions that shove materials super high into the sky, and they release up to 100 km^3 of pyroclastic debris. They make ash deposits of 100 m thick near the rim and are still over a meter thick 100 km away! Isn’t that insane?”

“Yes it is-”

Before Obi-Wan could continue, Anakin interrupted to continue his explanation of continental calderas “super big caldera eruptions are known as super-volcanic! Like the super volcano on Alderan, they’re far bigger than the ultra plinian! And the super volcanic eruptions have rhyolitic magma and a lot of volatiles; they're often at continental hotspots and can eject between 1000 and 2000 km^3 of volcanic ash and make calderas hundreds of miles wide!”

“Excellent, you know a lot about this”

“Thank you, master”

“The next topic is about regions that are at risk, places like rings of fire that form on many volcanically active planets. Divergent plate boundaries, rift zones, and other hotspots”

“Master, how would a planet that’s mostly made of volcanoes work”

“What a good question, I’m afraid I don’t know off the top of my head tell you what, little one, I’ll do some research after we finish today's study sheshion, and we can talk about it after your exam”

“Wizard! Thank you master.”

“Your welcome, dear heart. Now, we should continue, can you explain the primary and secondary effects of eruptions?”

“Yes! Primary effects are lava flows, ash fall, pyroclastic flows, volcanic blasts and gasses. Stuff that happens directly because of the eruption, and secondary effects are more incidental, debris flow, mudflows, landslides, debris, avalanches, floods, fires, tsunami’s and short term planetary cooling!” 

“Very good! And what are the different types of lava flows?”

“Oh! There’s Pahoehoe where the lava is smooth and sorta ropey at the surface, and then there’s A’a which has a blocked fractured surface, there are others like block lava and pillow lava but Pahoehoe and A’a are the big ones for this class. Are we going over all the primary effects?”

“Yes, we are.” Obi-Wan said as he scrolled to the next section of the class

“Ok, the next one is pyroclastic activity right?” at Obi-Wan’s nodd Anakin continued “pyro means fire and klastos is broken, so it’s bits of magma and rock that flows back down to the planet, they can be super dangerous. Tephra are pyroclastic debris that range in size from sand sized to big angular block and smoothed bombs, they’re called bombs isn’t that crazy?” Anakin didn’t wait to see his master's reaction “ash fall is the well ash from explosive fragmentation, and pyroclastic flows are when hot ash races down the sides of the volcano and burns everything in their path! It’s super dangerous! Then there’s ash fall which can cover hundreds or thousands of  square KM downwind from the eruption, the thickness is controlled by the distance and it smoothies crops, vegetation and can starve the environment, the contamination of surface waters increases the acidity and among of toxic stuff in the water, and it irritates eyes lungs, and can be a hazard if it gets in an engine. The pyroclastic flows are one of the most deadly parts of an eruption and they’re triggered by collapses in lava domes and lateral blasts, they move fast and are unpredictable. Gasses in flows can be absurdly hot! Like 1000 C and can burn everything in its path. They’ve killed more people than any other volcanic hazard, or at least that's how it is on most planets.”

Anakin took a deep breath, then he grinned at is master and continued to reside information “ten there’s poisonous gasses often released from the eruption, some of the gasses in most eruptions are water vapor and carbon dioxide, but there’s also carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. Gasses in sufficient concentrations can be direct health hazards. And sulfur dioxide forms acid raine downwind which effects vegetation, surface waters and leaching of heavy metals, steam from the lava cooling in the ocean also has hydrogen chlorine gas which is corrosive and volcanic glasses also contain other dangerous substances like hydrogen fluoride which can posen vegetation which is a problem for farms”

“Very good, now we’re onto secondary effects, like debris flows and mudflows, how much do you know about them?” Obi-Wan asked

“Plenty, I know that lahar is a general term for debris flows or mudflows from volcanic eruptions. They’re generally low temperatures but can be hot compared to the environment, they flow like water, debris flows have more than half the particles larger than sand-sized, and mudflows have finer materials and can have big landscape impacts, they clog drainage and sweep away structures.”

“And landslides?”

“They’re often triggered by the eruption or other stuff like changes in moisture slow loading or when a volcano bulges, they often release sufficient pressure and can allow sudden explosive eruptions to happen, and if they happen near a coastline they can cause tsunamis!!”

“They can, and planets with a high amount of islands also often have a large amount of volcanoes, which makes the risk of volcanic damage and tsunamis especially high for the local population.”

“I hadn't thought of it like that” Anakin admitted “but there’s some good things volcanoes do, right?”

“Yes, Anakin, there’s several benefits to volcanic eruptions, for one volcanic soils are immensely neuterent rich, and well drained, although they can take quite a bit of time to develop. Geothermal power can be harnessed from volcanically active areas, volcanic rocks provide pumice, and aggregate which are materials widely used on countless planets. They are also recreational attractions, and can provide the formation of new land.”

“Wow, that’s a lot, but how can they be recreational attractions if they’re so dangerous?”

“Good question, little one, first there is a large number of beings who rather enjoy visiting dangerous areas, second it is possible to know which volcanoes might be dangerous and which ones are more of spectacle, but to do that we must reduce the risk of volcanic hazards, do you know how that’s done?”

“Yes, master, we have to forecast which means studying specific eruptions and a lot of planets just don’t have the experience, we have to monitor seismic cavity and thermal magnetic and hydraulic conditions, and the land surface to detect swelling or tilting. And volcanic gas emissions and we have to study the geologic history of a volcano! And even then the warnings are mostly probability, so there’s a lot that could go wrong” 

“Correct, and it’s not always possible for people to move away, sometimes they’re born there and don’t have the money to move, or the land is fertile for work and farming, or they’re optimistic and don’t think an errupton would happen, or there’s other economic reasons” 

Anakin nodded in understanding. 

“Alright, that was everything about volcanoes, we’re one third of the way through, now we’re onto flooding”

Anakin nodded sagely, “water is a lot scarier than I thought it was” he declared with his little arms crossed over his chest. Obi-Wan couldn’t help but laugh and ruffle the little one’s hair.

“That it is, my dear, I think many sentients vastly underestimate the destructive power of water, but it, like so much of the galaxy, is capable of being a force for good, healing, and life just as much as a force for death and destruction.” 

Anakin thought for a moment “that makes sense, so we’re going to talk about flooding now?”

“Yes my dear, do you remember the water cycle?”

“Yes master, water evaporates and then moves and condenses and rains or is collected some other way, but it can also be taken in by planets or in the ground.” Anakin explained, and Obi-Wan nodded 

“Alright, so let’s talk rivers, surface drainage is water that’s not evaporated or taken up another way, it collects in tributaries and feeds rivers and streams. There’s a drainage basin that’s the defined surface area cooling app precipitation into the same surface drainage. Rivers also have a gradient which is an important factor for flow. Headwaters tend to have steeper gradients and are faster where the mouths of rivers have shallower gradients with more gradual flows. The base level is the lowest point a stream reaches during its flow. Below that level it cannot erode. The ultimate base level is the ocean and the local base level is a temporary base level limiting the erosion of local streams. So do you know some of the functions of rivers?”

“Rivers transport materials! And there's some stuff in solution which is dissolved and load derived from chemical weathering of materials, the suspended load is fine grained materials held aloft in the turbulent flow, and the bed load is coase material dragged, slid and bounced along the bed. There’s stuff that affects what can be transported right?”

“Yes, Anakin, things like discharge, which is the amount of water moving through a cross section and can be measured at Q=VA the competency is the ability of a river to move particle of a given size, the capacity of a river is the total amount of material a river can move and the streamflow tends to expand the volume and tends to increase while decreasing in velocity as a river approaches its mouth. Slowing water allows suspended lairs to be gradually deposited by size, and distributaries are multiple channels that a river breaks into as it forms.” 

“Oh right, uhhh what was the next topic again?”

“Chanel patterns and floodplain formation, like aggradation, degradation, and stream channels, do you want to tell me about them?”

“I can do that! Aggradation is the deposition of sediment events occurring at slower velocities, they decrease capacity and competency, and degradation is the removal of sediments at faster velocities which increases capacity and competency. Then stream channels are the well channels of the streams, braided channels are interconnecting channels formed with variable steamflow, and meandering refers to a single winding channel that migraines back and forth. The undercut bank is a degradation feature on the outside of bend, it also has stuff like the point bar, and pools and rifles, a point bar is an aggadation feature on the inside of a bend due to low velocity. So the inside of a bend has lower velocity than the outside and this makes a specific shape in the river. A pool is a deep area made by the scouring of segments and riffles are shallow areas formed by sediments depoposed.”

“Very good, Anakin, river systems are divided into zones, the zone of production, the zone of transportation, and the zone of deposition. Can you tell me about them?”

“Yes master! The zone of production has a steep gradient, it flows fast and has down cutting which results in steep v shaped valleys and waterfalls and rapids. The zone of transportation is sediment conveyed, which has a broad valley and floodplain, meandering river with both erosion and deposition active. And the zone deposition has a slow flow near base level, sediments are widely deposited, and distributaries at alluvial fans. So the zone of production moves fast and erodes a lot, then the zone of transportation moves sediment and is slower, it’s the part that makes a lot or ifver stuff that looks like a river, and deposition, is the end and the sediments sort of get deposited and the river ends.” 

“Yes, riverbanks can overflow when floods happen, the rate of soil infiltration and the amount of soil moisture already in the soil, the rate of runoff reaching the river and the effect of spring snowball effect the amount of water in a drainage basin. There's a few terms to know, flood discharge which is the amount of discharge of a stream when water overflows the banks, stage which is the height of the water in the river, and the hydrograph which is a graph that displays the discharge or water depths/stage over time.” Obi-Wan explained, Anakin nodded and Obi-wan continued “it’s possible to do flood calculations, R is the recurrence interval in years and large floods are caused by infrequent large intense storms so R = (N+1)/M so to understand flood we need to monitor rivers for extended periods of time. Now, onto floods, can you tell me about zone 1 floods my dear?”

Anakin nodded “flash floods are overbank flow from a rapid increase in stream discharge. They’re most common in upper drainage basins and small downstream tributaries. They’re made from brief and strong precipitation over small areas, and they often happen in arid climates, they happen a lot in some deserts, isn’t that crazy!” 

“There are so many different ways for nature to exist. Can you tell me about zone 2 floods?”

“Oh those are big ones right? They can cover large areas and are made by long, long storms. The flood crest is the peak high of the floodwaters that migrates downstream over the course of a flood event and they damage buildings and industrial plants and farms and all sorts of stuff” 

“Yes, and zone 3 floods?”

“That’s when alluvial fans flood, they’re dangerous because they’re uncertain and the end of a river can change and high water times can make sudden shifts in river channels. Distributaries are the complex of changes emerging from a single river.”

“Excellent job, Anakin, can you tell me the primary and secondary effects of a flood?” 

“Of course master, primary effects are injuries, death and damages to structures and other resources like cropland, secondary effects are pollution of rivers, hunger and disease, displacement of people and longer term erosion. Floods can also be the primary effect of other hazards, like a hurricane or a secondary hazard like in an earthquake.”

“And do floods have natural benefits, Anakin?”

“Yes! They can make more fertile land, and can clear debris out of aquatic ecosystems and supply sediments to places that need it.” 

“Good job, and there are a lot of things people can do to rivers that will affect flooding, urbanization can alter the landscape drastically, damming rivers can lead to a buildup of sediments, which can occasionally destroy rivers and require the damn to be taken down, we can also modify rivers like chanalization which straghents and depends rivers to make them move faster although this can also damage the natural environment. Chanel reputation is what happens when we want to make these rivers move more naturally again. How can we protect people from floods, Anakin?”

‘We can use institutional stuff like mapping flood prone areas, and adopting floodplain management plans, or we can educate people by warning them of the dangers of floods.” 

Anakin nodded, he yawned, growing tired of the information he was going over. 

“Only one more section, my love. Mass wasting.” Obi-Wan said.

“Oh! Mass wasting is super cool, it’s rocks! And they move, and it’s called Mass wasting, isn’t that cool.” 

“It’s very cool dear one.”

Anakin didn’t wait for his master to speak, excited to share his knowledge “there are different parts of a slope. The waxing slope is the steep top part, then there’s the talus slope in the middle, and the waning slope which is the shallower part at the end. The direct effects of mass wasting are deaths, property damage, blocked transportation, and impacts to utilities, the indirect effects are blocking a river or tsunamis! And there’s a few classes of mass wasting, like falls, slides and scarification.”

“Almost all mass wasting effects are directly affected by water, did you know that, little one?”

“Yes, master, I did! There are big dramatic mass wasting events like landslides, and then there’s little ones like soil creep where the soil slowly creeps down a slope, it’s subtle but this one of the most damaging types of mass wasting because it’s strong and persistent.” 

“That is an excellent point dear one, can you tell me what sarafication is?”

“Oh that’s easy, Scarification is any sentient induced mass movement!” 

“Good, and the forces involved in mass wasting events?”

“Resisting forces which help resist the movement of materials, driving forces like the download weight, and they’re determined by the types of materials, the slope, the climate, the vegiation, water and time! Material is super important, there's a thing called daylighting beds which are the beds exposed to daylight, and they’re planes of weakness, bedding planes are surfaces between layers in sedimentary rocks, and foliation planes are between metamorphic rocks. Water controls slip a lot of the time.”

Obi-Wan smiled down at Anakin, he adjusted the pad he was reading off and began speaking again “the type of slope material is on greatly affects the mass wasting event, reliefs are vertical elevations, and steeper slopes in higher reliefs are associated with rock falls avalances and soil slips. Long term climate also affects the type of event, arid climates are exposed to physical weathering where human climates have chemical weathering.”

“That makes sense master, oh! Landslides are related to almost all the other hazards, right?” the little one asked, Obi-Wan nodded. 

“What are the functions of mass wasting events?”

“They diversify the environment, and establish new habitats, and they transport large amounts of material to expose rocks and minerals to additional weathering.” 

“Excellent job Anakin, and how do we minimize landslide effects?”

“Oh there’s a multi-step approach, where we identify potential landslides, prevent landsliding where possible, warn people of impending slides, and control slides after failure. But it’s hard to know when they’re going to happen without a lot of research, even so places that get a lot of landslides are REALLY good at it, my teacher showed us a video where they’d marked out the exact location a landslide would happen and they were super accurate, it was really impressive.”

“I’d imagine that’s very impressive, and the final section, snow avalanches, can you tell me about those?” 

“Oh they’re the rapid downslope movement of snow, and most of the ones that kill people are triggered by the victims. They happen on slopes steeper than 25 degrees but not above 50-60 degrees. Most happen at 35-40 degrees. There’s a few types, loose snow avalanches which are loose snow that eventually widens as it moves downslope, and slab avalanches which start as a big block of snow and moves downslope, they’re much more dangerous and happen when slopes are overloaded or when weak zones develop in a snowpack.”

“And how do weak layers form?”

“They form between storm periods when skies are clear and temperatures are cold, they have surface har forms when frozen dew is deposited, or near surface facets when there is a temperature gradient in the snow then there’s depth hoar delopes when the temperature granden and the snow is shallow.”

“Yes, and victims need to be rescued fast, 92% of victims survive when only buried for 15 minutes, but after 35 minutes only 30% survive, after an hour that number is down to 20% and after two hours there were no more survivors, this might not be universal as this was taken from a specific large avalanche event on a planet with mostly human and near human victims, but victims must be rescued as soon as possible.”

“Yes master, and there’s equipment to help, like bags with airbags in them, or shovels, or big long sticks, or beaks that alert others to your location. Our teacher showed us one of those beacons, they’re wizards!” 

“Excellent, and that’s everything you need for this exam.” 

Anakin beamed “thank you for the help, master!”

Note: ok yea I forgot that Naboo has a bullshit ‘water core’ thing so it can't have volcanoes??? (several questions, 0 answers) so I guess I’m using Alderan as my example planet again, rather than Naboo, that said, I’ll die on the hill that Naboo 100% has a history of fracking and/or environmental destruction. Like idk, something about Naboo makes me want to make them so much worse than they’re presented but like in a fun way. Naboo deserves to be a little unhinged. Full of people who genuinely want to do good, one evil dictator and several queens who are borderline babies. Incomprehensible planet, I want it to be the place where you look at it and think “what an ideal place” and then you learn it has a history of being awful, and they’ve clawed tooth, nail, and claw into a peace

[originalzito]

"Well, it is. There is a great deal of mental anguish in the world, and some of it we see and some of it we try to deal with. And it is increasing. I think the physical and the mental pain in a sense is increasing. If you imagine the amount of painkillers that are consumed, say, in the city of New York every year, you might be able to make a mountain out of it on which you could go skiing—you know, all the aspirin, powders. Of course we do see some of it, but people usually suffer in silence or in privacy. And certainly when it’s a question of mental anguish, not all of it, only very little of it is ever revealed. We live, as it were, unaware; those of us who are spared this live unaware of the fact that there are these huge mental asylums everywhere and that there is a fluctuating part of the population which is forever wandering through them. It is a characteristic of our species, in evolutionary terms, that we are a species in despair, for a number of reasons. Because we have created an environment for us which isn’t what it should be. And we’re out of our depth all the time. We’re living exactly on the borderline between the natural world from which we are being driven out, or we’re driving ourselves out of it, and that other world which is generated by our brain cells. And so clearly that fault line runs right through our physical and emotional makeup. And probably where these tectonic plates rub against each other is where the sources of pain are. Memory is one of those phenomena. It’s what qualifies us as emotional creatures, psychozootica or however one might describe them. And I think there is no way in which we can escape it. The only thing that you can do, and that most people seem to be able to do very successfully, is to subdue it. And if you can do that by, I don’t know, playing baseball or watching football on television, then that’s possibly a good thing, I don’t know."

Max Sebald

[cpw-nyc]

Occam's Razor Explained

&  How it Differs from Other Rational Principles

This is a video explaining Occams's Razor, which is a normative, rational pattern of thought. It also explains how this principle differs from Inference to the Best Explanation and some other similar principles. There is also an explanation of an individual's ontology. To illustrate all of this, several examples are used involving the germ theory of disease and plate tectonics. This video was originally developed for use in an introductory level philosophy course, Introduction to Ethics, but it can be used for any philosophy course. Comments Amazing explanation of Occam's razor. I was teaching my students about Occam's razor and needed to check my own understanding of what it really means. I read a few notes about it and browsed on youtube to find out more. Found some but nothing as helpful as yours. You have helped me beyond what I already knew ( or thought I knew ) . Explaining how we choose the simplest solution based on our ontology makes so much sense. I also love the examples using the continents because it shows the choices we make in our explanation. Thank you. Thanks for the more detailed explanation.  I originally heard the term in Carl Sagan's PBS series Cosmos and then again in the movie Contact.  P. S. I used it in trying to figure out how you're writing backwards on a glass board.  I initially thought you're either a genius who can see this in his head and transfer it to the board for us to be able to read it, or that you're really not left-handed and that you probably just inverted the video image.  Because most people are right-handed I assumed the ladder.  Yes?

The best presentation on YouTube on "Occam's razor". from 0.20 to 6.00 minutes. what clarity man !  many thanks. you deserve a standing ovation ! This video is an  absolute must for all PhD students 1. every human possess an ontology  model deep inside his mind 2. formal education must help every  man to digout-clarify his own  ontology model 3. else... ! 4. all expenditure on education  in terms of money-time-efforts will  go waste 5. as man becomes older , he must attempt to simplify his own ontology model as much as possible 6. he must document-publish it before he dies ! 7. he must pass it on to the next generation as legacy.

Does Occam's Razor rule out Objective Morality? This is a video lecture on chapter 17, titled "Values in a Scientific World", of Russ Shafer-Landau's book, 'Whatever Happened to Good and Evil?' The argument that this chapter considers is one that claims that if one follow's Occam's Razor, then one ought to reject the reality of objective moral facts or laws. This is an argument for moral skepticism, and Shafer-Landau offers several responses to it and in defense of moral objectivism. In the end, he claims that this use of occam's razor defeats itself. This lecture is part of an introductory level philosophy course, Introduction to Ethics. https://www.youtube.com/embed/TEh_qCApvGY

Jeffrey Kaplan

[whosxafraid]

Dorothy :

Water horses

She arched an eyebrow. There’s a moment where she find she can’t discern even the slightest inflection in his tone to indicate whether he was serious or instead floating the idea to see if she’d bite like a fish on a lure.

“Water horses.” She did intentionally lace the inflection into her tone to indicate the slightest hint of incredulity. Really Luka? She lets out a soft sigh. “Okay, we’ll go with water horses then.” Really, at this point, what else can she do?

Though really it was only a beat or two, he does seem to be weighing the options of offering more. Also she’s not unaware there seems to be a conversation of sorts going on which she can’t follow. Then he does at least say they are the last of their kind. Okay, a little better than before. “Okay.” She accepts it with a nod. She casts an admiring gaze at the creatures. Her mind is still at odds with the sight, but at the same time, she wants to drink it all in. The fear that they’ll suddenly vanish fills her with a sense of loss even as they remain in place for the moment.

The rest of what he says is somewhat lost in a jumble of accented words she’s not fast enough to decipher, or at least she tells herself as much. So, he’s scared off a pack of wolves. Okay. Her short term memory tells her as much, so stands to reason that’s what the translation would be in google translate. Oh you’ve been here too long, Corinne. Now you’re believing in fairy tales and magical unicorns. Her eyes shift to the side. Hard to contradict the scene that had just unfolded and the creatures apparently carrying on a conversation with her jailer. Hard to dismiss what now seems obvious even while her subconscious is screaming, Oh yeah? Watch me.

At least he finally admits it’s all a bit much to take in. “Well, that’s most believable thing I’ve heard in the last five minutes.” Had it really only been a few minutes? Of course, Alice in Wonderland it is then. Her mind was tossing the most ridiculous notions at her because it was better than trying to suss out reality on this beach which seemed rife with otherworldly creatures and talking animals the likes of which seem ripped from the pages of fantasy and myths.

“Sure, let’s do that. I could use some coffee myself.” Or something stronger. Her lips twitched. Best to keep your wits about you, lass. Oh for fuck’s sakes now you’re thinking in his voice. “Yes, let’s get out of here.”

“Lead the way, last thing I want to do is step in land mines or be the unwitting cause of some other stampede of unusual creatures.” Sarcasm is about the only defense she can muster at this point, even her own unusual enhancements don’t feel a particular advantage at the moment. She is completely out of her element once more, no closer to answers and farthest aways from anything the least bit familiar to her. It is at the same time both a physical and mental distance. The worst kind of unbalance she can imagine. Even that thought unsettles her as she glances around recalling in snippets the scene that had only moments before unfolded in front of her. A tale she’d have dismissed out of hand had she not been witness to it.

Calm. 

She’s calm.

Despite the hurricane of apprehension he can scent on her as easy as look upon her. And that alone--while slow--begins to settle in his bones. To relax the last few complaining muscles into silence. He’d thank her If he didn't think it would confuse her more. But he’s also not stupid. With the scenting of her calmness there is something else. Something that is akin to being dazed...because dazzled is definitely not the right word.

And so there’s a kind of sheepish duck to his head as he moves to take a step. Leading the way back to the house as she had instructed. A deep breath taken in and let out. Making his shoulders rise and fall like tectonic plates. Hands stuffed into his jacket pockets and setting a pace that would give her no difficulty in which to keep behind him or beside him. Whichever she preferred. And despite the fact social graces should have seen him trying to say something else, anything else to try and comfort her--

He doesn’t.

He keeps his tongue behind his teeth and his chin close to his chest. Watching the road a few steps ahead while the rest of him keeps tabs on the surrounding area. The troublesome brats wouldn’t dare try again but it’s instinct. And given what happened the last time he got distracted--aka not five minutes before--things got complicated faster than it should have. And maybe he’s questioning if here had been the best option to take her. But the decision had been made and there was no going back. So one booted foot lifts and plants itself, as the other comes up behind. One after another until the door of the house is passed through. 

He sheds his jacket. Drops it on the hook by the door. Moves to make the coffee. Because that’s manners. She’s the guest here not the other way round. Even if she had more or less taken over the kitchen since arriving. Not that he minds. It's an outlet for her and he’s not about to say the little lass couldn’t cook or bake. Because she can. And she does both rather well. The breakfasts she had made had proven that if nothing else. So the coffee is ground and poured. Set to brew. And he walks away. Disappearing into the hall, only to return ever so shortly with a book. 

One that is set down upon the counter, to retrieve clean mugs. The creamer she’s been using caught up from the fridge before he’s returning to pour the just finished coffee. FIxings as he’s noticed her use added in perfect amounts to her mug before the book is tucked under his arm and he comes round to sit down at the table. Her mug slid over to her across the way as he settles down. The book placed gently down. HIs own coffee taken into his lap as his gaze glues upon it. Because its always hard to know where to start. How to explain in a way to someone he’s not entirely familiar with. How to word what he’s got to say in a way that does not make him out to be an entire nut case. 

How do you explain you are the reason for one of the original villains of fairy tales and childhood? How do you just state with an complete straight face “Oi be D’Big Ba’ Wolf?” The truth is you don’t. So he chooses a much less shocking starting point. Green and yellow dragging up from his cup but only making it half way between them. Because its not a title he’s proud of is it? Even for all that it isn’t totally his fault.

              “Foi’re o’way, lass. Be answerin’ ye k’estions bes’ oi’ be able.”

And by that of course he means he will answer what he thinks she and her existing or non-existing belief on the supernatural can handle. 

[fatehbaz]

And so the trees drew my imagination back into the past: Where did all this amazing, diverse sound come from? What stories are buried down there in the soil? And how do they intersect with the everyday human experience of sound -- of listening to music and talking? [...] Time is the place where kinship comes from. [...]

The kinship that you mentioned is a kinship between the living world and what we usually regard as the nonliving world, although the boundaries get somewhat hard to define. So, for example, when we hear the songs of birds that live in forests, particularly dense forests, they tend to be slow, whistled melodies, because that is the kind of sound that transmits well through that habitat. You go out to the prairie, and you hear lots of rapid trills and ups and downs in the frequency suite, because that is the sound that works well there. Go to the ocean shore and you hear cries of gulls and oyster catchers that carry over the tumult of surf. And so the physicality, the materiality of the world, has, in a way, woven itself into the sonic diversity of the creatures that live within that world [...]. This applies below the waves as well: fish and whales are making sounds that transmit well over the right kind of distances for the ecology of their own species. This relationship between materiality and the form of songs applies not just in air, but in water and solids as well. [...]

Mostly when we hear a birdsong, we just think, “Oh yeah, that’s an American robin,” or whatnot. We don’t think, “Oh, that song has within it the imprint of the forest in which that robin has been living.” We’re hearing the legacy of plate tectonics and great migrations of creatures from one part of the Earth to another just by lying in bed and listening to birdsong in the morning. You don’t even have to get out from under the covers and you can hear this magnificent legacy of kinship, not just in the present moment but in deep time.

-------

In the rainforest, and indeed most other habitats, the sound is just a lot more intense in part because there are orders of magnitude more species there, but also because the insects have a different evolutionary path from one another. The crickets have a different way of listening and a different thing that they’re listening for in the sounds; different species of birds have different ways of appreciating sound and hearing the sound of their own species; the mammals, the primates, all have different voices. All of that is converging and singing at once in the rainforest [...].

So there are all kinds of stories, but those stories are not coming from the mind of one person. [...] But to listen in the forest is to belong within a much bigger set of narratives. The narrative of the living Earth is not just about me or, indeed, my own species; it’s about the convergence of multiple narratives that have to make it work with one another [...] .

Most of the stuff around us came from places that we have no direct sensory connection to. And, in fact, that disconnection is not just a side effect of the global economy; it is a necessary part of continuing the destruction. Because if you separate people from the consequences of their actions, then those actions will continue and short-term profit and gain will be made, but long-term loss will ensue. [...] This all sounds very dire, and there are dire problems, but the great thing about the senses is, they’re joyful. [...]  So the senses bring us great pleasure at the same time that they’re orienting us to the important work of ethical discernment.

-------

Words by: David G. Haskell. “Listening and the Crisis of Inattention: An Interview with David G. Haskell.” Article/interview published by: Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee. Emergence Magazine. 21 April 2022.

[adobe-outdesign]

How do you feel about the fake groudon from the jirachi movie (if that thing even counts as a pokemon)

I wouldn't consider it one, but it's close enough so what the hell, I'll count it as an honorary mention.

Also disclaimer, I haven't watched this movie in years and I'm working off Bulbapedia and my memory here, so apologies if I get anything wrong.

Anyway, fake Groudon up there (known as Meta Groudon in Japan apparently so I'll just use that name) is from the fourth movie, and it has the dubious distinction of being completely horrifying. It gives me Princess Mononoke vibes, in the sense that it's semi-eldritch in nature and scary as hell.

Anyway, the first thing to note is that Meta Groudon is fucking huge. In all honestly this is always the size I expected regular Groudon to be instead of the actual 11' canon height. Seriously, even Mega Groudon is only 16'! This feels like it's got a more imposing vibe that's appropriate for a legendary.

Secondly, it's got a funky gel-like body structure that allows it to absorb other livings things like some kind of fucked up ameba. This comes with the charming ability to extend its spikes and claws into weird tentacles to grab things with, which I can dig. Also, the way its voidish underbelly lights up like that is also pretty slick.

In terms of the design beyond that, it works for what it is, but in a weird way I wish it was pushed more? And by that I mean the design is... weirdly accurate to an actual Groudon. Sure, it's got green instead of black and a slightly gooier appearance, but the body structure is near-identical, as are the markings. I know it's a clone, but considering how messed up it is I would've liked to see that fact integrated into the design more. Make parts of its body sliding off like tectonic plates over lava or something, have way too many spikes protruding all over the body, that kind of thing.

Also, I'm not huge on the green. I guess I want more of a bright yellow or something that compliments the red and helps the tentacles to stick out more. In a weird way they kind of blend into the background because they're the same color as everything else.

But overall, for just being a weird fucked up fake Pokemon it does its job. I would've liked to see the design be a little more messed up in terms of looking less like a Groudon, but granted kids were already horrified of this thing so maybe it's for the best that it doesn't look any more horrifying.

[dizzydancingdreamer]

What Am I? | Kol Mikaelson

Hello my lovelies! Am I back doing my thing where I write for three days straight and then go missing for three weeks? Probably! But I’m not one to complain so I’m going to ride out this streak of inspiration for as long as I can! I’m not sure if any of you had the joy to read any of the chaos between @activist-af and I but if you did than you know exactly how I feel about Kol. Perhaps this can be my ode to him. Until next time, all my love <3

Description: Kol finally breaks from all the years of feeling like the bad guy

Pairing: Female!Reader x Kol Mikaelson

Warnings: It’s angsty at the beginning but it’s fine

Word count: 2.6k

Tags: Angst, Fluff

P.S. I strongly recommend listening to Paralyzed by NF while you read this because I had it on a loop the whole time and it really sets the mood

(Pics not mine but mood board is :) )

“Kol, stop!” your lungs are burning, your legs numb from trying to keep up with him.

He storms across the compound, not quite at full speed but fast enough to ensure you have to run to keep up with him. His shoulders are tense, his eyes locked in front of him. You can feel the anger rolling off of him in thick, hot waves. You’re not a vampire by any means but you don’t need super senses to understand how dangerous he is at this moment. Whatever, you don’t care. He’s not going to ignore you, you won’t let him.

“Fuck, Kol!” you grab his arm, tugging with all your strength, “god damnit, stop walking! Talk to me!”

He yanks his arm forward but you don’t let go. Instead your body swings forward with his movements, bringing you closer to him than you’ve been able to get all day. You shake your head. All week would be more accurate. Your best friend has been avoiding you all damn week and you have no idea why. You’re done waiting for him to tell you. If you have to rip away every layer of him to get to the bottom of this, you will.

“Let go of me, y/n,” he continues to stare forward, his jaw tight, “I don’t have time for this.”

You scoff, trying to ignore the way your chest stings, “no time for what, Kol? Me? What on earth is going on?”

He just clenches his jaw tighter, looking to the side. This time your chest feels like it’s being cracked open. You let go of his hand, taking a few steps away from him. You don’t know what the fuck has gotten into him but you don’t like it, not one bit. This isn’t your Kol. Your Kol is sweet. This is a monster. You haven’t ever dared to think of him as such but today, you suppose, his true colors are showing. 

“Who the fuck are you?” 

The silence after your words is deafening but it doesn’t last long, seconds at the most. It’s like a dam breaks in Kol. No, that’s not strong enough. It’s like the tectonic plates inside him shift and it sends a tsunami storming to the surface. He whirls around, a myriad of emotions swirling through his eyes. He takes a step towards you, a darkness you’ve never seen hanging over his features. You take a step back, you're not completely stupid. You have no misconceptions about what’s happening. You’re the beach in this situation, and you’re about to get destroyed. 

“You really want to know who I am?” He takes another step towards you, a tiger on the prowl. 

You raise your chin but still step further away from him. He’s never hurt you before. Hell, he’s never even yelled at you. But today there’s something in his eyes, something dangerous, and you’re only a human. You grit your teeth, feeling much weaker than the front you’re putting on. 

“I know who you are and this isn’t it!” you spit the words at him, hoping they’ll break through the storm that’s clouding his features.

He laughs but it’s dry; humorless. Your heart zaps again. He’s still moving towards you and you’re still moving away from him.  This game of cat and mouse is slowly becoming lethal.

“No, darling, you don’t,” despite the circumstances you can’t stop the way your body sings at his term of endearment, “you don’t know a damn thing about me.”

You take another step back and freeze, your back colliding with the wall. Crap. You hold your arms out towards him but he doesn’t stop, closing the space between you and him even when your hands land on his chest. You can feel the heat rolling off of him through the shirt he’s wearing. He’s like a furnace, lulling you despite the clear threat he poses. You dig your nails into his chest, pushing back with as much fire as you can muster.

“Kol, please, you know that’s not true,” you back your head against the wall, biting your lip at the slight pain, “just talk to me. Please. You’re scaring me.”

You’ve never had to say those words before and you hate them but not as much as you hate the way Kol flinches, like he’s taken a bullet, and backs away from you. He drags a shaky hand through his hair, his eyes squeezed shut. Your breath hitches, your blood running cold. When he opens his eyes they’re glassy. If your chest felt like it was being ripped open before, now it feels like someone reached inside the crack and tore out your heart. 

“I-,” Kol stares into your eyes for a moment before turning away from you, “you need to go. Now. Don’t come back.”

You can’t breathe, you're just stuck, glued to the wall while all the oxygen is sucked from the room. You’re helpless, watching him walk away. Your heart is in his hands but you can’t get it back. You can’t move. You don’t want it back anyway. It means nothing without him. You slide down the wall, your eyes glued to his retreating figure. 

No. You furrow your eyebrows. No, he doesn’t get to walk away from you, not after this long. Who does he think he is? You push yourself up, a wave of red hot something flooding your entire being. It laces your blood with fire, one you’re pretty sure can only be quelled by the man walking away from you. You don’t think, you just go. 

You clear the space between the two of you in seconds, your hands once more wrapping around his arm, “No, you don’t get to walk away like that. You don’t get to leave me, Kol Mikaelson! I won’t let you!” 

He freezes, his body going tense. He doesn’t try and yank his arm out of your grasp again. You stare at him, refusing to look away, afraid that if you do he’ll disappear. He sucks in a breath, swallowing harshly. You watch his adam's apple bob and fight the agonoy eating at your core. Come on Kol, turn around. 

As if hearing your thoughts he spins around, his arm breaking from your grasp. You don’t have time to feel anything from it, though, before he grabs your jaw, forcing your eyes to meet his. When you do you gasp, a chill running down your spine. His eyes are pitch black, nothing near their usual honey shade, and the skin around them is a sickly purple, dark blue veins running towards his cheeks. 

He sucks in another harsh breath, his nostrils flaring and his chest brushing yours, “do you honestly think that I could ever leave you?” he laughs bitterly, his eyes flitting over your face, “I couldn’t leave you if I tried. But I need to. Don’t you fucking get it? I’m a monster!”

This time it’s you who flinches. You wrap your hands around his arm, clinging to him as his words pour over you. You can’t breathe again but this time it’s a little different. It’s less agony and more breathlessness. You tighten your fingers, trying with everything you have to anchor yourself to him. 

“No you’re not,” you grit your teeth, meeting his harsh stare head on, “you’re not a monster, Kol! You’re so many things but you’re not a monster. You can’t be.”

His grip on your jaw lessens, his shoulders sagging. The black in his eyes begins fading, the veins receding and leaving nothing but his usual dark circles. Your heart clenches at the sight. He clearly hasn’t been sleeping. 

“Yes I am,” he mutters, his voice rough, “all I do is hurt people. Fuck, I’m hurting you right now!” 

You shake your head, trying to push back the flood of tears that suddenly blurs your vision, “No, Kol, you’re not,” your voice is thick, the lump in your throat a mountain, “you could never hurt me. Not in the way you’re thinking. You only hurt me by leaving me. Please, don’t leave me.” 

His hand fully loosens as he slumps to the floor, your words the final push to his crumbling will. He buries his head in his hands, his shoulders shaking. He’s crying. You are too, your heart in pieces at the sight of your best friend. The man you love. The best thing you’ve ever had now reduced to his knees. Pain explodes in your chest and your palms sting, an icy burn running up your arms and hitting your heart dead on. 

He lifts his head, revealing bloodshot eyes laced through with hell itself, “I don’t even know who I am anymore. I can’t separate anything in my head. The anger and the hurt, all of it! I can’t remember where I stop and everyone else starts. Who the fuck am I?” His voice cracks and, with it, your heart, “I’m just this fuck up to everyone but I haven’t even had the chance fuck up!” 

Your chest aches desperately for the man at your feet. You know what he’s talking about. A thousand years of life and yet only awake for a fraction of it. That would make any reasonable being crumble and it would take significantly less than a thousand years for most. You don’t know how the hell he does it. You haven’t died once. You’re only supposed to die once. He’s died a hundred times. Oh, Kol. You drop to your knees and pull him against you, crushing him to your chest to the best of your abilities.

“You don’t have to know who you are. I know who you are, Kol, and I’ve always known. You’re the strongest person I know. You’re my best friend. You’ve fought off death, and hunger, and your family. You don’t have to fight me off too!” you run your hands through his hair, pulling his face to meet yours, “you can rest now. You’re mine, Kol Mikaelson, that’s all you need to know.”

It’s surreal, to say the least, telling a vampire who he is. He should know better than anyone. After all, he’s supposed to have had a thousand years to figure out. Your chest squeezes painfully when you think of the years that were stolen from him. You run your fingers over his cheek, your thumb swiping some stray tears. 

He leans his face into your hand and you sag against him, cool relief fighting the fire in your veins. It’s the sweetest feeling you’ve ever experienced. Kol wraps his arms around you, pulling you into him. Even when kneeling he towers over you, curling around you. You can’t stop the sobs from coming and you don’t want to, gripping his shirt painfully. A week's worth of fear and worry pours out of you and he takes it like the rock he is. Maybe you’re the tsunami and he’s the beach after all.

He slips a hand into your hair, tugging gently to make you look at him, “I’m yours?”

His eyes are red rimmed and full of something that makes you ache. His lips swollen and red. His hair, mussed from your hands and his, sticks up at all angles. It doesn’t make him look bad, though. No, it makes him look like a fallen angel. His skin catches the light, a golden hue painting his features, pooling in the circles under his eyes. Your hands tighten on his button down, if that’s possible, and you swallow hard. He’s yours and you aren’t letting him go, not for the next thousand years. 

“Yes,” you nod your head hard, trying to drill into him how , “yes, you are. All mine. Just like me to you. I’m all yours Kol. Every part of me.”

His eyes darken again and the ache intensifies, curling around each nerve in your body and setting everything on fire. He’s no longer an angel. Who are you kidding, he was never one in the first place. He’s always been your demon, the one who crawled straight from hell to be with you. Looking into his eyes, you bite your lip, power surging through your veins. He survived a thousand years only to end up in your arms. His chest rumbles against yours, his hands finding your hips and hauling you into his lap. 

He takes your face in his hand again, a little rougher than before but you don’t care, “all mine. Always mine, do you hear me? I’m not just some short term fling. You’re mine until the end.”

Your heart hammers in your chest, your stomach a ball of white hot need. It’s final, there’s no allusions now, not that there ever was any. You love him. With every fibre of your being you love Kol Mikaelson.

You move your hands to his face, bringing his face down to yours, “Until the end, Kol.”

You smash your lips against his as soon as the words pass your lips, your fingers dragging through his hair. It’s like silk under your fingers and you can’t resist pulling at it. He moans into your mouth, the sexiest sound you’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing, and squeezes your hip with his hand, bolts of lightning zapping straight to your core. You pull his bottom lip between your teeth, biting down hard. He meets each nip with one of his own, running his tongue over your bottom lip. His mouth is like magic, spreading a warmth through each of your bones, one that melds with the inferno raging through your being.

“Darling,” he moans into your mouth again, his arms wrapping around your waist, “fuck, I need you.”

You tie your arms around his neck and cross your ankles around his hips, pressing yourself as close to him as you can get. You can feel the hard plains of his stomach against yours, the heat from his chest seeping against your blazing skin. You crash your lips against his harder, his fingers digging into your hips and pulling incoherent muses from your mouth. You can’t get enough of him, he’s like water. Like oxygen. Without him you would most certainly die. 

 “Then take me, Kol, I’m yours. Please.” 

His answer is a growl, one that sends more of the endless heat pooling in your core. There’s no way he can’t smell you right now. You can smell you. He must be fucking bathing in how much your want him. How much you need him. You run your fingers down his back, clawing at his shirt. He stands suddenly, jostling you against him deliciously. Before you can blink you’re in his bedroom, bouncing against his deep blue comforter. His room smells like him, like nutmeg and cloves, and it hits you hard, intoxicating you with everything Kol. 

He pulls his shirt over his head, tossing it quickly to the side before settling over you. You run your fingers up his back, admiring the way his muscles tense under your fingers before pulling him against you. You wrap your legs around his hips, rolling against him hungrily. He wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you flush against his heaving chest. His nose brushes your cheek and you sigh, his lips finding your ear. 

When he speaks his words whisper against your skin, sending toe curling shivers down your spine, “I love you. You hear me? I love you, darling. It’s you and me.”

You arch your chest against him, digging your fingers into his hair and pulling his lips to graze yours, “I love you, Kol Mikaelson. If you ever need to know who you are just remember this. No matter what else, you’re mine,” you press your mouth against his, using your tongue to punctuate the most important words you’ve ever said, “that’s all that matters. Mine.” 

“All fucking yours.”

[ambarto]

Middle Earth geology: a masterpost

I did say I would do it once and I did it, a masterpost of all the works I found online pertaining to geology in Tolkien’s works. This isn’t to say that it’s a complete list of everything that has been written about the subjects - there’s multiple works that I’ve seen cited in some of these articles that I could not find anywhere, and likely other works I just didn’t dig deep enough to find. If anyone has links to additional works, feel free to share them, and I’ll add them to the post. Many of these works are somewhat old, but for the most part they’re still good in the points they make.

General Middle Earth works

A New Synthesis on the Geology of Middle-earth: Genesis, Orogeny and Tectonics by Chris Ingles and Lindy A. Orthia (2016) - an overview of all the mountain ranges in Middle Earth and how they might have come to be, as well as a discussion on what may have happened to Beleriand. Differs from many other articles in this list, as this one includes also the magical aspects of Arda’s formation rather than attempting to only use strictly realistic geological concepts. One of the longer articles here with 14 pages in total, but the language used makes it easy to read.

The Geology of Middle-earth by William A. S. Sarjeant (1995) - a general overview of tectonical processes involving Middle Earth, in particular relating to tectonic plates and faults. Literally the first results I got when I googled “geology tolkien”. Not too long and not too complicated a read, many of the technical terms used receive an in-text explanation. Includes various maps. The most difficult parts to understand are probably towards the end, with citations from “The Geomorphology of Middle-earth” by Robert Reynolds (the whole article wants to present a more recent take on the previous work by Reynolds, an article that gets cited a lot but I haven’t been able to find anywhere).

Glaciation in Middle-earth by Samuel Cook (2016) - part of a copy of the journal “Anor”. Article is four pages long and fairly easy to understand. The topic straddles the line between a geological and a more geographical/climatological narrative, but geologists love glaciers so we’re gonna put glaciers here too.

Middle Earth Geology, a thread (2019) - not an article, but a thread on TheOneRing.net forum were various users discuss possible explanations for various features of Middle Earth and Beleriand. Because it’s a forum thread it doesn’t have definite conclusions, simply puts forwards multiple theories. A few mentions of things that get overall overlooked in other works, like some of the mountain ranges present in Beleriand.

The Geologic History of Middle Earth by Benjamin D. Hilton (2009) - this is a rather technical paper in language, and extremely speculative. Essentially, this paper talks about an hypothetical history of Middle Earth on a real world geological timescale, starting 1.7 billion years ago. The way the article is written as if the author was able to gain actual field data, and while much of what is said makes sense as far as theories go a lot of it is based on fake evidence peppered in through the paper. Doubtful in conclusions, but a fun read for sure

The Elder Ages and the Later Glaciations of the Pleistocene Epoch by Margaret M. Howes (1967) - this work is often cited as the first article investigating Middle Earth’s geology so I couldn’t not add it here. I should however mention that the contents are, well, they’re kind of a wild ride. The article essentially strives to explain how Middle Earth could have hypothetically been turned into modern day Europe and tries to give an explanation to real glaciations through the eyes of Tolkien’s works. I wouldn’t really call this article scientifically or historically sound, it’s more definitely a curiosity if anyone is interested. A bit longer than some other articles. Scan of a typewriter document, which might make it a little harder to read.

The Shire

The Geology of the Shire by Mike Percival (1984) - second article in this PDF. The document is a scan of an old copy of “Anor”, which may make it harder to read than some other files. Short article and without a lot of technical terms. Very little tectonics, mostly makes guesses as to what kind of rocks you might find in various areas of the Shire. Also features a geologic profile and map.

Khazad-dum/Moria

The Draining of Moria by Mike Percival (1987) - part of a scanned copy of “Anor”. Explores theories on how the Dwarves of Moria would have gotten rid of the water that might have flooded the mines, and before that makes hypothesis on the kind of bedrock Moria might have been built into. It also answers a question as to why the Sirannon formed a lake outside of the Doors of Moria. Fairly easy when it comes to language.

The Mines of Moria - a comment by Ted Crawford (1988) - a comment on the previous article, again on an “Anor” journal. Focused more on the engineering side than the geological one, I’m mostly adding this one for completeness, but it doesn’t really contradict the purely geological conclusions. Lots of numbers going on there.

The Mines of Moria - Further Thoughts by Mike Percival (1988) - a comment on the previous comment. Same journal, same discussion. Once again, more engineering focused, but might be interesting.

Numenor

Geographical Observations on Numenor by Duncan McLaren (1985) - once again, scanned “Anor” copy, and not the best scan I’ve seen. Short article, not exclusive to geology. The part dealing with what kind of rocks you might find on Numenor, which is also probably what may interest a fic writer more, seems overall rather reasonable. Also gives a theory on plate tectonics and attempts a geological explanation of the Akallabeth.

On Numenor by Mike Percival (1985) - a comment and response to the previous article. Scanned “Anor” copy again. Focuses on the plate tectonics, and has a somewhat more technical language than the previous article, going more in depth. Alternate view for an Akallabeth event than the previous article. Also features maps.

Paleontology

Paleontology in the Silmarillion by Mike Sutton (1991) - very short and very easy in language. Doesn’t really go particularly in depth on any matter, essentially explores how there could be certain similarities between what is considered (or was considered, paleontological ideas change a lot in thirty years) the order in which various life forms appeared and certain language used in the Silmarillion. If you thought that this was an “Anor” copy, you guessed it right.

Misc

“Beneath the Earth’s dark keel” Tolkien and Geology by Gerard Hynes (2012) - this article doesn’t deal with the geology of Arda, but rather speculates the way Tolkien himself might have tried to work geology within the text by considering the state of geological knowledge and how it evolved during Tolkien’s life. Also covers a little the history of the theory of plate tectonics, if anyone is interested about learning about it.

Re-reading the Map of Middle-earth: Fan Cartography’s Engagement with Tolkien’s Legendarium by Stentor Danielson (2013) - this is not a geological article, but a cartography article. The reason I added it is because a lot of the geological studies on Middle Earth, especially of the tectonics kind, are based on how maps look like and what deductions can be made from the shapes you see on them. As this author points out, maps are not necessarily accurate with their information, especially older ones, and might do things like, for example, make mountain ranges be excessively straight in line. A bit long, but worth reading.

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 120

Time for some of the more technical stuff! These chapters take the longest to write, without fail, largely because I made the dumb (in retrospect) decision early on to choose and actual known-exoplanet (Kepler 442b) to base Von on *facepalm*. Which means an inordinate amount of fact checking and maths when I get to the chapters like this one.

Thanks for this chapter to go @baelpenrose and @charlylimph-blog for beta-reading, and @nasa for the phenomenal amount of information that is publicly available for me to use when writing chapters like this.

Xiomara leaned back in her seat and propped her feet on the table in my office, ignoring the scowl Alistair shot in her direction. With a sigh, she folded her hands behind her head. “The next gravity adjustment is soon, now that Miys has medically cleared everyone from the last one.”

I nodded. “Grey and Antoine’s recommendation of increasing cardio seems to have made a huge difference in the adjustment period for most people. I definitely recovered faster.”

“And after this one, the lighting changes will start phasing in?”

“Once we can come to an agreement on how far we plan to institute the adjustments,” I pointed out. “I don’t understand any need to replicate outdoor light cycles when humanity literally experienced a cultural revolution after we developed a safe method of artificial indoor lighting.”

“That same cultural revolution also led the way for the events that brought us here,” she rebutted without looking away from the ceiling. Raising one hand and twirling it lazily, she repeated the arguments we had listened to for nearly a year. “Adhering more closely to Von’s natural light cycles will minimize ecological impacts.”

“Except that we are using sustainable light sources.” I flicked my finger at one of the wall emitters nearby. “Grey’s team made some pretty strong improvements on the microalgae lamps that were used Before.” While we still used more conventional forms of light for things like our databands and the desk emitters, ambient light in the Terran areas of the Ark was largely provided by what were - essentially - terrariums of algae, fungi, and dinoflagellates. Thanks to Miys’ assistance and a lengthy explanation of why our sight developed to work better in certain wavelengths, the light was closer to a yellow than a blue or green that was more common to Terran bioluminescence. “We literally grow our light now, don’t we?”

Xiomara tilted her head and cracked one eye at me. “They have a point, you know.”

“Make it make sense to me,” I invited her.

“Bear in mind, I don’t remember all the fancy science terms -” I snorted, but allowed it. She continued. “But in basic terms, night on Von lasts pretty close to two Terran months. Yes, we would have roughly the same amount of time to charge solar batteries, but it would require a lot of them to make it two months, especially with how cold the nights are.  By extending the interior light cycle as far as we can, we use less of the power we’ve saved up.”

“And just making more batteries has environmental impacts,” I ventured slowly.

“The planet isn’t terribly metal rich,” she pointed out. “Any resources we have for making batteries should be reserved for replacing or repairing, not allocated to making as many as possible. We’re getting a boost from the planet already, since we’ll have ready access to geothermal heat.”

Frowning, I flicked my wrist and brought up my datapad. “Von is tectonically stable, isn’t it?”

She flashed a quick thumbs-up. “No shifting plates, but there is still a molten core and geothermal activity.  In this case, most of the bodies of water are hot springs, and there are no oceans.”

“That’s going to be weird,” I mused. “Rivers, lakes, and a sea or two, but no oceans…”

“I take it you haven’t had time to check out the topography scans,” she laughed. “There aren’t really any mountains, either. Not the kind we’re used to - no tectonic shifting, no huge mountains. Any geological features are from erosion instead.”

I tried to imagine it before shaking my head to bring myself back to the original topic. “Day cycles. We were talking about adjustments to the lighting cycles.”

“Yep,” she agreed. “We’ve already extended them out to thirty hours so far.”

“But Grey wants to go as far as mimicking the sixty Terran day cycles that Von naturally has,” I sighed. “There has to be a compromise.  Your explanation makes sense, but it still doesn’t quite justify pushing it out that far.”

“Compromise is your thing. Arguing is mine.”

I scowled at her again. “That’s unfair.”

“And yet you aren’t saying I’m wrong.” I could hear her smile even without seeing her face. “If you figure out the compromise, I’ll argue it for you.”

“Seriously?”

She waved her hand at me lazily. “Hey, just because I see the logic behind Grey’s idea, it doesn’t mean I agree with setting the day/night cycle for the whole Ark to match the one for the planet. Your argument about the Industrial Revolution has merit, too. Just… leave out the Industrial Revolution part.”

Fair point. Xio had eviscerated that argument right off the bat, so surely Grey would see the same point. “Then I need a new angle.” I tapped my chin thoughtfully. Thinking out loud, I started rambling. “Invention of the light bulb led to the Industrial Revolution because employees could work later into the night with safer light to see by inside factories. Inside…” Something about that was nagging me.

Leaning forward, I smacked my hands flat on the table, startling Xiomara into flailing to keep her balance. “Inside. You mentioned you don’t agree with the day/night cycle for the whole Ark. I’ve been looking at this all wrong.” I shook my head. “We don’t have to worry about all of the Ark.  I keep thinking about the Ark as all one building, but it isn’t. It’s like its own city… Which means we have an ‘indoors’ and an ‘outdoors’!”

Xiomara kicked her legs off the table and sat up. “What are you talking about? Technically, the whole ship is ‘indoors’, isn’t it?”

I made a vague gesture at her with my left hand. “Only in super literal terms. But if you look at it from this perspective…” I pulled up a ship schematic and flicked it to the emitter. Tapping BioLab 2, the corridors, and a few other areas of the ship, I highlighted them bright yellow. “These public areas could be considered ‘outdoors’. Streets and sidewalks, a park, et cetera, you see?”

Tilting her head thoughtfully, she started drumming her fingers. Tapping eating areas, the Council offices, and a few quarters, she made them light up pink. “And these would be ‘indoors’, right? Offices, restaurants, apartments, those kinds of things?”

“Exactly,” I confirmed. “We can start by agreeing to start extending the day/night cycles in areas considered ‘outdoors’ to match Von’s cycle. Nothing to really argue with there - we will have to adjust to it eventually, and doing it in increments over the next eight years will be easier on us than doing it suddenly when we get to the planet. Just like what we’re doing with the gravity.”

“That leaves us with deciding a cycle for the indoor areas.”

“And we can work on figuring that out.  We’ll have more weight in negotiating there, since we’re absolutely conceding with the outdoor areas,” I pointed out.

She nodded thoughtfully. “We almost have a blank check there, I would think. As long as you could defend the energy needed, they really wouldn’t be able to argue.”

“I may have to take that up with Grey, directly.  I don’t think it would be a good idea to go beyond thirty-six hours, and that would be with two rest periods, not just one like Before.”

Xiomara shook her head, locs flying. “Most cultures didn’t do that, you know that, right? Mid-day naps were the norm all over the world, even when we were toe-to-toe with FTL emigration.”

“Even better,” I smiled. “I mean, who is going to argue with a mid-day nap? Not this girl.”

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