#now you see me now you dont

[tawnysoup]

Found my fav Slay the Princess route recently. Dragon my beloved. Your horrifying beak mouth was an impossible-to-refuse lip syncing challenge 💖

Shoutouts to @blacktabbygames for making such a cool game!

[inkintheinternet]

The Modern Alchemist

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

It is said that the arrow of time always travels in one direction, time and the events that unfold in it are linear. The First Law of Thermodynamics states that the energy in the whole observable universe is the same, except it changes its state, like when you burn firewood and it turns to smoke. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that Entropy increases and is irreversible, like when you break an egg, and that systems always go from orderly to disorderly.

And then there is the matter of reaching equilibrium, like when you pour milk into a cup of tea, the milk will flow through it till it is evenly spread.

When scientists study any phenomena, the wisest know that the main objective should be to find principles and laws about how a certain entity, or system functions, this is very difficult, and could be considered the greatest secrets of the world as we know it.

Why the fundamental laws are so elusive and mysterious we don't know, but it is clear that whenever scientists were able to establish (even if to a certain percentage) a law or principle, it was a catalyst for inventions, technology, and scientific developments.

The history of scientific studies dates way back to a branch of the science of the time called 'Alchemy" originating from the Arabic 'Al Kimia." In present day Arabic the word means 'Chemistry.'

Historical records state that Alchemy very likely started in Egypt and Arabia, and then the knowledge was passed down to Rome and ancient Greece, and then to the west. However, whatever were the scientific endeavours of the original Alchemists, it became generally indistinguishable from the other non-scientific ideas and theories that are part of Alchemy.

Western medieval Alchemists had three priorities; Find the Philosopher's Stone - which they believed has supernatural powers, find the Elixir of life and youth - possibly using the stone, transform common metals into silver and gold.

While these are fantastical aspirations, somehow the experiments that the ancient Alchemists did with the elements, was the start of sciences like pharmacology, metallurgy, and chemistry.

I do think there is a linear learning connection throughout the past centuries, and into the future, perhaps a pattern of the methods of discoveries, or fragments of information that will fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

In this century scientists and thinkers are the Modern Alchemists, and chemistry is the real scientific Alchemy.

But do we still try to attain things that seem on the boundaries of the supernatural - while I was going through the collection of H.G. Wells books, I read The Invisible Man, a masterpiece like his previous books that I have read.

(Spoiler Alert)

In the science fiction story he explains invisibility through chemistry, and I have seen various movies with similar ideas, the most memorable to me is the beloved Walt Disney classic: 'Now You See Him, Now You Don't,' and the Hindi classic: Mr. India.

In the first it is invisibility through chemistry, and in the second it's invisibility through the bending of light.

The two movies sum up the whole business of hypothetical invisibility by light and chemistry.

My interest sparked by Wells and the movies, I found invisibility really interesting to explore scientifically and I did a web search.

A 2022 Big Think article came up in the search, titled: 'Invisibility Cloaks Are Not Just Possible, But Are Becoming Reality'

Feels like the quest for the Philosopher's Stone, or the Elixir of Life (Modern Alchemists at work)

Perhaps this is a pattern of human curiosity that won't stop even at what appears (or literally doesn't appear) impossible.

The writer mentions science fiction invisibility in Star Trek, and goes on to explain a scientific project involving cutting edge technology, materials, and lenses.

The aim of the project is to combine "Metalenses with Metamaterials"

Metamaterial will be engineered using nanotechnology to bend light, while the Metalense will pace the wavelenght speed of each colour of light (invisible in white light) to appear again as white light after passing over the Metamaterial.

To give a more precise description:

The reason is that each colour of light has its own speed, and this is why a prism is shaped to split white invisible light into a rainbow because they don't travel through the prism at the same speed. The Metalense will balance the speed to equilibrium and so it will appear as white light again. 

When travelling in a vacuum the different wavelengths of light can travel at the same speed but not when going through a medium.

We are in 2024 so I'm guessing the "invisibility cloak" which I think will be like the one in Harry Potter, is still in the making, pretty much like Alchemists trying to turn common metals into gold.

When it comes to nature camouflage is the closest thing to invisibility so far discovered.

The relation of colours, wavelengths of light, and nano structures will require volumes of books, but I have a few fascinating brief examples. The colour blue that we see is an illusion caused by nano structures, and most of the time in nature when you see blue it is iridescence, and not a pigment, it generally doesn't exist as a pigment like the other colours.

Bats hunt moths with radar like sound waves that detect them, so to counter this there are moths with hairy coating which deflect the sound waves - making it invisible to the bat.

In technology stealth planes are designed to deflect radar detection like moths, so they are invisible to radars.

However, I found more astonishing than all this was the creation of light by chemistry; such as bioluminescence and chemiluminescence. The first happens in living things, and the latter in non-living.

Light of this type is 'cold light' (very low heat.)

But how is it used for camouflage - well here comes the Hatchet Fish, it has organs that create light and point downwards, so that its silhouette against the surface of the ocean is camouflaged (in this case called counterillumination) as sunlight, and predators swimming below cannot distinguish it. Organs like these are called 'photopores.'

Another sea creature the Brittle Star uses the bioluminescence it can make in a rather ingenious type of camouflage or a decoy, that is when it is threatened by a predator it detatches a glowing arm (which it can regrow) and leaves the predator following the arm while it sneaks away.

The sea cucumber detaches its luminescencent parts on other fish, so the predator follows the glowing fish instead of it.

Bioluminescence is produced by the compound luciferin; with a chemical reaction either with the enzyme luciferase or the chemical photoprotien.

An example of chemiluminescence is the element phosphorous, officially discovered by the German alchemist Hennig Brand in 1669, when he was trying to create the Philosopher's Stone, he named the element from the Greek meaning "bearer of light" because it glowed. White phosphorous is highly flammable and toxic.

Glow-in-the-dark toys and products have phosphor. How it glows is like this: when light is shone on phosphor, its electrons get excited and are dislodged from their 'ground state' to 'intermediate state' and when they return to the ground state the energy of this is emitted in the form of the glow, it is more precisely termed 'electroluminescence.'

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent science researcher.

X/Instagram: Spellrainia

Email: arjuwan.writer@gmail.com

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2024

Sources:

Flights of Fancy by Richard Dawkins

Big think - invisibility cloaks are not just possible, but are becoming reality, ethan siegel

Royal society of chemistry - what is alchemy

NIH - National institute of general medical sciences, biomedical beat blog, phosphorous: glowing, flammable, and essential to our cells, abbey bigler-coyne

Britannica - philosopher's stone, written and fact-checked by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Britannica - alchemy, pseudoscience, robert p. multhauf, robert andrew gilbert,

Fact-checked by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Ocean conservancy - here comes the hatchet fish, billy unotti, former communications assistant

National geographic, bioluminescence

Science direct - chemiluminescence, and overview,

Science world, chemical light reactions

Secondary article, the science behind glow-in-the-dark toys

[umblrspectrum]

happy solvermas

[senipsenipsenip]

Eventually, the scrapbook ended. The sun had fallen beneath the horizon hours ago, and some nagging part of Stan's brain was telling him kids shouldn't be up this late. Unless they're breaking into a mini golf course. He jerked his head back, furrowing his brow. That was...oddly specific.

"Grunkle Stan?" a little voice - Mabel - questioned. He looked down at his knee to see where his great-niece was sitting, eyeing him with no small degree of concern. "Are you okay?"

He ruffled her hair. "'Course, Pumpkin. Just trying to shake some of those memories back in the right place, huh?" He gave an exaggerated shake of his head, smacking the side like he was trying to get water out his ears. "Got a straggler! Hup! There we go," he grinned, lowering his hand. "Good as new!"

Whatever he said must have been the right thing, because Mabel's eyes had lit up like he'd told her he was turning the Mystery Shack into a cotton candy emporium and Dipper had a sudden death grip on his other leg.

"Geez kid, you're clawing through my pants here," he grumbled, making no move to take away his nephew's hand. "Haven't you chewed your nails off by now? How're they so sharp?"

"You called me Pumpkin," Mabel whispered.

"You remembered I chew my nails," Dipper said in awe. Then he frowned. "Hey, how come Mabel gets a nice one and I get a gross one."

Stan shrugged. "'Cause she's nice, and you're gross."

"Ha! Zoom!" Mabel pumped a fist in the air before collapsing back into Stan's lap in a fit of giggles. Dipper rolled his eyes, but he was smiling as he settled back against Stan's other side. Ford stayed perched on the arm of the chair, smiling fondly, but eyebrows still drawn together.

"What's the matter, Sixer?" Stan frowned as Ford grimaced at the nickname. "What?"

Ford waved off Stan's concern. "It's nothing. It's..." Ford sighed. "I'm sorry. It's not nothing. I just don't want to..." He pursed his lips.

"Don't leave us hanging." There was a shake in Stan's voice, and Mabel shifted closer to her Grunkle.

"I'm glad this has been helpful to you," Ford muttered. "But...you don't remember everything. Not really."

"Whaddya mean?" Stan asked. "I remember you, the kids, Soos. The freeloading jerk who steals my sandwiches." Stan glared at Waddles who simply oinked and started trying to eat his shoelace. Whatever. Free pass for jump starting his memories. He better not get used to it.

Dipper sat up. "Yeah, what do you mean, Great Uncle Ford?"

Ford frowned. "I just... Hm." He seemed to be weighing something in his mind before turning to Stan with some resolve.

"Stanley," he began slowly. "I hope you appreciate what I'm about to do for you."

"That's not terrifyingly ominous," Stan muttered, glancing around at the available exits.

"Do you remember my - " Ford cleared his throat. "My first kiss?"

Stan froze. "What?"

"My first kiss, do you remember it?"

"I was there?"

"Yes. Unfortunately a lot of people were."

Mabel squealed beside Stan. "Ooo! Romance memories! How old were you? Was it high school? Was it a high school romance? Was it star-crossed love between the nerd and the cheerleader?"

"Mabel, I think Grunkle Stan is supposed to figure that stuff out."

Mabel sat up and stared at Stan expectantly. "Come on Grunkle Stan! I need details!"

Stan shook his head, nose wrinkling like he'd smelled something rotting. "How should I know? Who asks their brother that sort of thing?"

"Precisely." Ford spoke with the same air of professionalism he adopted when explaining his theories, despite the alarming shade of red his face was becoming. "So far it seems that your memories are returning based on external stimuli, whether that be Mabel's scrapbook or our own prompting."

"So, wait, you're saying I won't get all my memories back?"

"No! No that's not what I'm saying," Ford held up his hands. "What I'm saying is we can't expect them all to come back at once. And at the risk of turning the Shack into the set of the Johnny Carson show, we'll keep asking you questions."

Stan frowned. "What if I don't wanna remember my brother smooching some babe?"

Ford turned redder. "You do."

"I do? Geez, I was a perv."

"In the meantime," Ford pressed. "It's important to take note of any stimulus you experience that makes you remember something. Even if it doesn't paint the whole picture for you, we can fill in the blanks. Or prompt you to remember more details."

Dipper grinned. "And then we get to learn more about the secrets you've been hiding, old man."

Stan lifted his hand to give Dipper a well-earned noogie, but paused before he could make contact. "Old man...did you...did you tell me to shut up one time and then punched me?"

Dipper balked. "What? No I - "

"YEAH no WAY that'd be CRAZY!" Mabel interjected a bit too loudly. "Anyway let's get back to that kissing story, huh?"

"Actually Mabel, I don't know if I want to hear about Great Uncle Ford kissing anybody either."

"Oh come on, Dipper. Are you jealous that The Author got someone to kiss him and you didn't?"

"What? No!"

"Some girls like nerds."

"Mabel I don't want to think about anybody in this room kissing anybody."

"You could learn from him Dipper! Figure out how to wield your nerdish charms. Soon you'll be like a kissing machine!"

"MABEL -"

The twins were silenced by a sudden gasp from Stan. His eyes were wide and unfocused, his jaw hanging open as if someone had knocked the wind out of him.

"Holy - " he choked out softly.

"Grunkle Stan?" Dipper sat up fully. "Are you okay?"

Stan didn't acknowledge him, eyes darting around minutely.

"Grunkle Stan?" Mabel asked softly. "Did you remember something?" Moisture had begun to gather in the corners of Stan's eyes, one of his hands covering his mouth as he began to shake.

"Great Uncle Ford?" Dipper turned to Ford, worry stitching his brows together. But Ford didn't look worried. If anything, he looked like he wanted to disappear through the floor. His face was an alarming shade of red, nearly identical to his sweater. Stan let out another choked sound.

"Are you..." Mabel trailed off. "Grunkle Stan are you laughing?" He was quaking now, his hand falling from his mouth to reveal a wide, open-mouthed smile. He began slapping the arm rest with his free hand, eyes squeezed shut and tears rolling down his cheeks. Dipper and Mabel shared a look. Sure, they'd seen Stan laugh before, but it was usually a loud guffawing thing. They'd never seen him like this. They shared a tentative smile. Either this was the hardest they'd seen him laugh, or he had really snapped.

Ford seemed to pick up on their worry. "He's fine," Ford offered. "He's just...remembering my first kiss." At Ford's words, Stan let out a loud cackle, burying his face in his hands.

Mabel cocked her head. "But what's so funny about -"

"You children must be exhausted," Ford blurted out, standing abruptly. "Come now, go wash up then head to bed!"

"Oh no you don't!" Stan shouted. He wiped tears from his eyes, still smiling. "You're not getting out of this one, pal!"

"Stanley, this conversation is hardly appropriate for children -"

"You brought it up!"

"And now I'm putting a stop to it."

Stan grabbed his head. "Ooooo ow," he gave an exaggerated groan. "My poor head. The mean man won't let me share my memories so they're all going away!"

"Stanley, please don't joke about that."

"I'm fading away - "

"Stanley."

Stan crossed his arms. "You know, you really know how to take the fun out of amnesia."

"Yeah! Come on Grunkle Ford," Mabel pouted. "You can't just leave us hanging!"

"Yeah!" Dipper joined in. "If it's a funny story I want to hear it."

Ford spluttered, pulling at the sleeves of his sweater and looking around for an exit.

"Come on, Sixer," Stan chimed in. His eyes had gone soft around the edges. "I think the kids deserve a funny story."

After today went unspoken. Ford met Stanley's gaze, already feeling his resolve melting before he even turned to his grand-niece and nephew's inquisitive smiles.

"Alright," Ford conceded. "But to maintain the integrity of the exercise, Stanley will be the one to tell it. Whatever he doesn't remember, I can fill in."

Stan rubbed his hands together. "Oh boy, this'll be good."

"I regret this already."

"It's alright Great Uncle Ford," Dipper patted his shoulder. "We have a whole summer's worth of stuff we get to make fun of Grunkle Stan for. This just gives us stuff to use against you now. Levels the playing field."

Ford frowned. "Is that meant to be comforting?"

Dipper shrugged.

"Alright you two, enough yapping." Stan grinned, leaning forward in his seat and spreading his hands out in front of him. It was the same way he started his campfire tales. Mabel and Dipper met each other's eyes and smiled.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl named Kiss-Bot..."

[corpsentry]

pick your battles

[erufin-art]

I really enjoy the idea of Godpoke just straight up not buying Inspekta's shit

[pi3rat]

if you're trans, you have to live.

if you accomplish something else, then good.

if you accomplish nothing else, then good.

but you have to live.

🤍

[arsenicflame]

Bonus round! Do you use a queue tag?

[cowardlykrow]

"Suck it, weeb-ass BEEETCH!"

Richie loses to Ruth. (She probably cheated)

[dookiespooky]

Driftingstars and dreamcaptor fusion au thing! This takes place right after mabel falls through the portal ig dk what im doing lmaooo

(Dreamcaptor au belongs to @neonross )

[pixlatedvampire]

hi the literal whole entire reason i made these was bc i watched this 10 sec clip on youtube pls watch

[cherrirui-official]

I hope u guys don't mind me posting these au doodles while I work on things ahaha

I also gave JD slightly longer hair in these doodles as a funny haha but I don't think it's funny anymore he looks genuinely good with his hair like that ahahaha I hope you're not mad at me for changing his au design a bit

[cubbihue]

When you said that the unluckiest person is most hopeful, it reminded me of Nagito Komaeda. If the universe were combined, do you think he would fair well having Anti Cosmo as his anti fairy?

Funnily enough, I feel like it would be Hajime who would have an anti-fairy companion. I mean, he’s surrounded by extremely skilled people! That would attract bad luck in some way for him. Nagito wouldn’t be good food for anti-fairies. Or Fairies. Or Pixies.

...Honestly, Fairies aren’t quite sure what food he produces. It’s like a weird amalgamation of luck, desire, greed, and all sorts of emotions they can’t disentangle. Like a crockpot gone horribly horribly wrong. Eating any bit of that would make any fairy sick.

Eugh. The hell is wrong with that one.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

[stiffyck]

I WISH ARO HEADCANONS WERE MORE POPULAR IN FANDOMS

[turtleplushi]

I haven't seen anybody post the full Riddle Chain yet (including Silas Birchtree) so here you go :)

I didn't find any of these codes myself by the way! I'm not sure who to credit for the rest of them, but I did get the Silas Birchtree code from @dismissivedestroyer (sorry for tagging you ^_^" if you don't want to be tagged let me know and i can edit the post). You can also get the answer using the code "STOD EHT TCENNOC"

(SPOILERS BELOW)

RIDDLE (would you like to play a game) > YES (what's Mcgucket's favorite soda?) > MOUNTAIN DONT (what's a medieval homonym?) > LYRE LIAR (the 20th ingredient of Anti-Cipherzing Tonic?) > HAROLDS RAMBLINGS (how is clown repellant made?) > UNION MADE (Bill's govt file number?) > 29121239168518 (who comes from Zimtrez 5?) > GREBLEY HEMBERDRECK (what's on Bill's flag?) > 3466554 (what leaves a thin line in the snow?) > TINSEL SNAKE (the 6th option on Bill's editing software?) > TORTURE MENTALLY (name an unpronouncable wizard) > XGQRTHX (where do Tri Angels come from?) > 333SUNDAPPLELANECOZYCREEKIL6071494611 (Bill Cipher's Lawyer?) > CAESARATBASHVIGNERE [or] MULTI LEVEL MARK (who defeated Silas Birchtree--?) > EMMALINE BUTTERNUBBINS (you've earned a treat! enter 'DISPENSE MY TREAT' to download) > DISPENSE MY TREAT

The 'treat' you get is under the cut

"BILL FILES DO NOT OPEN"

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