#merger objection cases

[letomills]

TS2 CC downloaders & creators discussion recap

Under the cut is a recap of the feedback gathered from the comments, community replies and reblogs on this thread. Thank you for taking the time to give your input! I tried to organize everything clearly in categories, with what was most often brought up at the top of each. I hope I didn’t forget anything. If I did, or you feel I didn't do your point justice, or you didn’t get a chance to say your piece, feel free to comment (I can always make edits). The text in brackets [] is my own remarks that I'm adding to the report.

About CC in general:

The people clamored for clear swatches/pictures that show which file corresponds to which recolor, so we can pick and choose what to keep.

Many people would like creators to put their usernames in their file names (or object descriptions) so they are easier to trace back to later. Two creators had counterpoints to this. One who has a long username said: “as a creator, I don't like to be told how I should name my files (besides identifying the thing clearly, which I think we really should do). If I've made the effort to make a thing, take previews, upload it, write the post etc. Just spend 5 seconds of your life renaming the file to whatever is convinient to you, I'm not going to add 16 characters to each of my files to include my username (I still think that longer names = longer loading time).” The other creator said: “As a creator, I don't want to put my full username in tooltips (just SB) because some hair names are quite long and I do not have the time to re tooltip the names.”

On the topic of file names, many people agreed that creators should not put special characters and spaces in their file names, to optimize loading times. One creator clarified: “the filenames should always have _ instead of spaces, as apparently this allows the game to load them easier/faster [...] underscores should be the only kind of special character in them” [use the Bulk Rename Utility - see tutorial by @ilovethesims2cc].

Still on file names, a Mac user said they dislike when file names are too long because apparently long file names are enough for Macs to shit themselves [sorry if I misunderstood, never had a Mac].

Several people mentioned disliking poorly optimized CC (one person listed: “bulky for no reason, unused bump maps, comically large or duplicated textures, things that could easily be repo'd but are not”), one person pointed out: “There is no reason a TS2 object needs a texture bigger than 1024x1024 unless it’s a special case like a skybox.”

One person said they dislike when a CC post lacks basic text info about what the download is. On this note, another person said they dislike when a creator isn’t clearly stating what mesh their recolors are for.

Two people asked that creators state their stuff’s polycounts.

Two people said they dislike when the recolors for a piece of CC are only available merged together, as they want to be able to easily choose which they want to keep. On the other hand, someone who “takes all recolors anyway” said they would like creators to offer a merged version of their recolors [you can merge CC to reduce loading times using LazyDuchess’s CC Merger].

One person recommended avoiding just using “here” as hyperlink text, but instead describing what you are linking to, so that if the link gets broken we still have a chance to find the thing. In the same vein, they and another person advised against reliance on an image alone to give info about the download. As we know, images can disappear, and a Google search won’t lead to the item if your post has no text that Google can detect.

About the images that creators do show, one person mentioned a download not having a proper preview as their pet peeve. On previews, two people recommended that the piece of CC be clearly visible and the main focus. Two people said they like when a preview of the item is included in the archive (“helpful when looking through old CC”).

One person said they appreciate when creators give two download links to two different hosting platforms, in case one of them ever breaks.

One person asked for creators to always test their stuff before uploading [it should go without saying but we do see egregious things to this day]. Their pet peeve is “CC with obvious issues that can’t have been tested properly in game! Don’t just look at it in build mode or bodyshop, actually use the item in live mode. Have a Sim wear the clothing or use the object!” They pointed out as an example that some CC lights don’t light up. Someone else said: “if there are minor imperfections, that's ok! But let your downloaders know what to expect.”

One person said that they enjoy reading detailed descriptions of CC: “Share your inspos, what went wrong, tag the pieces you used if you are Frankenmeshing because I might want those items too! Creating and sharing is deeply personal, don't be afraid to share a part of who you are in your downloads if you feel comfortable doing so.” [If I may offer a slight counterpoint, I think detailed technical info + proper crediting should always be frontloaded. And then, in a separate paragraph, you can write about how you made this because your grandma used to wear something similar on those cool autumn days back when you were 6. But please, don’t expect your audience to have to parse through your life story to get the basic info they need to even understand what the download is.]

On subfolders: one person mentioned that they dislike when individual files are placed in subfolders; someone else said they don’t like many subfolders within an archive; a third person said that when downloading a ‘bulk’ CC pack, they dislike when each item has its individual subfolder (unless the object has dozens of recolors).

One person said they dislike downloads that include a large number of things that aren’t all part of a single coherent set.

One person said they dislike gift/mega packages that don’t give the possibility to pick and choose what you’re downloading.

One person asked that creators compressorize their CC, unless there is a good reason for not doing so, reason that should be stated [yes please! Use jfade’s Compressorizer, found on this page].

One person said they like when creators who make recolors give a link to the mesh they are recoloring whenever possible, even if the mesh is included.

One person mentioned appreciating when creators include base PSDs in their downloads [they were talking about hair specifically but I suppose it can be done for other things too].

About Bodyshop CC specifically:

Many people mentioned disliking when a piece of clothing lacks a fat morph (as one person put it: ✨“its literally bigotry”✨ [iconic]), or has a fat morph that's blatantly a quickly WSO’d afterthought. Someone said: “Absurdly shaped/clipping fat morphs that were most probably never tested in game before uploading are pretty annoying”; someone else said: “I make male content and am constantly flabbergasted by some of the UM Top fat morphs that make no attempt to align with Bottom items, or look completely ridiculous. [...] WSOs are a great starting point, but that's just it: a starting point" [I couldn’t agree more]. One person added that clothes should also have preg morphs.

One person really wants tooltips. Someone else further asked that creators give actually helpful tooltips to their recolors to make it easier to identify which recolor corresponds to which file [you can use CatOfEvilGenius’s Tooltip utility to give your recolors tooltips that correspond to their file names].

One person mentioned gaps in meshes being their #1 pet peeve [putting this in this section because I’m assuming they’re referring to Bodyshop CC].

One person asks that creators give their accessories unique BIN numbers to make them layerable with other accessories.

The same person would like creators to remember to delete the inapplicable ages in their accessories [this also goes for hairs].

The same person also appreciates when creators make custom thumbnails for their accessories, “especially for accessories that are not on the face”.

The same person said: “Accessories that are 'part of the sim' (like ears, tails, etc.) should be showerproof”. Another person had the same request: “Body part accessories (such as animal ears, tails, horns, wings) should be available for all types of clothing.”

One person appreciates when hair meshers specify if their hair is animated or not.

One person would like to see more hairs for toddlers and children.

For geneticized skintones, one person said they find it helpful when the genetic number is indicated in the file name.

About Build & Buy CC specifically: 

Several people said they dislike when CC objects are set to an absurd price (like a couch for 1 simoleon) [this can be fixed with Pick’N’Mix’s Object Relocator], and two people added that they dislike when an object’s price isn’t congruent with their stats (like when an expensive bed has a low energy score). A creator further said: “whats worse is sometimes items are cloned from a very expensive item, and then the creator has reduced the stats shown in the description, but the bhav still has very high ratings, or sometimes it can be the other way around, an item might have been cloned from a cheap one, then their displayed stats are set to 10 but the bhavs still have low ratings”.

Three people said that they really appreciate when creators state which category their object is in and what the price is. One person said they appreciate when creators give info about how their object functions (“Is it just deco? Does it have hobby enthusiasm?” etc.). For complex objects, they like when there’s a video to show how it works. 

One person said they dislike when creators place objects in categories that don’t make sense. Someone said more specifically that they like when objects are put in categories other than deco/sculptures or deco/misc.

One person said they dislike blank object descriptions or object descriptions that were left the same as that of the Maxis object that the piece of CC was cloned from.

One person said they don’t like when objects aren’t enabled for quarter-tile placement [can be fixed in simPe or with the Object Relocator].

One person said they dislike non-functional objects (like a sofa that’s a sculpture).

One person brought up two experiences they and their friend had with CC beds that didn’t have unique GUIDs and therefore would override other beds. In the same vein, someone else said they dislike when a creator forgets to mention that their CC is not custom but default and will override something in the game.

One person encourages creators to learn about the TXMT settings of objects (e.g. should an object be reflective?) and praised @pforestsims and @shastakiss for their CC in that regard. Another person said they dislike when an object is too shiny, which is also a TXMT setting.

One person said they dislike “transparent cut out textures”. [I quote because I’m clueless about this:] “I’ve seen this a lot on TS3 or other game conversions, where the texture has been imported without enabling transparency, and you get ugly squares around draw handles and such. Import the texture as DXT 5 and enable AlphaTest in the TXMT.”

One person said they like when 4t2 conversions have several subsets.

The Mac user among us would like creators to resize their walls and floors for Macs, otherwise they show up grey in game.

About lots specifically:

Two people said they like when creators show the floor plans of their lots.

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

somewhere only we know

—or, herc visits captain fairbairn’s new office.

They walk through the terminal, the same way they once did all those years ago, though now Herc can sometimes be a little unsteady on his feet. It should be difficult to reconcile with the robust captain Linda remembers from the beginning of her career, who had been a bit of a health-nut even before it had been overly trendy, but—everyone who has loved Linda, and she has loved in return, is getting older. Such, she reckons, goes the arc of life.

“All right?” she asks him, who has a hand looped through her arm. He sends her a positively sappy look, and she rolls her eyes. Beside them, a respectful distance away, walk the two other pilots on this long-haul flight. The first officer operating out tows Linda’s flight kit along with hers.

“You’ve come such a long way, my dear,” Herc tells her as they continue down the terminal to their gate. He hasn’t been flying for a little over two years now—he had seen his last student to a multi-engine certification before hanging up his hat and bowing from the flight-school enterprise that Carolyn’s airline had metamorphosed into, the one Arthur had inherited and was currently managing back in Fitton. “You’ve worked so hard.”

“But you are to thank for…a lot of it,” she returns, focusing on guiding him onto the moving walkway ahead of her first officer and relief pilot.

“I’m honored to have been part of your journey, in that case.” He pauses, and Linda looks aside and sees the twinkle in his eye. “Captain Fairbairn.”

She feels her ears grow a little warm, and she ducks her head with a shy smile. It has taken some getting used to, but after moving from short-haul legacy A320 to long-haul A330 and subsequently bidding into one of the inaugural A350 captain positions, she finds that it’s less of a foreign title than when she began at Swiss. It’s just that when Herc calls her Captain, or her dad…those are the only times it makes her blush.

They approach the gate; a gate agent comes up to them. “Good morning, captain. You requested a non-rev seat for a guest today?”

“Yes,” Linda nods aside at the man on her arm, who’s now staring outside the terminal windows at the glistening A350 on stand at the apron, its fuselage narrowing into a daintily pointed nose and its wings gracefully curving up at the tips. She doesn’t blame him—the A350 is objectively a beautiful aircraft. “Hercules Shipwright,” she tells the gate agent, and Herc tears his gaze away from the airplane to acknowledge the agent with a nod.

She can’t wait for him to see inside of her aircraft.

“Wonderful,” the gate agent says. “Welcome, sir,” she says to Herc. “We’ll give you priority boarding, as requested.”

“Thank you.” Herc disengages himself from Linda, and she misses the comforting presence of her friend at her side. “Linda, I’ll find a seat by the window. I’ll see you out there, yeah?”

“See you,” Linda tells him, and leads her flight crew down the jetbridge.

The previous crew has left the plane turned around and ready for them; Linda pops her head into the galleys while her first officer starts preflight checks, greets the flight attendants, and reminds the purser about her guest.

As preboarding approaches, the first officer excuses herself to do the walk-around, and Linda is left alone with her thoughts in the flightdeck.

She peers out of the wide windows, past the six touch-screen LED displays. Though kitted out with more technology than she could ever have dreamed of, the family resemblance is clear in the design philosophy of the flightdeck—it’s very clearly an Airbus, from the fold-out tray tables to the blatant absence of a yoke. There had been a time when she’d thought she might make the switch to Boeing, but when Swiss had decided that the A320s it had taken in the merger with Cal would stay in the fleet, Linda’s future as a true-blue Airbus pilot was cemented.

Not that she’s complaining about it, when some of her happiest memories are framed by an Airbus-designed flightdeck.

Herc, true to his word, has taken a seat by the window of the terminal and is staring out at her with a smile.

Linda gets up, leans over the displays, and holds a hand up to the window in greeting; in return, Herc languidly waves at her. She grinned as he holds up a finger, one minute, and gingerly takes his phone from his pocket to snap a picture. Once finished, he lowers his phone, checks the photograph, and flashes a thumbs-up at her through the terminal window.

A knock at the doorway, and Linda turns to see the redcap peeking inside. “Captain?”

“Yes,” Linda acknowledges, and rises from her seat.

Before long, her first officer has returned, and the boarding time is flashing on the chronometer. Linda feels strangely nervous.

“You okay?” the first officer asks. “You look a little…” she trails off.

Linda shakes her head. “I’m fine, it’s just…” she casts a look out the flightdeck windows. Herc is no longer at his post by the terminal window. Her heart begins to pound.

“He’s…” The first officer ponders a little. “He’s not your dad, right? I forgot. I know you told me earlier.”

“He’s my best friend,” Linda replies automatically. “We haven’t been in a flightdeck together in—years.”

“I see. Well, I’ll just greet passengers outside,” her first officer tells her sympathetically, squeezes outside, then Linda hears her say, “Oh! Welcome onboard, sir.”

“Thank you,” says a voice she would know on any frequency, anywhere in the world, and Linda is immediately at ease. A second later, Herc pokes his head through the door, bracing a hand on the doorway. “Hello there, Captain. May I enter?”

She rises from her seat. “I’m coming, Herc.”

Linda stands at his side once more in the doorway, and he stares all around the A350 flightdeck with an expression of wonder on his face. “Good Lord, Linda, so many screens. How do you manage?”

“You pull the stick for up and push the stick for down,” she replies dead-pan, and Herc lets out a laugh so loud that several flight attendants and boarding passengers look in their direction. “Herc!” she hisses reproachfully.

Still grinning from ear-to-ear, Herc loops an arm around her shoulder and pulls her close to him. “Yes, Linda?” he asks, maddeningly innocent, and she rolls her eyes.

“Come on, let’s sit,” she says, and begins to lead him further into the flightdeck.

“You’re on the wrong side,” he points out, and Linda realizes she’s automatically drifted to the right seat and her first officer’s already-configured chair.

“No I’m not.”

“Yes you are, Captain Fairbairn,” Herc returns with the patience of a primary school teacher.

“I want you on my left.” She knows she sounds like a child insisting it, though she’s got several strands of silver running through her hair and glasses on her nose, but—she knows also that having Herc on her right in a flightdeck like this is not what she had envisioned when dreaming of bringing him up here. “Please,” she adds, as an afterthought.

He cracks a smile. “How very silly,” he says, and it doesn’t sound patronizing from him—it’s got all the affection she remembers. Yet he sits anyway, situates himself in the captain’s seat next to her, and—

The technology is so different from the ancient A320s of Caledonian, and yet—the flightdeck is so familiar.

Like they never left it.

Herc looks across the console at her with a breathtaking smile, and it’s like he’s de-aged about twenty years—maybe more.

“We should have done this,” he says softly, and despite the smile on his face, his eyes are suspiciously bright. “Even if it had been just once.”

“Done what?”

“Long-haul.” He casts a glance over the screens, the evolution of the same instruments that must have guided him for longer than Linda has existed. “Linda, I’ve half a mind to steal this plane,” he changes the subject.

She laughs at him, knowing that regret and Herc are two things that she’s careful not to let mix too much, and goes along with it. “I’m sure you could figure it out if I set it up on the ground,” she says lightly. “If I weren’t concerned about such things as, you know, keeping my job.”

“True, that is of slight importance.” Herc looks behind him, then curls his left hand around the sidestick lightly. The sight sends a wave of nostalgia through Linda—he could very well have been preparing to lift the nose at V1 on Bristol’s runway. “In any case…” He lets go of the sidestick, turns to Linda, and smiles gently at her. A single tear is tracing the groove of a smile line. “I wouldn’t steal an A350 with anyone else in the flightdeck but you.”

Linda reaches across the flightdeck, brushes the tear away with her thumb, and rests her hand on his face.

He leans into it, still smiling.

[cursedvibes]

I have one disappointment with the reveal of Jin being a reincarnation of Sukuna's twin.

Kenjaku has lamented about their creations not being able to surpass their own potential, in the past. So it feels cheaper to finally have a creation/offspring have higher potential not through intrinsic growth or effort but cause of inheriting the other parent's greater potential.

Thoughts?

Hm, yeah I get what you mean. I'm at least glad that Yuuji got Shrine like Blood Manipulation, i.e. by absorbing a cursed object, not by just having it inherited.

I think with Yuuji and Kenjaku's expectations it comes down to two things. They say they wanted offspring that can surpass their expectations, but they acknowledge that they have always been too focused on controlling the process, therefore never quite getting something that really surprises them. Yuuji starts out like that too. His birth and upbringing was meticulously engineered. Parents picked out, even tracked down a specific soul, and then placed a sealed finger inside him to ensure he would be able to resist Sukuna.

I think that's where the Culling Game comes in though and what they said to Choso inside Tengen's barrier. The Culling Game was meant to be chaos that not even Kenjaku could control and Yuuji was intended to be a player. To Kenjaku's disappointment it didn't end up as chaotic as they wanted, but I think what they said about Yuuji is still true. They are obviously saying it overly crass to anger Choso, but I think they really didn't have a clear plan for Yuuji once he stopped being Sukuna's vessel and that was meant to give him freedom to evolve. Being Sukuna's vessel would kick off his evolution. Make him learn to control his cursed energy, make him aware of how he can use cursed objects to his benefits and make him familiar with Sukuna's soul and cursed energy to both awaken the potential he got through Jin and also what he took from Sukuna (e.g. Shrine). From there it's up to him what he does with it and how far he wants to go and that's what would make him able to surpass Kenjaku's expectations. Or at least they hope so. They have always kept their distance and only manipulated him very subtly if at all once he became Sukuna's vessel and their Shibuya and Culling Game plan kicked off. Among other things, I think it was to make sure they don't end up controlling his actions too much.

This still seems very controlled as is typical for Kenjaku and so far Yuuji seems to develop exactly how they predicted, so that might make them a bit proud but not satisfy their intentions for him fully. We'll see how it will continue from here. Kenjaku's main hopes probably still lie on the merger curse to surpass their own potential (it would've been born from them if things went as intended and they might still be involved in a way when the merger starts for real), but Yuuji was sort of like the second option I guess. In both cases they put an about equal amount of long-term planning into the result.

Kenjaku's dead now, so that would leave a lot of room for Yuuji to become what they are hoping for. They can't influence him directly anymore, only through what they set up before like making him and Sukuna clash. What happens afterwards is up to them. But they won't be able to see the result just like with the merger. Truly unpredictable now that it's out of their hands, but inaccessible to them (although I'm less sure with the merger, I think they still did something with curse womb!Tengen that would ensure their involvement somehow). They seemed to be fine with it though when they died because they got their own taste of unpredictable chaos with Takaba previously. Probably why they simply told Yuuta and his group aka also Yuuji that things will be fun.

[chunibyo-x-sorcerer]

My thoughts on JJK 261 after calming down...

Now looking at other people's perspectives regarding the leaks and callbacks to previous chapters. It makes sense because jujutsu society always do whatever that is necessary to win and eliminate curses. By either becoming monsters by losing humanity or doing things for means to an end.

Plus, the life of jujutsu sorcerer isn't fair which makes sense and heartbreaking given the stigma.

The theme of throwing your humanity to destroy a monster makes sense but tragic. After all jjk is a dark Shonen which I sometimes forget.

I think this tweet explains it better than me.

https://x.com/DallienceRNG/status/1793682135154663737

And I can't help but agree with this given how jujutsu society is...no matter how much I hate what's happening. I understand the outrage and also understand what Gege is trying to do.

Heck...there is gotcha moment for some who wanted Gojo to come back. Like be careful for what you wish for.

https://x.com/radman_v2/status/1793533818424660424

---

Yuta cares so much for the people he cares about. He has to become a monster to fight Sukuna to prevent the merger. Heck, he hate that he had to do this. Not because he wants to but because it's necessary.

So far, Gojo is okay with the plan, and so did Shoko ( although he wished Shoko refuse or raise objection to that), but nobody would think Gojo would lose, but he did. So this is the drastic solution for the worst-case scenario, even if it's unethical. Battles and war are not meant to be pretty unforunately.

Have you seen the scenes where Yuta is worried when things don't look good for Gojo? That's why. It made sense.

Like shit...now looking at the tweets with a clearer mind. I mean..I went through like stages of grief here.

Maybe...just maybe Yuta might go down if things went awry once more or Yuta using Gojo body would weaken Sukuna to the point where Yuji gets the killing blow. At least for Yuji. Yuji is the MC and Yuji is my favorite character.

The great good thing about this chapter this it reveals that Gojo killed the highers up. Thank Buddha for that. I felt like higher ups are being shady as hell after hearing Kenjaku infiltrated them or something. Becuase why is Geto is under Kenjaku's possession?! They must behind that or something.

So the theme of this JJK showcasing humanity and inhumanity to achieve goals. I guess?

https://x.com/m4kizenin/status/1793609258795475105

[mindutme]

T’owal T’uesday #16

I really liked this post so I decided to translate it into T’owal! I should really update the font so I can make this look a little nicer.

First tweet: Pof k’ós e twus yul gwen su fán tso sú tsés ót í tsyén sú túl da tu k’eyen hú dá fén ts’af bon wan ikal htsts’

Quote retweet: Psil wum bus hú li ót máyol a hoh twít

The original tweets, as translated in the linked post, read:

I saw a piece of fabric? on the floor of my room so I went to pick it up but it was actually the moonlight that entered through the window lmao

1000 years ago this would have been a poem, not a tweet

Translation notes below!

One thing that was pretty convenient to translate was “fabric?”—the word pof in T’owal is usually used as an adverb to mean “maybe” or “possibly,” but in this case is used as an adjective to modify k’ós “cloth,” making pof k’ós “a possible cloth.” The unmarked word order would be k’ós pof and it would come later in the sentence, but moving the object to the beginning emphasizes it, and putting pof first further emphasizes the uncertainty.

On the note of the question mark, I didn’t write any punctuation in the image. I’m not sure why, really, other than that it felt more internet-ish. I don’t speak Japanese so I don’t know if there are any similar orthographic shortcuts in the original tweets, but putting all the proper punctuation just didn’t feel right.

Something that was much trickier to translate than expected was “moonlight.” What I wanted was more like “a patch of moonlight,” and the closest I got was tyot ts’af tso fen ts’af bon wan ikal: literally, “an area lit by an instance of shining of the moon, going through the window.” Not nearly as awkward in T’owal as that translation, but I didn’t like the repeated ts’af (once for “lit” and once for “shining”). I even tried out a version tyot ts’af tso bon tsin ikal, “an area lit by the moon via/using the window.” I ended up with fén ts’af bon wan ikal, literally “an instance of shining of the moon, going through the window.” To me, fén ts’af bon reads a little more like “ray of moonlight” than the intended meaning, but I think simpler here is better.

“lmao” is translated as htsts’ which is actually only three letters in T’owal (ts and ts’ are one each). It’s an acronym of hah tsin ts’o, “laughing with the voice.” Yes, the T’owal word for “laugh” is hah—before the recent (and tbh still not set-in-stone) merger of /x/ and /h/ it was xax, which is at least not as obvious.

[lullabyes22-blog]

How would Silco propose to Mel/ Sevika?

Or would it be the ladies doing the proposing, haha?

Silco has monumental trust issues.

This translates into deeply-embedded commitment issues, and all the evasions and equivocations that go along with it.

If there was a wedding on the horizon - and it wasn't a political sham - it would absolutely take time (we're talking years), during which he'd spring a hundred traps and employ a thousand tests to ensure proof against treachery, all to bitterly console himself if presented with evidence of disloyalty, "See? Nobody can be trusted. It's just me and Jinx."

If both partners pass his bizarre marathon of mind-games - and still find themselves interested in him (?!) - he'd nonetheless want to avoid anything concrete ("The ties that bind become the knots that strangle," etc etc...)

Likely, a proposal would happen on the heels of some bigass epiphany. Him realizing that he's stabler, steadier or even sharper with the object of his affection closeby (I'd hesitate to say "happier" because I feel this character has left rock-solid romantic happiness behind in his youth, and the closest he finds to pure joy is his child, and Zaun in her stead.)

In which case, he would be the one proposing. On the surface, it seems a way to assert control. In fact, it's the opposite. In proffering an invitation, it's his feelings on the line - and the other party's prerogative to refuse. The ball would be - symbolically, literally - in their court, and they'd be aware of it.

In Mel's case, he'd opt for a wry formality. After all, Mel is someone who enjoys being wooed - but also loosens up after a bit of tasteful impropriety. After a diplomatic event, while they're still in 'business mode' he corners her somewhere alone with the invitation to have drinks. During which point, while they're sparring and scheming over martinis in their usual way, he casually tosses a little box into her lap.

With a ring inside.

Mel raises an eyebrow, masking her shock with cool poise. Silco raises an eyebrow right back: no poise, just simple expectation. "Well?"

Later, Mel is heard saying to Elora that it was the most succinct proposal she'd ever received.

She said yes, by the way.

In Sevika's case, they've known each other so long that even formality devolves into informality. She's also bluntly down-to-earth and a straight shooter with no patience for wishywashy hints. Silco might make his proposal as matter-of-factly as a business merger. But also rely on the environment to work for him, because he likes a little drama in his life...

Mid-shootout, both of them crouched behind a piece of wreckage while some rival chem-gang shreds the scenery, and Jinx ripostes with Pow-Pow, cackling maniacally in a hail of bullets - he leans in and murmurs, "If we do the done thing, you'd enjoy this rousing exercise every evening."

Sevika stares at him like he's lost his mind. But his half-smile tells her he's serious.

She finds herself smiling back.

That's a yes, by the way.

[attorneys-against-court-violence]

The Tenmas: Simon and Athena Lite

The Monstrous Turnabout is... an episode. It's... certainly one of the Ace Attorney cases of all time... and it has a murder...

Alright alright. I'll pack it in. There's a lot I like about Monstrous; Athena and Apollo's blossoming dynamic, Simon and Bobby's introductions... though those aren't specific to the case at hand - those things could have happened in any case.

There is ONE thing I enjoy about it that I don't see getting much attention in the Dual Destinies fanspace; the Tenmas. As implied in the title, there's a LOT of parallels with these two. But let's introduce them with a quick character analysis first! Spoilers incoming (but hopefully you already knew that!)

Jinxie Tenma

Jinxie Tenma, the first of them we meet, is a woefully troubled lass. A combination of schizophrenia and the yokai-obsessed culture she was born into leaves her shaking with fear most of the time, constantly wary that a monster is lurking nearby to do harm. She carries charms with her wherever she goes, even wearing one on her head, and reflexively slaps one on people who manage to scare her (not a hard thing to do honestly). She's constantly vigilant and her psychosis doesn't lend itself to being easily understood by others. When she's gripped by intense fear, her schizophrenia worsens to the point where she sees yokai inhabiting an entire room, obscuring the moment she found the Alderman dead and her "father" close to unconsciousness.

It's said she lost her mother at a very young age, finding courage in the golden flowers that symbolise her. We'll come back to this, don't worry.

She also has a habit of sleep-walking far from the mansion, rationalising that she had been possessed by a yokai - namely Tenma Taro. Both she and her father have seals on their heads to prevent such a thing from happening - Damian getting the entire top of his head covered in warding seals to prevent Tenma Taro from escaping. We'll come back to this too.

Damian Tenma

A stone-faced man with an intimidating build to match, but a heart of gold to contrast it. He's annoyed by how the former belies the latter but apologises profusely for causing distress. He's also extremely protective of his daughter - especially after his wife passed away. How kind and protective? Well... threatening to break out of the Detention Centre to offer Apollo tea and later to go check up on Jinxie should give you a good idea!

He's adamantly against the merger with Nine-Tails Vale and is quite unpopular in the region. Despite this, his wife was born and raised in the Vale and Jinxie had decided to move there to be more independant and get closer to her mother's origins. Damian doesn't seem to have any objections to this, preferring that her daughter pursues what makes her happy than be overbearing. The pressure-point that pushed him toward the merger was a threat against his daughter's well-being - an anonymous threat from L'belle in his efforts to obtain "Tenma Taro" (a giant gold nugget) from the Vale to pay off his debts. Still wanting to fight the merger without drawing attention, he did so under the guise of the Amazing Nine-Tails who fought against Tenma Taro (ie Nine-Tails Vale would fight against Tenma Town, never to join forces). Notice also that the first time we see him in this guise, he's protecting his daughter from the curse of Tenma Taro. Knowingly or not, he's protecting his daughter from becoming a casualty of the greed Tenma Taro inspires in people such as L'belle.

Up to now, he's shown himself to be a kind man and a loving father. A smart one as well, finding a way to fight against the merger and rally Nine-Tails Vale behind his cause without giving his identity away and resulting in the blackmailer making good on their promises. When his daughter's on the line, he's willing to play both sides to make sure she isn't in harm's way. And when his trial threatens to put her in the line of fire...

Tenma Taro

Alright, this is less of a character and more a persona. "Tenma Taro" himself isn't interesting - an entertaining sequence but not that deep. It's the act of Tenma - no, not this one - NO, not the rock, pay attention - DAMIAN! Damian Tenma! Him taking on this comically villainous persona that re-enforces what we already know about him. For one, it's to protect his daughter. She's far and away the most important part of his life - more-so than his political standing - yet despite not being guilty, he plays the villain to help her testimony hold water, even if it implicates him all the more. For two, he's very good at playing up a character to make his ends meet. The Amazing Nine-Tails is a chilvalrous hero valliantly protecting Nine-Tails Vale from Tenma Taro, swaying the public towards his wishes of going against the merger. It's hammy, sure, but the people seem to buy into it!

Hmm... I wonder if that's a dig at how easily people took to Fulbright's ridiculously heroic visage... hmm.

For three, it's him turning a part of himself he disdains to his advantage. He knows he's an off-putting guy and it bothers him quite a bit, but he's willing to lean into that in order to protect what's important to him. It's resourceful and a showing of how much he loves Jinxie that he's willing to do this. He's even willing to play on his daughter's belief that they are at risk of being possessed by Tenma Taro - an evil that threatens to harm both of them through L'belle's schemes and the one she believes to have killed the Alderman. Nevertheless, he takes the burden of being the villain to protect her.

Now I was going to talk about how Taro could be an alternate personality here... when being asked questions about what Damian saw, Taro draws upon what Damian knows as if he were another person. When he comes-to in the detention centre, he questions why Apollo and Athena are talking to him like he's some evil overlord. I figured "oh, maybe this Tenma Taro is just a yokai-fied explaination for his system of personalities". Buuuuuuut... the ending of DD makes it clear that it is, in fact, a persona, him lamenting that he can't fight himself when people requested "Tenma Taro" face of against the Amazing Nine-Tails.

Referring to both Nine-Tails and Tenma Taro as "himself" is decent enough evidence that this isn't a system of multiple people like Uendo, though feel free to pitch in if I made a mistake here. Chances are I have!

Overall, the Tenmas are a fun pair of characters and their story highlights a lot about them. The tragic daughter of a long-lost mother - trying her best to live a normal life in spite of her condition - threatened by the plans of a supposed aide to steal the rock that would solve all of his problems. Despite his misgivings, a stoic and intimidating guardian takes advantage of his most belothed traits in order to protect this girl he holds so near and dear, respecting her independance despite it going against his stance on where she intends to go.

Hey wait a minute-

The Parallels

Athena and Simon's plight is the beating heart of Dual Destinies. There is no debate. EVERY case in the game has some significant (and even minor) element that ties back to their conflicts. In the Tenma's case, it's almost play-for-play a spin on the very incident that started this mess.

Simon and Damian - responsible to varying degrees for the saftey of a young girl - are forced to take the fall for a crime committed by an unknown force most only know as a supernatural entity. For their respective reasons, this mysterious assailant wanted to steal away a priceless rock from the person they had killed (both very important people in their own right, clad in white and yellow). Said unknown party posed as someone important to this girl in order to get away with their crimes; L'belle disguising as Damian under the Amazing Nine-Tails mask & the phantom disguising as Metis using a Noh mask. These items also have supernatural connotations, with the Nine-Tailed Fox being a key figure in the myth of Tenma Taro and the Noh mask being said to be able to turn the wearer into. Wait for it. A phantom! When push came to shove and the girl was at risk of being indicted for the crime, Simon/Damian leaned into the false acussations, using their naturally intimidating qualities to their advantage in order to either buy enough time for the mystery to be solved or simply to take the fall in her stead.

Finally, the ones responsible for these crimes were thought to be valuable aides to both men; L'belle being the literal aide to Damian and "Bobby Fulbright" being the detective responsible for handling Simon during his conviction.

The Tenmas in this case serve to highlight the undying love and loyalty underpinning Simon Blackquill's actions. Damian is a scary guy but is aggressively polite and puts a great deal of effort in ensuring the safety of his daughter Jinxie. Simon has built quite a frightening reputation himself, but everything he does - from taking the fall for UR-1, to gunning after Starbuck so hard in 5-4, to stepping in and recounting his false confession in 5-5 - is all done to protect the most valuable and beloved treasure of his mentor, and someone he undeniably cares for himself. While prison has changed him quite a bit, he's retained a keen awareness of other's needs and breaks character on occassion to reveal his softer side. In this case, accepting Jinxie's warding charm shortly after threatening to behead her father, likely realising this is a genuinely mixed-up but still kind girl that he's needlessly frightened.

It's also worth noting that despite Damian's seeming dislike of Nine-Tails Vale based on the merger, and Simon's disdain for defense attorneys, both respect Jinxie and Athena's pursuits in a place they're not too fond of respectively. Speaking of, Athena's first reaction upon hearing about her client Damian? Tears. Literal tears. Probably not just for how much he cares for Jinxie - she probably caught the similarities to Simon and was reminded of his dorky kindness. Granted it doesn't take much to make Athena cry but I'd say that's a good enough reason to.

I'm quite fond of the Tenmas myself, though part of me does have to admit it's because they're shadowing a much more important and stirring dynamic. I liken their story to Sasha and Orla's in 5-DLC, oddly enough - one focusing on Simon's side and the other on Athena's. How both of them risk being run to ruins but being completely geniune in their desire to see the other free. Man, now I have to talk about Reclaimed at some point!

Did I mention that Jinxie and Athena are at least some flavour of neurodivergent? At least, that's what's implied on Athena's end. Jinxie's unambiguously schizophrenic. Maaaaaan, I gotta talk about Athena's divergent little brain too... been holding off on that re-write for too long, maaaaaaaaan!

BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY! Just the same as Jinxie found courage in her mother's golden flowers, Athena found a posthumous connection to her mother through studying analytical psychology. It's through that she's able to find the ability to actually help the situation with Simon. Both found themselves enabled to help resolve the situation through their connections to their mothers. And like how people would think Jinxie was possessed by Tenma Taro - both during the trial and during her sleepwalks - Athena would similarly be accused of being the monster that caused UR-1 in the first place. Damian and Simon would protect both from this by shouldering the burden of being the monsters for them - Damian the evil crow man, Simon the phantasmagorical killer.

So yeah, the Tenmas are alright. Now if you'll excuse me! I need to figure out who the Phineas Filch is in UR-1...

[netherworldpost]

these aren't based on true stories or anything

I like how I am one part:

continuing studies writing and art professor who you aren't sure is even employed by the school, looks like I just showed up one day and started rambling

on some level you're kinda wondering if I am employed at all because I am well put together but in a "chaotic well put together" way

one part:

your "gothy friend in college a dozen autumns ago, we haven't spoken in years, and now you're getting married -- do you still have my address? Might be inappropriate to send, Life has most assuredly moved on and things are not nearly as chaotic as they were Back In The Days of your misspent youth.

But I show up at your wedding anyway somehow, wearing something tasteful but out of sync with the current fashion. Or. Any era in fashion. To be honest.

I raise a glass of lemon soda pop to you, from the back of the room, are you even serving lemon soda pop you wonder, we don't speak, you can't find me later, seriously did I bring my own beverage, I've left you a small lime green attache case full of $20 bills on the gift table.

The attache case is objectively an eye-seering color. You remember it is one of my favorite colors.

Your 'thank you' card returns to you 'addressee not found.' We never speak again. You cannot find me on social media with the names you knew.

one part:

Ruthless, almost to the point of savage, in business.

But not in large stakes -- not real estate deals or finances or mergers or business acquisitions. In things like, "I want to develop a family tree and rule book of succession in my vampire role playing game with my rich friends, we are about to wrap up our current campaign and I want to prepare the next."

And I write out, "I want $X as well as the DVD box set of Beetlejuice, you to pay for this list of prototypes for my emerging zine company, seven apples (honey crisp or better), three lemons (ripe), and a twelve pack of root beer."

And they say "I was thinking more like $--"

Before they can finish, I take back my estimate and every time they argue I add another color under a new heading of "nail polish."

They pause and ask, "Why are you doing this," and then I look them dead in the eye and say sotto voce, "Because I know. Everything."

And an observer may think "oh wait this is blackmail, the client is having an affair or something"

But the truth of the matter is, I know in the current RPG game, they are playing a secretly evil character that is robbing their fellow adventurers, a turn in play that won't be revealed for several sessions, with a yet-determined outcome.

I'm working for the DM and at least three other players in the group of rich friends playing high stakes D&D.

I can make things very difficult for them.

They stop negotiating and agree to the terms.

and from experience I know at least one person reading this will be like:

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Decided to do some channel surfing of my own and transcribe some real TV snippets to use for Vox's dialogue at some point.

"We’re celebrating the legends."

"–and they pull these people out of the bus one by one. They’re risking their lives, being toppled over by the wind, getting hit, one of these people could easily get killed."

"Goooo England!" "Hi! We’re going away for a while and we wanted you to know where, since you’d worry and wonder."

"Bon Appetit." "Thank you very much. That’s a nice place. Always listen to a gas station attendant. They know where to eat." "Uh huh."

"So that was all taken and analyzed. They mentioned to us, they said, hairbrush, uh, it had *name*’s hair in there, but also found a, uh… synthetic hair."

"–to tell you that your shower doesn’t work as well as you think it does and *name* is clinically proven to work better than a shower with soap. Give *name* a try and see what happens because your body has never been so odor-free as it will be with *name.*"

"–the logistics can get a little crazy. So on the day of the book signing, what happened?" "Well, the books weren’t there." "Okay, then what did you do?" "So I went into overdrive and ran down to *name* and got some–"

"At the moment, it’s going to primarily be me, but after talking to our son and that ability–"

"I remember the little drink from the same bar, in the same bar." "How old were you when you went?" "Twenty-eight. I honestly didn’t prefer that type of beer. I prefer blondes."

"A technician tweaks the machine’s computer program to fine-tune the drop-off coordinates. After all, releasing the cones too soon could cause them to topple."

"Your ears must be burning! Do you think you could do me a favor? Can I get a few more of those pain killers." "Shoulder acting up again?" "Obviously, that’s why I’m calling you."

"Mommy, why did someone kill Daddy?" "People do bad things–"

"Please don’t hate me." "Think I’m gonna go check on the rest of the horses." "I’ll see you around, okay?"

"That balance is key to a healthy gut environment. *Name* plant-based, prebiotic fiber gently nourishes the good bacteria, working with your body to help your gut and you flourish effortlessly every day. Grow what feels good, with *name.*"

"–Man will lend people money the spur of the moment." "You are married to one of the wealthiest women in Georgia. Why do you need to go to a loanshark? All you have to do is ask your wife!"

"A 50% discount on a second one! You get it all! An incredible value! Order now!"

"Yes it is." "Take off your shirt." "Okay." "Oh, we’re gonna need more wax!" "I’m staying, this is gonna be good!"

"Perhaps finding your perfect match. Too good to be true can be true. New *name* cold brew."

"Oh, you don’t know?"

"The prosecution laid out their case using an enormous amount of evidence, including one of the getaway vehicles, the note found in *name*’s house on which the crime stoppers’ tip ID number had been written."

"–could have hoodwinked it. Magic way beyond the talents of a fourth-year!" "You seem to have given this a fair bit of thought, *name*!" "It was once my job to think as dark wizards do, *name*, perhaps you–"

"I swam for about five minutes. The shore wasn’t getting any closer. I felt really weak."

"Our aviary team cares for our shoebill here, currently. Because this animal is going to be living with *name*, our primate team will actually be caring for her, so it’s really important that they work together."

"*Censored* idiot!" "Oh, now I’m an idiot?"

"Step out of their homes and paddle past wild mangrove forests, just as people have been doing on the Florida coast for centuries."

"–the horrors of the first World War that they had to really think the unthinkable." "The mergers creates one of the most prolific car making entities in history. A company that will go on to bring in over one hundred billion dollars."

"Its main objective: go out and rip open the enemy armor like a can opener with an attitude. Fire!"

"May lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems." "With *name,* I’m losing weight," "I’m keeping it off," "And I’m lowering my CB risk!" "That’s the power of we!"

"It was a game changer for my patients." "Try *name* mouthwash."

"Why take less when you can get a beefy, five-layer burrito, a chalupa supreme, a double stacked taco, and a drink for just $7?"

"Representative!" "Command unclear. Goodbye." "Hello?" "Flight cancelled." "With *name,* nothing stands between you and what you want to watch. Just say “for you” into your *name* voice remote to jump back into your favorites."

"–in your state have problems with taking that out. That is not Pennsylvania!" "When I went to the judge to get released. Y’all keep playing these games with me!"

"It’s showtime for the *name* tour bus." "Riding on a bus, you have a lot of time. Time to create. That’s what our clients do. They create music."

"–they were given what they considered physical proof. One Alaskan native said that they had ivory to prove it."

"He was actually just saying last night 'Ah! I should’ve ask for something for drinks and wine and things like that.'" "Okay, we’re way ahead of you. We felt the vibes, you know, that kinetic energy. Ha ha ha!"

"Oh, what a beautiful day. So, today’s the day we give the dome back to the *name* family, and we are ready to go. Perfect!"

"*Name* helps me to look on the outside the way I feel on the inside." "When you order *name* today, you get all of this: a $247 value! That’s already an incredible deal at $69.95! But smart shoppers who use the promo code “SAVE20” will get an additional $20 off!"

"–of the United States, because *name* has no other pathway." "Is it winning or is it reducing the amount by which *indecipherable* rural voters? You have a very large rural population."

"You just kinda see through the mirror them seeing themselves for the first time." "That was the start of my new life and it was very emotional."

"Offended me. I heard messages that didn’t sit well with me. Actually– what is his name– Richard, a good old boy. He was a good guy, I liked him."

"Which I will discharge, unconditional, to honor the new president-elect and do everything possible to help him bring Americans together in fulfillment of the great vision that our declaration of independence defines–"

"So, *name* is going to get us to AGI?" "You know, we are committed to making foundational progress, uh, towards AGI and bold and responsible way, and so, you know, focus on the effort to do that."

"But he vows to fight to prove that he had nothing to do with the abduction of convenience store clerk, *name,* back in 1994." "Well, I’d rather die out there than die in here."

"Except that it means people are taking fewer precautions in spreading other STDs. Two other diseases bear mentioning: common illnesses like flu and strep throat have–"

"–information is so impactful is because it has been researched. They understand that these are the messages that are going to break through and seize hold and make people uncomfortable. So I think that one of the things that’s different about the fear mongering now, is that it actually–"

"But the fact is, right after that, she got all types of blowback on social media. Everybody saying 'Oh my God, is she actually a *name* fan?' Which to her– you know, something I love that she did–"

"–double eagle. Each coin is struck in .25 *indecipherable* ounces of .999 pure silver. The final issue price was to be set at $39 per coin, but during this–"

"Look, check my computer, my records, whatever you want. We run a legitimate business here." "You give us permission to search the premises?" "Yes, yes, if you need to. I have nothing to hide."

"So chic, so sleek."

"You’re all clear kid! Now, let’s blow this thing and go home!" "Great shot, kid! That was one in a million!" "Remember, the Force will be with you, always."

"Over two grand! See how much you can save when you dare to compare! In store or at *name*.com"

"At *name,* we know that not all paint is created equal. So they do it right. Start with our most durable paint–"

"For a limited time, *name* just dropped the price of every foot-long in the app to $6.99! Wait, *name* did what?! $6.99 foot-long?!"

"Who. did. this?" "We did. One way or another, *name* always gets his man. And like that, they were gone."

"Who are you? What’s your phone nu–" "What’d I miss?" "The cases of *name*: all new, Friday at 9:00. On *name.*"

"Yeah. Yeah, it was so nice to meet you all. Buddy, come on, let’s do this." "Thanks to my awesome team, we were able to make this house look so cool, and we got a strong offer of $360,000."

"–outside my door / Hello / Is it me you’re looking for?"

"*Name*! I don’t have much time *name,* so let me get straight to it. Did you or did you not put your name into the *name*?" "No!" "Shh! I had to ask."

"–separate and equally important groups. The police, who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories."

"I think *name* understands me. When I’m speaking to her, she cuts me off, or she’ll be like 'No, no. I know, I know, I know.'" "Ooo, that’s not good. Where do you think this is going to end up?" "I don’t know, but they have to talk it out!"

"This house has its challenges, but they wouldn’t trade it for the world." "Heyyyy! It’s looking good!" "Yeah, it’s gettin’ there, right?" "Yeah, babe!"

"It’s these moments at the table with family and friends– "perfect!" –that matter most."

"Just like the Bermuda Triangle, the Alaska Triangle is a place of mysterious events and unexplained phenomena. And one of the strangest stories has emerged from the depths–"

"What an *censored*! Can you imagine having that guy on your tail? 'Yeah, I might be going slow, but you’re behind me, *censored*!'" "I look into the viewfinder like–"

"–ample way of moving your couch around?" "Nuh-uh. It’s an exercise class where you punch and you kick til you can’t think of anything else no more. No, uh, no, actually. Punch, kick, kick, squats!"

"Beautiful is an understatement, *name*, and it’s also one of the best bodies of water in the nation. Look at those day one waits for our top ten." "Yeah, very much, uh, tightly grouped there in the top ten. *Name* on top."

"–team to the Super Bowl. I think *name* hit upon it, and last night was a perfect of. That *name*'s offense is–"

[donniesexceptionalmind]

Ok you piqued my interest at ‘runaway black hole’ ✨

-Curious Anon again

Awesome! \(^○^)/

The object called 'Runaway Black Hole' resides near RCP28 (a star-forming galaxy, which is approximately 7.7 billion light-years away from us) & NASA's Hubble Space Telescope accidentally caught it.

Credit: Credits: NASA, ESA, Pieter van Dokkum (Yale); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Well, reside is a low choice of wording because that object is traveling so fast that it could travel from earth to the moon in 14 minutes while weighing as much as 20 million suns.

Comparison: Light needs 8 minutes from the sun to get to earth!

It has left behind a never-before-seen 200,000-light-year-long "contrail" of newborn stars, twice the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy. It's likely the result of a rare, bizarre game of galactic billiards among three massive black holes.

It most likely escaped from its host galaxy.

There are several ways for a supermassive black hole to escape from the center of a galaxy.

The first step is always the merging of galaxys, which leads to the formation of a binary supermassive black hole at the center of the merger remnant. The binary can be long-lived and if a third supermassive black hole reaches the center of the galaxy before the binary merges, a three-body interaction can impart a large velocity to one of the supermassive black holes leading to its escape from the center.

Even in the absence of a third supermassive black hole, the eventual merger of the binary can impart a kick to the newly formed black hole through gravitational radiation recoil.

The velocity of the ejected supermassive black hole depends on the mechanism and the specific dynamics.

Generally, the kicks are expected to be higher for slingshot scenarios than for recoils, although in exceptional cases, recoils may reach approximately 5,000 km per second!

In both scenarios, the velocity of the supermassive black hole may exceed the escape velocity of the host galaxy, which leads to its escape into intergalatic space!

Identifying such runaway supermassive black holes is of obvious interest but difficult.

Have an artistic interpretation of it:

Image credit: NASA / ESA / Leah Hustak, STScI.

Have a cookie if you read all that! 🍪

[wumblr]

there are structures hiding in this dataset...

this is an animation of a year of gamma ray repeater data. 90% of these are blazar galaxies, the ones that interest me are the (unspecified) ones that aren't. if the HCB wall was originally (and controversially) identified by finding gamma ray bursts that were plausibly co-located, then performing a similar analysis on this data from the fermi large area telescope could reveal similar large structure (i.e. adding depth, identifying which objects are at a similar distance as well as apparently adjacent)

the thing that interests me is the ones that appear to light up all in a row, there are dozens of them scattered across this gif but without depth it's impossible to tell how many of them are actually near each other. or maybe in the case of gamma rays it doesn't particularly matter (maybe extremely distant objects can cause collimated gamma ray outbursts among each other, but this seems less likely than gravitation having a localized effect on other nearby objects, as one supernova or merger burst could affect the local curvature such that it induces other supernovae or mergers. or, perhaps more reasonably, maybe it's simply a feature of age, in the sense that massive stars that were born at the same time and formed by the same environment are somewhat likelier to die at the same time)

https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14309

[netmassimo]

An image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope depicts Arp-Madore 2339-661, an object that until not many years ago was considered a pair of interacting galaxies, cataloged as NGC 7733 (bottom right) and NGC 7734 (top left). However, observing the upper arm of NGC 7733, it's possible to see a sort of large knot of a color different from the predominant blue which is actually a dwarf galaxy, now cataloged as NGC 7733N. The consequence is that the interaction taking place is what some call a merging group. Mergers between two galaxies are normal but sometimes there are more galaxies and in this case, there are three of them that show signs of having active galactic nuclei.

[cursedvibes]

https://x.com/kostivedae/status/1800896107381399973?t=83v6yYC4Prw9yz_9NYZaYA&s=19

what do you think of this.....theory thread...?

i somehow can't make sense of it despite how well-researched it seems

Agree with you. They make some interesting points and there are some things that could form a good basis for some other stuff, but the basic premise of "Yuki is 500 years old and merged with Tengen in the 1500s" I just don't see supported by canon. After reading the thread, I saw that they're the person who made that infamous thread about Womb Profusion being Geto's domain and that explains some stuff. Would say though that their Yuki thread at least makes more sense than that and most of the time they don't just pull conclusions out of thin air.

Gonna go through some of what they say:

So the basic premise is that Yuki merged with Tengen in the past, overpowered her and broke free.

We don't know if Riko would've been able to hear the voices of the other vessels because she never got close to Tengen. Yuki only ever brings up hearing the voices when she's right in front of Tengen. For example, she also doesn't know for sure about other Star Plasma Vessels that are still around (like when Riko died) unless she specifically seeks them out, so this also suggest she can't hear them long-distance. I don't think this works across several hundred meters, much less kilometres. Also even if that was the case, Yuki is a sorcerer and has extensive knowledge of the soul, Riko is not. An incident might've triggered Yuki's event, who knows, but I don't think she's always aware of those voice and Riko wouldn't of course be either because she never had any contact with Tengen and she was also not trained in any control of cursed energy or perception of her own soul.

Also I wouldn't say the connection between Yuuji and Sukuna is all that relevant here. Sukuna can sense his other fingers because it's part of his soul. Just how Tengen is aware of when a new Star Plasma Vessel is born. So that kind of connection exists between Yuki and Tengen because Yuki is literally designed to be a genetic match to Tengen. However factually, we have no evidence, that the resonance Todo mentions even exists, it's just speculation on his part. They took precautions, but actually Sukuna has no idea about their plans or even the training they went through, which he would know if this resonance was as strong as Todo suggests. Neither Yuuji nor Sukuna know what the other was up to during the timeskip though.

Yes, it's very likely that her experiences of being a Star Plasma Vessel and being able to hear the other Star Plasma Vessels caused her to invest in research of the soul and cursed energy, hoping to some day free the trapped vessels or get rid of Tengen in some other way. There were more cases of more than one soul inhabiting one body, the many cursed objects Kenjaku made and sealed inside people. Yuki didn't know about that though.

Like...you literally just said Yuki can hear the other vessels voices, so obviously she based her research on that because it told her that what Tengen says is bullshit. It seems once the vessel is suppressed, the host is never aware of them as Choso can't feel his vessel either for example. Yuki has evidence to the contrary, so of course she investigated that. She is a special case because she shares a connection with the other Star Plasma Vessel (SPV) that doesn't exist between any other (potential) vessels. Only way it could be imitated is by becoming aware of your soul and able to perceive it on others like Yuuji and Mahito. Yuuji doesn't have an intrinsic connection to Magumi like Yuki has to the SPVs despite both being vessels, he has to actively pry Sukuna and Megumi's souls apart to reach them, so clearly SPVs are a special case.

OP assumes all this is due to a merger, but I don't see how this couldn't just be a natural connection between SPVs that always exists and Yuki was able to amplify.

So then we get to the "Yuki broke free after merging and is actually 500 years old" part. On that whole tangent about the name Tsukumo: yes, it seems to be a reference to her connection with Tengen and also the colour of her hair. Neat little thing, but I don't think this means Yuki is actually that old. Takaba's name Fumihiko has the words "history" and a historic version of "boy" in it. He isn't actually that old though. Yorozu is also not 10.000 years old. Names can connect to themes of the character, but they aren't always that literal.

I do think that the reason Tengen didn't merge with Yuki is because Yuki is simply to powerful and has quite a strong will too. Getting her to give up her life is much more difficult than with Riko for example because she doesn't seem indoctrinated into Tengen's philosophy and she also has a means to defend herself, very different from Riko, who doesn't have a cursed technique or any other way of standing up against Tengen unless someone helps her. With all of OPs explanations I still don't see why she has to be 500 years old. It makes more sense to me that Star Plasma Vessels appear around the time span when Tengen's body gradually gets close to evolving. Exact years don't seem to matter, which makes sense since we're talking about quite big timespans. Plus, we know there are always multiple SPVs around. Nothing speaks against Yuki just being a SPV that was ready for merging 20-25 years ago and Tengen decided she was too much of a hassle and instead waited for a better vessel to appear, which would be Riko, who was the ideal choice. Even 10 years after Riko's death Tengen is still holding on relatively fine, so I don't know why she can't just wait another decade or two after Yuki didn't work out for a better vessel to come along.

Then they say that this is somehow evidence of Yuki having merged in the past?? She is criticizing Tengen's philosophy of "come what may" and positioning herself as some enlightened being that is much wiser than Yuki, Kenjaku or any SPV. Yes, Yuki compares herself to a great sage or bodhisattva and that might also refer to the monkey king (there are more people with the title 大聖 than just him), but what does that have to do with the merger exactly? They aren't talking about that. Even if she compares herself to the monkey king who wrecked the heavens, it's clearly to mock Tengen. Idk, connecting this to some nebulous merger that happened 500 years ago seems like quite a stretch to me.

They acknowledge that it is strange that Yuki looks so young if she's 500 years old. Their answer is that she got Immortality from Tengen and it just happens to work very differently for her than Tengen...yeah not the best argument. There are differences between how people use the same cursed technique or how it manifests, but in this case it would get rid of the very fundamental aspect of Immortality that is that Tengen ages and it will not lead to death but a change in her body at some point. Yuki would then just be immortal period and it doesn't seem like she experiences changes in her body either. That's a much bigger difference than Yuuji having some "cut here" marks when using Cleave.

Even if Yuki was 500 years old and broke free from Tengen after a merger, how would Kenjaku not catch wind about any of this? They would for sure notice if Tengen merged again, they killed the infant SPV and six eyes around that time after all, so they were especially alert. Also I assuming Yuki regaining control and splitting from Tengen would mess Tengen up pretty badly and put her in quite a vulnerable position. Yet nobody ever mentions such a severe event, neither Tengen, Kenjaku or Yuki. Yuki would then also already be familiar with Kenjaku, since she would've known about their attacks on SPVs in the past. But she didn't.

Minor thing, but while I wouldn't doubt that Yuki could break through to Tengen's body if she really wanted to and was ready to destroy the entire tomb as well as her body in the process, OP makes it sound way too simple. If you read the pages they so helpfully provided, you see that TCBs translator theorizes that Kenjaku was thrown outside the barrier, but didn't actually break through to the next stage. Plus, the barrier was reassembled afterwards as we see. Even if Yuki breaks a wall/edge of the sunyata barrier, that wouldn't necessarily bring her closer to Tengen or in that instance she would've punched Kenjaku straight through to Tengen's body, which would be a bit counterproductive to the plan they had right? It would've benefited Kenjaku more than her. The sunyata barrier as well as the concealing barrier operate on illusions and multiple layers. Just punching through it won't work.

I talked about this before and I agree that the clothes of the second SPV don't match the time (1500s) she should've merged in. Gege is also usually quite good with historically accurate clothes like in Kashimo's flashback for example. If it's not historically accurate, it's usually an intentional decision like Sukuna's clothes (or lack thereof) and Uraume's haircut in the Heian era.

Tengen says her body is now 500 years old, but the merger with the second vessel could have only happened around the 1600s, likely around their end because we know the fight between the Gojo Clan had with six eyes and the Zenin Clan head was 400 years ago. It would make sense that Kenjaku killing the infant Star Plasma Vessel and the consequent reincarnation would mess some things up with the timeline, but it shouldn't be by this much. It's true that the kimono and also hairstyle would point more towards Meiji or even Taisho era than late Muromachi or early Edo period. Also even with the six eyes reincarnating in the 1600s that makes it seem like Kenjaku waited decades between the infanticide and actually showing up at the Tomb of Stars, which is strange. I think this speaks more towards Tengen merging late (because she did clearly merge with someone who's not Yuki) than merging with Yuki 500 years ago. Because again, Kenjaku would've noticed that and also the death of the infant SPV + Kenjaku trying to run in Tengen's doors for centuries wouldn't be news to Yuki.

I would say this might be a case of Gege maybe stretching things a bit with the historical accuracy because that vessel being from the 1800s just makes no sense and also Tengen wasn't entirely truthful when she said her body is 500 years old (because of when the Gojo clan head lived). Squeezing Yuki in there somewhere makes even less sense.

This is just wrong though. The first SPV is dressed like a Heian era commoner. I can understand not knowing that because it's hard to find references for commoner clothes of that era, but honestly the headdress looks nothing like the cap they show here. It's a bit weird that they go into this so much when it would make little sense for this vessel to also be from the Meiji period. It doesn't underline their point of Yuki being 500 years old and having merged, then broken free either. It would only mess up the timeline further.

If Tengen was so unstable from having lost her vessel and also having been forcefully overpowered, why did Kenjaku not take advantage of that? Why was Yuki not already on their radar if she has power like that? Why did Tengen and the higher-ups keep Yuki around when she was clearly a serious threat to Tengen and also hostile towards her?

As for the last couple of tweets...cool fun facts I guess, but they don't really come off as more than some symbolism that I don't think is that deep (like for example the chequered pattern...). Finally, they say Yuki merged with Tengen in the Meiji era. Which is also the time they say the two other SPVs before Riko are from. So Tengen just changed rapidly between three people somewhere in the 1800s-1900s before Riko? And she still looks that old and is close to evolving? The "Tengen merges every 500 years and that's when SPVs and six eyes show up" means nothing now I guess? And also they weren't accompanied by any six eyes users to protect them.

I am very interested in Yuki's history with Tengen and think Gege left a lot of potential on the floor by killing her so early before digging deeper into the whole SPV business (although I think we will likely learn more when we get to the Heian flashbacks of Tengen, Kenjaku and Sukuna). Props for doing research, even if I think a lot of it is unnecessary and only obfuscates their point, and some tangents in isolation are interesting, but I don't think their theory makes much sense.

[eliteprepsat]

In my last article, How to Improve Your Vocabulary for the SAT & ACT, I wrote about improving your vocabulary. In this article, I want to dive more deeply into how vocabulary is tested on the SAT Reading test and explore techniques to solving the types of questions you can expect to appear.

On the Evidence-Based Reading and Writing section of the SAT, there is a subscore for questions that fall into the category known as “Words in Context.” These questions test your ability to detect both the meanings and the functions of common words and phrases in various circumstances. There’s a fairly even distribution of Words in Context questions throughout the test (about two per Reading and Writing passage), and approximately 20% of your total Reading and Writing score will come from these types of questions. There is specifically one type of question that tends to frustrate students endlessly: Vocabulary in Context.

I often hear my students argue that you could make a case for each of the answer choices on vocabulary in context questions. Sometimes, students present sound reasoning for why they thought an answer choice could have been correct; other times, students present the “it sounded right” argument.

So how do you actually decide between the four answer choices? You put on your analytical thinking cap! Since these questions require you to be sensitive to a word’s connotations and pay attention to the way a word is used in the moment, it is important to understand the way language is connected. To see what I mean, let’s explore a couple of examples.

1. The first and more commonly seen type of vocabulary in context question deals with using context clues to determine the meaning of a word or phrase in a particular instance (vocabulary in context).

        “See!” he said, after a moment, “isn’t that 25     mist or something, over there to the right         —away in a line with that great piece of rock?”         And he indicated with his hand.     As used in line 26, “great” most nearly means     A) wonderful.     B) powerful.     C) extensive.     D) large.

The word in question is “great,” a frequently occurring word with multiple meanings. All four answer choices are definitions of the word “great.” To determine the answer here, reread the context (generally the sentence in question and the sentences above and below it) and try to fill in the word in question with your own word. You should also examine these sentences for any clues that may point you in the right direction. In this instance, the speaker is referring to a “great piece of rock” and indicating a direction with his hand. The description of the rock is being used in a physical context, so we want an answer that has something to do with size. If I were to replace “great” with my own word, I’d choose something along the lines of “huge.” Now let’s look at the answer choices.

Choice A doesn’t work because the word “wonderful” is subjective. What may be wonderful to you may not be so for me.

Choice B is incorrect because “powerful” doesn’t exactly describe a rock and has nothing to do with size.

Choice C does deal with the physical aspect, but it’s not a precise fit to describe a rock.

Choice D is the correct answer. If someone were pointing out a “great piece of rock,” you would likely look in the direction of the biggest rock around.

Occasionally, you will come across an answer choice that is not synonymous with the word in question. You should delete such a choice immediately because it is not answering the question (even if it “sounds good” when plugged into the passage). For example, if the word “sphere” (a circular object) is in question and one of the answer choices is “box” (often rectangular), you can safely bet it will not be a correct response.

2. The second type of vocabulary in context question deals more with how the author’s use of words affects the passage’s meaning or tone (purpose of vocabulary in context)

This event was caused by the merger of two black holes, one with a mass estimated at 36 times the mass of the Sun and the other with an estimated mass 29 times the Sun’s. The result was a single black hole of about 62 solar masses. On December 26, 2015, gravitational waves from a second event were observed, once again from the merger of two black holes, though this time the black holes were smaller. Both events occurred approximately 1.3 billion years ago. How do the words “estimated,” “about,” and “approximately” help establish the tone of the paragraph? A) They create a skeptical tone that makes clear the team does not believe that the data are accurate. B) They create a hopeful tone that makes clear the team anticipates that more gravitational waves will soon be found. C) They create a tentative tone that suggests that the team cannot determine certain values with precision. D) They create a defiant tone that makes clear the team is aware that its results contradict widely held views.

On these types of questions, again revisit the context and look for a connection. The paragraph includes the phrases “mass estimated at 36 times,” “with an estimated mass 29 times,” “black hole of about 62 solar masses,” and “approximately 1.3 billion years ago.” Do you notice a trend? Each of these words has to deal with a prediction about measurements of mass or time; none of the claims are made with 100% certainty. Now let’s look at the answer choices.

A) “Skeptical” means doubtful, which could potentially work when making a prediction, but there is no clear evidence pointing to the data as inaccurate, so this choice is contradictory.

B) Within the context of the paragraph, there isn’t much in the way of hope being expressed, so this answer choice goes further than what is directly stated in the paragraph.

C) “Tentative” means uncertain, which matches the trend of the words in question. Also, “cannot determine certain values with precision” fits well with the numbers (36, 29, 62, 1.3 billion) next to each of the words in question. Choice C is the correct response.

D) “Defiant” means disregardful, which is much too strong given the context. Nowhere in the paragraph is there any justification for such a charged answer choice.

You may have noticed that each of the answer choices contains an adjective (skeptical, hopeful, tentative, defiant) followed by reasoning. It’s important to read the entirety of the answer choice to make sure both halves work.

These two examples demonstrate the types of vocabulary in context questions you can expect to see on the SAT Reading test. Practicing these questions can be difficult in the absence of a test, so here’s my recommendation: add “Professor Word” to your online bookmark bar and it will identify SAT/ACT vocabulary words on any website that you visit. When you come across a “tier-two” word (a high-frequency word that has multiple meanings), see if you can replace it with a word of your own then check whether your prediction is correct by plugging the original word into a thesaurus. If you get into the habit of practicing this technique, your ability to tackle vocabulary in context questions will become second nature.

As with anything that deals with the reading test, mastering vocabulary in context questions is a marathon not a sprint. If you follow the methods outlined in this article, you can expect your success rate on these questions to increase. Eventually, you may even reach a point where you can predict the answers to all vocabulary in context questions before even looking at the choices! Let that be your guiding goal.

[deep-space-exploration]

Has anything (possibly human) ever left the Milky Way?

Yes, something we created has already left the Milky Way; it may even have reached the Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light-years away and 59 currently known satellite galaxies of our galaxy.

Our galaxy is about 100,000 light-years across and contains 200 to 400 billion stars. For something to come out of it, it needs to reach an escape velocity of 550 km per second/340 miles per second. There are a few naturally occurring ways that something could leave our galaxy at these speeds.

Some satellite galaxies pierce our galaxy's disk during their orbit and come out the other side if they are close enough and their trajectory is vertical to the spiral. They can repeat this trick a few times before being absorbed.

Previous mergers with massive galaxies, such as the one that occurred 8 to 11 billion years ago with the Gaia-Enceladus Galaxy that added about 50 billion stars to our galaxy, or interactions with the satellite galaxies led to some systems, planets or other smaller celestial objects to be flung with the required escape velocities.

Within galaxies, stars do not have the same speeds and directions of motion. Some get quite close at times. This rarely happens in our corner of the Milky Way, where the density of stars is low, but in some denser star clusters and the central bulge, it happens more often. Such approaches can cause systems or objects in systems such as planets to acquire escape velocity from the galaxy.

Supernova explosions can cause partner stars in multistar systems or planets to acquire up to 0.375% the speed of light and leave our galaxy.

Hypervelocity stars, planets or smaller objects can reach up to a third of the speed of light if they are free of multistar systems that have interacted with black holes or especially supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.

Rogue stars, planets, and smaller objects from outside our galaxy can pass through and out eventually; they can be affected by our galaxy's gravitation and their direction of movement can change.

Various forms of radiation from inside or outside our galaxy leave the Milky Way at the speed of light or charged particles at close to the speed of light. Their trajectories are affected by gravity and, in the case of charged particles, can also be affected by the magnetic fields within our galaxy.

Homo sapiens has existed for 200 to 300 thousand years. The nearest satellite galaxies are tens of thousands of light years away, and some stray photons from our artificially created fires have already reached such distances. The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light years away. Although homo sapiens hasn't existed for 2.5 million years, what it means to be human is confusing. We evolved from a long line of human-like ancestors who have been cooking food for hundreds of thousands of years or more, and the first fires our ancestors artificially started may have been two to three million years ago. This means that some of the photons we create may already have reached the Andromeda Galaxy.

Read more articles: How much gold is there in the solar system?

[andyetnobananas]

I posted 946 times in 2022

That's 908 more posts than 2021!

64 posts created (7%)

882 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@eternal-savvy-blog

@sevenpilotfish

@redbuddi

@chongoblog

@jelloapocalypse

I tagged 76 of my posts in 2022

#bananas art - 34 posts

#bananas talks - 14 posts

#friend art - 10 posts

#youtube - 9 posts

#bananas vids - 8 posts

#epithet erased - 7 posts

#jelloapocalypse - 6 posts

#parasomnia oct - 5 posts

#original character tournament - 3 posts

#dnd oc - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 86 characters

#feel like reblogging my animatics from this year. with new people coming in i'd really

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

NEW VIDEO: Flour Bag MURDERS - JelloApocalypse Animatic

@jelloapocalypse @bigmovingtarget @eternal-savvy-blog

151 notes - Posted September 17, 2022

#4

Ok, so you know that whole "HBO Max killing off cartoons" thing that happened recently? So after some digging (and by that I mean watching this video from Shark3ozero) the situation is so much worse than that. Like... Monstrously worse.

In case you don't know, it's not just cartoons and their creators that have been f__ked over recently, but a WHOLE SWATH OF PoC CREATORS HAVE BEEN LAID OFF. Like, almost no non-whites left in executive positions.

Apparently, before the merger, Discovery has a more white, old, heteronormative demographic than HBO, and instead of trying to consolidate the 2 demographics, Discovery's CEO, David Zaslav, has been made into the CEO of both sides of the company, and is trying to turn one into the other. To this end, he has slashed the divisions overseeing kids, family and international content, and intends to create more content for "Middle America." So yes, they cut Infinity Train and Batgirl and others BECAUSE. THEY. ARE. DIVERSE. CONTENT. They are deliberately removing different cultures from their services because catering exclusively to white audiences is more profitable... According to them. I have serious doubts this is casting the net wider instead of narrower. (Also, another part of the shift is that they want to pivot back to cable content and away from streaming, which... Lol, good luck man. Warn-scover-CNBO might already be on a collision course, and fingers crossed that it is.)

OH, BUT IT GETS WORSE. APOCALYPTICLY WORSE.

HBO also owns CNN, and they have a new chairman in the shadow of the merger, Chris Licht. It's already canned one news show, 'Reliable Programming' a show frequently critiqued the republicans and fox news, and has warned that "more changes are coming soon."

Worst of all, John Malone, who is on WBD's board, and gave Zaslav his job in 2006, has explicitly said that he wants to CNN to have a "less liberal bias", and thinks that Fox News "makes actual journalism." Yes, Fox dominating a third of US cable news is not enough, he wants to make another 3rd of it propaganda programming.

Warn-scover-CNBO's market capitol were flushed down the tubes in light of all this horses__t, but in order to keep the a new propaganda apparatus of unfathomable scale from rising, it must stay down and never recover. Warn-scover-CNBO's changes scaring off huge droves of people is an objective good, and the complete collapse of the company is our only hope now.

Tl;dr: The death of Infinity Train and Uncle Grampa is the canary in the coal mine of a massive swath of pop culture and journalistic practice turning into a right-wing propaganda apparatus unlike anything seen before.

180 notes - Posted August 28, 2022

#3

NEW VIDEO: Ike get TROLLED: JelloApocalypse Animatic

@jelloapocalypse

200 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

#2

268 notes - Posted August 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Epithet Week Day 1: Prison of Plastic

333 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

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