#science is too important to be left to the scientists

[wachinyeya]

From water-testing polluted rivers to measuring radiation levels, ordinary people are taking environmental research into their own hands.

[lastlabyrinth]

It's the CBC Black History Month Challenge!!!!!!!!!

sqex recently failed to adapt a winning player hairstyle design, one with coils, into the game. i think all of us were pretty disappointed when they claimed they didn't have the technology to do it right. it's good that they want to try again someday. but until then i think it'd be nice if we allowed ourselves to imagine the characters of ffxiv with Black features even if they can't look that way yet in game.

if you haven't done custom deliveries yet in endwalker, may i suggest you give them a try? it's a great questline and Margrat is a brilliant, nerdy Black woman. without her effort and knowledge (and titanic amounts of coffee, judging from her energy levels) our heroes would never have reached the ends of creation to save the universe. but moreover i think she's just so charming… she is not just an engineer and scientist but an advocate for her fellow workers. and while she's already beautiful, i thought she would be beautiful with natural hair, too.

Now for the important part. To my Black followers: You belong in science, engineering, and professional spaces. You belong in stories. You belong in games!! And you belong just as you are. You are not too dark; your natural hair is not dirty or unprofessional or "too hard" to draw or model. The art you touch is enriched for your presence, and the places you're shut out from are the poorer for your absence. It's a question of effort and a question of Black presence in creative spaces, and I'm angry that we can't make a character who looks like this in FFXIV. So until (and even after!) you can, I hope you let your imagination run wild and invite yourself into every space that lacks your magic. I love you!!

there's not many days left in BHM but i'll still tag my friends @ababblesaurus, @myrfing, @flower-waltz and @saprophilous because i bet they would draw something cool if they had time….

[reasonsforhope]

"In response to last year’s record-breaking heat due to El Niño and impacts from climate change, Indigenous Zenù farmers in Colombia are trying to revive the cultivation of traditional climate-resilient seeds and agroecology systems.

One traditional farming system combines farming with fishing: locals fish during the rainy season when water levels are high, and farm during the dry season on the fertile soils left by the receding water.

Locals and ecologists say conflicts over land with surrounding plantation owners, cattle ranchers and mines are also worsening the impacts of the climate crisis.

To protect their land, the Zenù reserve, which is today surrounded by monoculture plantations, was in 2005 declared the first Colombian territory free from GMOs.

...

In the Zenù reserve, issues with the weather, climate or soil are spread by word of mouth between farmers, or on La Positiva 103.0, a community agroecology radio station. And what’s been on every farmer’s mind is last year’s record-breaking heat and droughts. Both of these were charged by the twin impacts of climate change and a newly developing El Niño, a naturally occurring warmer period that last occurred here in 2016, say climate scientists.

Experts from Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies say the impacts of El Niño will be felt in Colombia until April 2024, adding to farmers’ concerns. Other scientists forecast June to August may be even hotter than 2023, and the next five years could be the hottest on record. On Jan. 24, President Gustavo Petro said he will declare wildfires a natural disaster, following an increase in forest fires that scientists attribute to the effects of El Niño.

In the face of these changes, Zenù farmers are trying to revive traditional agricultural practices like ancestral seed conservation and a unique agroecology system.

Pictured: Remberto Gil’s house is surrounded by an agroforestry system where turkeys and other animals graze under fruit trees such as maracuyá (Passiflora edulis), papaya (Carica papaya) and banana (Musa acuminata colla). Medicinal herbs like toronjil (Melissa officinalis) and tres bolas (Leonotis nepetifolia), and bushes like ají (Capsicum baccatum), yam and frijol diablito (beans) are part of the undergrowth. Image by Monica Pelliccia for Mongabay.

“Climate change is scary due to the possibility of food scarcity,” says Rodrigo Hernandez, a local authority with the Santa Isabel community. “Our ancestral seeds offer a solution as more resistant to climate change.”

Based on their experience, farmers say their ancestral seed varieties are more resistant to high temperatures compared to the imported varieties and cultivars they currently use. These ancestral varieties have adapted to the region’s ecosystem and require less water, they tell Mongabay. According to a report by local organization Grupo Semillas and development foundation SWISSAID, indigenous corn varieties like blaquito are more resistant to the heat, cariaco tolerates drought easily, and negrito is very resistant to high temperatures.

The Zenù diet still incorporates the traditional diversity of seeds, plant varieties and animals they consume, though they too are threatened by climate change: from fish recipes made from bocachico (Prochilodus magdalenae), and reptiles like the babilla or spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus), to different corn varieties to prepare arepas (cornmeal cakes), liquor, cheeses and soups.

“The most important challenge we have now is to save ancient species and involve new generations in ancestral practice,” says Sonia Rocha Marquez, a professor of social sciences at Sinù University in the city of Montería.

...[Despite] land scarcity, Negrete says communities are developing important projects to protect their traditional food systems. Farmers and seed custodians, like Gil, are working with the Association of Organic Agriculture and Livestock Producers (ASPROAL) and their Communitarian Seed House (Casa Comunitaria de Semillas Criollas y Nativas)...

Pictured: Remberto Gil is a seed guardian and farmer who works at the Communitarian Seed House, where the ASPROL association stores 32 seeds of rare or almost extinct species. Image by Monica Pelliccia for Mongabay.

Located near Gil’s house, the seed bank hosts a rainbow of 12 corn varieties, from glistening black to blue to light pink to purple and even white. There are also jars of seeds for local varieties of beans, eggplants, pumpkins and aromatic herbs, some stored in refrigerators. All are ancient varieties shared between local families.

Outside the seed bank is a terrace where chickens and turkeys graze under an agroforestry system for farmers to emulate: local varieties of passion fruit, papaya and banana trees grow above bushes of ají peppers and beans. Traditional medicinal herbs like toronjil or lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) form part of the undergrowth.

Today, 25 families are involved in sharing, storing and commercializing the seeds of 32 rare or almost-extinct varieties.

“When I was a kid, my father brought me to the farm to participate in recovering the land,” says Nilvadys Arrieta, 56, a farmer member of ASPROAL. “Now, I still act with the same collective thinking that moves what we are doing.”

“Working together helps us to save, share more seeds, and sell at fair price [while] avoiding intermediaries and increasing families’ incomes,” Gil says. “Last year, we sold 8 million seeds to organic restaurants in Bogotà and Medellín.”

So far, the 80% of the farmers families living in the Zenù reserve participate in both the agroecology and seed revival projects, he adds."

-via Mongabay, February 6, 2024

[nasa]

Roman's primary structure hangs from cables as it moves into the big clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

What Makes the Clean Room So Clean?

When you picture NASA’s most important creations, you probably think of a satellite, telescope, or maybe a rover. But what about the room they’re made in? Believe it or not, the room itself where these instruments are put together—a clean room—is pretty special. 

A clean room is a space that protects technology from contamination. This is especially important when sending very sensitive items into space that even small particles could interfere with.

There are two main categories of contamination that we have to keep away from our instruments. The first is particulate contamination, like dust. The second is molecular contamination, which is more like oil or grease. Both types affect a telescope’s image quality, as well as the time it takes to capture imagery. Having too many particles on our instruments is like looking through a dirty window. A clean room makes for clean science!

Two technicians clean the floor of Goddard’s big clean room.

Our Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland has the largest clean room of its kind in the world. It’s as tall as an eight-story building and as wide as two basketball courts.

Goddard’s clean room has fewer than 3,000 micron-size particles per cubic meter of air. If you lined up all those tiny particles, they’d be no longer than a sesame seed. If those particles were the size of 16-inch (0.4-meter) inflatable beach balls, we’d find only 3,000 spread throughout the whole body of Mount Everest!

A clean room technician observes a sample under a microscope.

The clean room keeps out particles larger than five microns across, just seven percent of the width of an average human hair. It does this via special filters that remove around 99.97% of particles 0.3 microns and larger from incoming air. Six fans the size of school buses spin to keep air flowing and pressurize the room. Since the pressure inside is higher, the clean air keeps unclean air out when doors open.

A technician analyzes a sample under ultraviolet light.

In addition, anyone who enters must wear a “bunny suit” to keep their body particles away from the machinery. A bunny suit covers most of the person inside. Sometimes scientists have trouble recognizing each other while in the suits, but they do get to know each other’s mannerisms very well.

This illustration depicts the anatomy of a bunny suit, which covers clean room technicians from head to toe to protect sensitive technology.

The bunny suit is only the beginning: before putting it on, team members undergo a preparation routine involving a hairnet and an air shower. Fun fact – you’re not allowed to wear products like perfume, lotion, or deodorant. Even odors can transfer easily!

Six of Goddard’s clean room technicians (left to right: Daniel DaCosta, Jill Bender, Anne Martino, Leon Bailey, Frank D’Annunzio, and Josh Thomas).

It takes a lot of specialists to run Goddard’s clean room. There are 10 people on the Contamination Control Technician Team, 30 people on the Clean Room Engineering Team to cover all Goddard missions, and another 10 people on the Facilities Team to monitor the clean room itself. They check on its temperature, humidity, and particle counts.

A technician rinses critical hardware with isopropyl alcohol and separates the particulate and isopropyl alcohol to leave the particles on a membrane for microscopic analysis.

Besides the standard mopping and vacuuming, the team uses tools such as isopropyl alcohol, acetone, wipes, swabs, white light, and ultraviolet light. Plus, they have a particle monitor that uses a laser to measure air particle count and size.

The team keeping the clean room spotless plays an integral role in the success of NASA’s missions. So, the next time you have to clean your bedroom, consider yourself lucky that the stakes aren’t so high!

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[yoursweetwife]

Hi, can I request Dr ratio with an artist reader who secretly draws Ratio, but eventually Ratio finds the reader's sketchbook? Idk I just thought it was cute hehe :>

warnings: fluff, ooc ratio?? gn reader, bad english

synopsis: You always hid the contents of your sketchbook from prying eyes, even from Ratio. Luck smiled on him once

P.s after reading the request I got this idea, sorry if it doesn't meet your expectations. thanks for the request, kind anon :)

When you and Ratio first met, you were holding a small sketchbook in your hands, your fingers nervously gripping the leather binding. You always carried a pencil and pen in your pocket, which you used for drawing. He noticed that you often bite the tip of them when you are concentrating on your drawing or work. From the very first days, Ratio made it clear that he did not like this habit. Not only does this ruin office supplies, but it can also harm your teeth.

When the sketchbook wasn’t around, you always drew on everything you came across, sometimes it was important papers, and Ratio remembers how he almost caused a scandal when he saw some scribbles on the students tests that you gave him. Usually these were flowers, animals, figures, landscapes. It was simple, but Ratio couldn't help but notice that this was the work of a professional. However, what you drew in your sketchbook was always hidden from prying eyes.

Ratio didn’t attach any importance to this at first, many artists are critical of their work, perhaps you don’t consider it good enough to show to other people. However, over time, you became close enough to make Ratio think about the contents of the sketchbook that you keep such a close eye on, preventing anyone from looking into it. He even saw people betting on what you drew (he was also offered to participate, but Ratio just rolled his eyes and refused this idea), but no one was able to see the contents of the sketchbook.

And although you became friends over time, you, just like with others, refused to do this, and it was far from a lack of confidence in your skills. You told him that you weren't passionate enough about drawing to care how other people perceived your art, so you weren't shy about drawing someone if they asked, as long as it wasn't about the sketchbook. You mentioned several times that you only draw what is most important to you in your sketchbook, and Ratio knew from your soft expression that you were telling the truth.

Once he leaned over your shoulder to tell you something, and you closed the with a loud bang and turned to him with a red face from embarrassment, after which you rudely asked Ratio what he needed, which surprised the scientist. He tried to convince himself that it was not important to devote himself to science and teaching others, but contrary to his desire, his interest only increased.

Now Ratio is standing in your office, in front of your desk, with a book in his right hand and a mug of your favorite drink in his left hand. In front of him lies your open sketchbook, he can see the lines of a human face, but Ratio is too far away to make out who is depicted in the picture. He pressed his lips into a thin line, knowing that you wouldn’t like it very much if he looked there. But it's just one little drawing, right?

Ratio walked up to the table, placing the mug further away so as not to ruin the sketchbook if the mug was touched by his hand. Golden eyes curiously scanned the sketch of an unfamiliar human face. Perhaps this is your friend or just a stranger on the street whom you drew while you were bored. Someday he will have the opportunity to ask about it. His gaze softened and Ratio turned the sheet over, and so on several times.

As he flipped another page, a look of surprise appeared on Ratio's face. He placed his hand on his chin with a thoughtful expression on his face, which was temporarily replaced by irritation (because he has a different nose and face shape! He needs to let you look at him better to correct this disgrace) But despite the mistakes, his hair, eyes, lips were definitely there, although there were inaccuracies.

On the next page there was a picture of him standing near the blackboard and explaining something, next to it there was a picture of him eating, below there was a picture of him falling asleep at his desk among tests and formulas. Ratio didn’t even realize that with each new drawing he was relaxing more and more. When a slight smile appeared on his face, the last traces of frowning and irritation left his face and soul. He didn't know why these drawings affected him so much.

Was it some kind of magic? And before that, he was depicted in portraits by more high-class artists. Ratio returned to the day when you said that you only draw the most important things in your sketchbook. An unusual warmth spread across his face and Ratio quickly shook his head to remove strange thoughts. But what he saw in front of him was painted with feeling, and Ratio couldn't deny that the area in his chest became a little warmer.

His reflection was interrupted by the hasty clicking of heels. Ratio put the sketchbook back and stood away from the table with an indifferent look, crossing his arms over his chest.

You opened the door, out of breath and red-faced, as if you had run a marathon.

"Oh Aeons, Ratio, Mr. Iliodor asked me to stay a little longer to discuss the situation with my student! I-"

Ratio tsked and covered your lips with the book, which found its rightful place in his hand.

"You look like you're about to pass out from lack of air if you continue talking at the same pace. Better refrain from explaining and get ready, I'll walk you home."

You blinked a couple of times, trying to process what he just said. Ratio continued reading, not paying attention to your gaze. For a moment he looked up, the question “what are you staring at?” was read in his gaze.

You chuckled and walked towards your desk.

"It's just very unexpected that you yourself decided to accompany me. Usually you either refuse because you have more important things to do, or you try to find a reason not to go, and then you complain the whole way."

He clutched the book a little tighter, but Ratio's face showed no sign of any emotion other than disdain.

"You can consider this a victory."

You giggled and took a sip from the mug of drink Ratio brought you.

"Whatever you say! Can you wait outside while I pack my things?"

Ratio nodded and, slamming the book, went to the door.

"And thanks for the drink!"

Your friend muttered something and closed the door behind him. Your cheerful demeanor turned into furious embarrassment when you realized that he had seen your sketchbook and the drawings in it. It was hard not to notice that the wrong page was currently open, and how could you be so stupid as to leave the sketchbook open!

You leaned your back against the wall, covered your face with your hands, and groaned in frustration. This isn't how you wanted him to find out, but maybe it's not as bad as it seems? You sat on the floor, hiding your face in your knees.

“At least he seemed to like it.”

[probablyasocialecologist]

There is no obvious path between today’s machine learning models — which mimic human creativity by predicting the next word, sound, or pixel — and an AI that can form a hostile intent or circumvent our every effort to contain it. Regardless, it is fair to ask why Dr. Frankenstein is holding the pitchfork. Why is it that the people building, deploying, and profiting from AI are the ones leading the call to focus public attention on its existential risk? Well, I can see at least two possible reasons. The first is that it requires far less sacrifice on their part to call attention to a hypothetical threat than to address the more immediate harms and costs that AI is already imposing on society. Today’s AI is plagued by error and replete with bias. It makes up facts and reproduces discriminatory heuristics. It empowers both government and consumer surveillance. AI is displacing labor and exacerbating income and wealth inequality. It poses an enormous and escalating threat to the environment, consuming an enormous and growing amount of energy and fueling a race to extract materials from a beleaguered Earth. These societal costs aren’t easily absorbed. Mitigating them requires a significant commitment of personnel and other resources, which doesn’t make shareholders happy — and which is why the market recently rewarded tech companies for laying off many members of their privacy, security, or ethics teams. How much easier would life be for AI companies if the public instead fixated on speculative theories about far-off threats that may or may not actually bear out? What would action to “mitigate the risk of extinction” even look like? I submit that it would consist of vague whitepapers, series of workshops led by speculative philosophers, and donations to computer science labs that are willing to speak the language of longtermism. This would be a pittance, compared with the effort required to reverse what AI is already doing to displace labor, exacerbate inequality, and accelerate environmental degradation. A second reason the AI community might be motivated to cast the technology as posing an existential risk could be, ironically, to reinforce the idea that AI has enormous potential. Convincing the public that AI is so powerful that it could end human existence would be a pretty effective way for AI scientists to make the case that what they are working on is important. Doomsaying is great marketing. The long-term fear may be that AI will threaten humanity, but the near-term fear, for anyone who doesn’t incorporate AI into their business, agency, or classroom, is that they will be left behind. The same goes for national policy: If AI poses existential risks, U.S. policymakers might say, we better not let China beat us to it for lack of investment or overregulation. (It is telling that Sam Altman — the CEO of OpenAI and a signatory of the Center for AI Safety statement — warned the E.U. that his company will pull out of Europe if regulations become too burdensome.)

[seat-safety-switch]

In the glorious new Century we are approaching, the old empires will be ground beneath our feet as we rise to meet humanity's glorious destiny. The oppressors of mankind will at last be defeated, ushering in an eternal peace and boundless prosperity. Also, we're going to come up with new kinds of potato chips.

One of the first things my school guidance counsellor told me was that I was "too fucking dumb" to work at the potato chip factory in town. And for good reason. Although my academics were excellent, I had an attitude towards slacking even then that would have severely damaged the productivity of our proudest industry. He recommended that I instead go into theoretical computer science, where it seemed less likely that I would do any lasting damage to something important like the Russetizer®.

After I had burned out of a career of thinking about touching computers, and ended up scrounging for subsistence in a series of increasingly desperate small towns (like most of my graduating class) I thought about going back to the potato factory. Surely, they would accept me now. I have all this worldly experience, all these social oddities beaten out of me in favour of a newfound conformist urge to make just enough money to pay my mortgage and occasionally finance a round of golf at the cheap course.

Bad news, though. It turns out that while I was away, the practical computer scientists had taken over. When the venture capitalists realized that "we made a website for a thing" suddenly meant that you could charge a billion dollars for that thing, the hastily renamed High-Tech Potato Chip Company put the town on the map. And then, quickly thereafter, was erased from the map in a series of debt-based transactions. It has zero employees now, and the old factory was sold for scrap, but the corporate entity still makes several million dollars a year. This, despite the fact that nobody in town is sure exactly what it actually does, other than that it is "not making potato chips."

One night, I went to go see the place where the potato chip factory was. I wanted to stand where the Russetizer® once stood, before it was ripped out of the concrete and sent to some potato chip factory in a country that I can't find on a map. Unfortunately, my old high school guidance counsellor was there. Working as a security guard to supplement his retirement. I figured he would be real pissed to see me there, after all this drama, so I just turned around and left.

[nijigasakilove]

This was one of my favourite Dr.Stone episodes ever. Wow. Seeing Senku and Xeno's friendship backstory was awesome. I didn't realize Xeno was so young when he started out at NASA, so he and Senku both were young prodigies and found a sense of brotherhood in one another. Xeno was just as important to young Senku's development as Senku's father.

Speaking of Senku's dad, I freaking lost it when Senku came to the US only to get the NASA black card from him and instantly left lmaoo.

Where Senku and Xeno differ is their philosophy on the applications of science. Xeno wants to use it for power and control, while Senku just loves challenging himself and learning new things. Even back during his NASA days, the writing was on the wall for Xeno to become a classic mad scientist.

Stanley staying so calm during the petrification was funny as well and Luna over here panicking about not having a rich man to be a power couple with was great too.

It's interesting how much the scientists were able to elarn about petrification before the world got hit. With another day or two, they would have cracked the code and maybe even had a defense plan in place!

Very good episode that sets the tone for the battle to come between Senku and Xeno.

[thefallenangel2008]

I have come up with my Relativity!Falls AU!

Ok, so, I came up with this today at the last period at school so it might be a bit messy, but pls bear with me.

So let me tell ya!😈

Ok, so Mabel and Dipper's lives were fairly normal back in the 60's. Like, sure, their parents got a divorce when they were 13 and lived in a broken home but they still loved eachother and their love only grew stronger when their parents broke up, their will to stay together strengthening. Their parents still cared about them dearly despite the breakup, so everything was not as bad.

Dipper wanted to go to university to study science and Mabel wanted to go to a fashion school and be a fashion designer! People already loved her sweaters so it only seemed fitting.

Dipper got a scholarship after his project got approved by scientists. It was going to be the first time of the twins being apart, and although sad, they knew they could do it. A year later Mabel left home as well to go to her desired fashion school.

After university Dipper gained an interest in the supernatural and he decided to investigate, he even started recording himself searching and finding these paranormal creatures. He kept the videos in a cassette, hoping one day he could show the world and maybe, just maybe, he would get his own show. He started to keep a journal, the cover being blue/silver with a silver pine tree in the middle. After a while Dipper realized that the most sights of paranormal activities happened at a place he had never heard of before, a small town called Gravity Falls. He built a house there and a basement underneath to find more paranormal creatures.

There, he learned about this demon called Bill Cipher from a cave writing near the town, and said demon visited him in his dreams after saying the incantation written. He flattered him for his smarts and said that his unusual birthmark on his forehead made him look like a freak, but in a good way! And although Dipper felt flattered, he didn't trust him all that much, because why would a demon want to talk to him of all people??? Also , come on, that was a DEMON. He had seen enough movies to know whether to trust a demon or not. (Mister Anxiety and Overthinking everyone lol)

Bill kept pestering him about building a portal that leads to other dimensions, and after a LOT of thinking Dipper decided to build it, believing it would be a big step in the world of science.

He decided to ask for help from the richest woman in town whose family found it, a brilliant (and admittedly attractive) mechanic, Pacifica Northwest.

They spent a long while building the portal together, and once it was ready they decided to test it on a dummy, only Pacifica was accidentally pulled in with it. Dipper managed to get her out, but when he did, she seemed... Paranoid. She started screaming at him and demanding to dismantle the portal, only Dipper didn't listen to her, too stubborn to admit it wasn't a good idea now that he had done so much. Pacifica quit right after.

After that he didn't know what to do and as a last resort he sent a postcard to his sister, asking her to come over.

Now the twins had kept in contact, but Dipper tried not to mention the portal to Mabel, just saying he was working on a project that could possibly change the world.

When Mabel got the postcard (she was back at California) she decided, sure, why not? It would only take a couple of months, maybe at most a year, and then she would be back to her small business.

When she arrived at Gravity Falls Dipper explained to her about the portal and the otherworldly creatures. He told her that his last assistant quit, leaving out some very important details.

Mabel was ecstatic to be a part of dangerous scientific experiments, spending some time with her brother after 10 years of phonecalls and postcards, and possibly meeting a unicorn!

They started writing a journal together, that had a purple cover and a purple pine tree with a shooting star at the top (Dipper said it looked like a Christmas tree. Mabel just found it funny) and they wrote about every other creature they discovered and their progress on the portal.

But as time passed by, Mabel started to notice that... Maybe Dipper was hiding something. But no, he would never hide anything from her! They're siblings, they share everything! But she had a weird feeling that the portal might be for something more instead of just "scientific advancements" and he regularly seemed to meditate. Dipper??? Trying to clear his mind??? Yeah, right! She began writing her own journal (which was more like a scrapbook tbh) where she wrote down her thoughts, her suspicions about her brother, and also had a bunch of photos of the creatures they found, clothes she made and their time together. It was pink/gold with a dark pink shooting star on it (and thus the three journals were created).

One day Mabel accidentally came across Dipper's journal and she had a look at it. That was when she found out the real reason why Pacifica left the project and she also found out about Bill Cipher.

She confronted Dipper about this and they had a huge fight over it. Mabel accidentally pushed Dipper and he burned the back of his shoulder with a symbol. Because of that the portal was accidentally opened and Mabel was sucked into it. Dipper tried multiple times to get it to work again and bring her back but it was severely damaged and nothing worked. After a while he gave up and he decided to dismantle it.

Bill was not happy about this and he kept hunting Dipper in his dream and also possessing his body and at some point he finally got a metal plate inserted into his mind so Bill wouldn't possess him anymore.

Oh also by the way Pacifica created the memory gun and kept erasing her own memory and created the Society of the Blind Eye and yeah, she lost her mind, yk.

Dipper kept trying to reach out to Pacifica but since she lost her mind nothing could happen so he would just visit her from time to time but she would always be in her own mind, being the crazy old hug of the town or "old hag Northwest", and also because she was crazy now the Northwests kicked her out of the Northwest Mansion and she's been living in the junkyard ever since.

Dipper is forced to fake Mabel's death to "excuse" her disappearance. A lot of people came to the funeral.

He hides the two journals (he doesn't know Mabel wrote one of her own) so that no one would find them and rebuild the portal again.

Anyway, Dipper turns his home into a museum for the supernatural to get money where he has fake miniatures of the creatures he found but of course always people would think they're fake but they mostly go there just for fun. It's called "The Home of Mysteries".

Many years pass by until he gets a call that hey, you're gonna babysit your twin nephews this summer! Yey...

Well, anyway, his nephews. Stanford (Ford) and Stanley (Stan) Pines.

On their first day the twins discover a pink scrapbook underneath a wooden floorboard. They see photos of their Grunkle Dipper but much younger, and a woman that looks almost just like him. Ford was quick to inform Dipper about this, but Stan stopped him and told him it would be a good way to learn more about their weird relative.

Well, that's what I have so far. I might draw something based on this, can't promise anything though. Oh well, I'll see! Sorry it's so big!

[weirdmageddon]

yesterday i wrote a scene where jade wasnt a plot device and was left the hell alone in A6A5 because this being dave and jade’s last proper conversation in years made me sad and i wanted to see them reunite properly. i mixed a bit of narration in too even though it was rare around this point in the comic but its just to paint a better picture. also i wouldnt mind feedback on character voice (it’s important to me that the dialogue sounds believable)

[3 years are over, everyone is in the new session. The prospit ship is on LOMAX, as is everyone who arrived on the meteor, safely warped by Jade onto LOMAX as well. Jade has banished B2 Jack to the Furthest Ring already. She hasn't seen her friends in 3 years, not to mention she never met the trolls in person yet.]

[Jade teleports to LOMAX where John was talking with the meteor crew. Her eyes widen when she sees the trolls, giving everyone a greeting. Jade waves to the trolls.]

You’ll have time to catch up with them later. First you want to reconvene with Rose and Dave.

> ==>

Dave... Oh my god! DAVE!!! That’s right! The last time you saw him, he died in your arms after Jack redirected the bullets from your gun into his body!

JADE: dave!!!! DAVE: hey DAVE: this has been three years coming hasnt it DAVE: cmere

> ==>

[Dave hugs Jade with a slight grin on face. He notices her… sniffing him?? but doesn’t even bother to question it.]

JADE: it is so nice to hold your body when its not a corpse :) DAVE: ok DAVE: weird thing to say DAVE: actually who am i kidding who gives a shit DAVE: i almost forgot how much i missed the enigmatic riddlefuckery that is your phrasing DAVE: fortunately i have context for this so i know what youre saying DAVE: humor me for a sec and imagine that i didnt DAVE: but first DAVE: are those dog ears JADE: yes! i am part dog now JADE: because i prototyped my dreamself with becsprite JADE: jadesprite became part of me! and so did her doggy traits from bec DAVE: got it DAVE: oh yeah john mentioned that on the back of his dumb poster inside that bucket that appeared out of thin air DAVE: right before we had to haul ass out of there before jack caught up to us DAVE: karkat had a complete fucking meltdown over that btw i wish you couldve seen it DAVE: damn it feels like so long ago now JADE: heheheh i remember JADE: john realized it at the last second but it was too late! DAVE: of course it was johns idea only he could do something that gooberish DAVE: you know what this means though JADE: yup!! woof woof DAVE: it means youve done it harley DAVE: youve finally done it god damn it DAVE: the evolution of humankind is finally upon us DAVE: the scientists said it would never happen in our lifetime DAVE: but look what we have here DAVE: before me stands mans first legitimate furry subspecies DAVE: homo canis DAVE: as the name implies theyre gay as fuck btw DAVE: its too bad all those scientists are dead and cant witness this phylogenetic breakthrough DAVE: rip to the science community yall wouldve lost your collective shit DAVE: hey jade lets pour one out for the science community for being real ones

> ==>

You are still nestled into Dave’s shoulder. He’s taken a sort of protective position over you. Your perceptive barkbeast ears can hear his formerly bullet-riddled heart beating a mile a minute with the regularity of quartz beneath his time-branded pajamas, all the while he continues to ramble to you about certifiably dumb shit. You can tell Dave is psyched to see you again, even if he expresses it in his OWN bizarre way, which means extended metaphors and topical tangents. What a hypocrite, calling YOUR phrasing perplexing! You sure missed this guy.

You realize you started tuning him out while thinking about all this.

DAVE: jade JADE: umm homo is the species name JADE: so wouldnt that mean were all gay? :p DAVE: yeah that sounds about right DAVE: anyway enough of this bullshit

> ==>

[Dave motions to retract his arms since he doesn’t want it to get too weird, but Jade squeezes tighter. Dave immediately yields to the movement]

DAVE: jesus wow ok DAVE: really happy to see you too DAVE: like if you had a tail it would be wagging so forcefully youd be knocking over all the fucking furnishings in the room DAVE: just slapping it so hard on the owners thigh that it feels like theyre being flogged DAVE: talk about getting bitch slapped JADE: :D DAVE: so howve you been JADE: really really excited to see you guys all again!!! JADE: and to meet the trolls! DAVE: yeah theyre pretty weird DAVE: and im still not used to it DAVE: but it gets more manageable the longer youre around them DAVE: by the way JADE: ?

> ==>

DAVE: sorry you had to go through that JADE: through what? DAVE: seeing me die and stuff again DAVE: except that time right in front of you JADE: .... DAVE: when we were gathering up all those frogs i knew jack was going to appear DAVE: i was waiting and waiting to play it out DAVE: mentally rehearsing my fucking torso getting turned into swiss cheese and knowing you would have to watch on top of it DAVE: i had to make sure it happened to protect the integrity of the alpha timeline DAVE: but if you knew this was going to happen you wouldve tried to prevent it and created a doomed one DAVE: and so i didnt say anything DAVE: i couldnt DAVE: so DAVE: sorry for putting you through that JADE: oh..... JADE: dave D: JADE: well im here JADE: if you ever want to talk about it DAVE: its cool DAVE: you just deserve to know what happened there DAVE: but thanks DAVE: so am i JADE: yeah i know JADE: i guess i should be glad you did that then... JADE: even though i was freaking out when it happened ._. JADE: otherwise you wouldnt be here will us now dressed in your red god tier time pajamas DAVE: yeah these magical rags really are comfortable arent they DAVE: and they stay like perma clean JADE: they are! i would wear mine over and over for days on end JADE: id take a nice shower and put it right back on JADE: and you know how much i love cycling my outfits through my wardrobifier JADE: by the way dave your cape is sooo cool! :o DAVE: thanks DAVE: yeah i love it its hella soft DAVE: its like ive got a portable snuggle blanket with me in case i ever need to drop to the floor like a tired sack of shit and get my snooze on DAVE: ive got a permanent personal reservation at club bed featuring dj pillow and mc blanky JADE: heheheh JADE: can i touch your cape? DAVE: of course go nuts JADE: yaaaay!!

[holdy-caulfield]

My review on Star Trek book:

Doctor’s Orders by Diana Duane.

Genre: hard sci fi

Pages: 291

Key words: worldbuilding, alien culture, time, strategies, psychology, Hippocratic Oath, linguistics, first time in command, stressful situations

Highlights: McCoy is in character, Kirk mostly, battle, crew work, humor, worldbuilding

Downsides: reason why McCoy is in command (unrealistic, OOC for Kirk), Spock & McCoy interactions (too friendly for them), lack of tension.

Vibe/tone: nerdy, light-hearted

With spoilers!

I really enjoy sci-fi as a whole genre, and the worldbuilding aspect is what has drawn me into Star Trek in the first place (second place was a video of Kirk and Spock). When it comes to fiction based on the franchise & fanfiction for me personally the most important aspects are canonical characters and accurate representation of their relationship.

I’ve heard a lot of positives about Diana Duane, so I was exited to get my hands on her books. Since McCoy is my favourite character, I decided to start with the book where he’s in a primal focus.

The premise seemed great. I was very curious how McCoy would behave as a commander of the ship, and I was particularly interested how he would handle Spock, as there were a few instances in the show where Spock and McCoy have been left without Kirk. The book cover showed Spock standing firmly next to our favourite doctor in the captain’s chair.

The idea itself is intriguing enough — what will be the difference in the decision making between a trained soldier and a doctor? The book excitingly starts with a Hippocratic Oath.

This book does feel like an episode. It’s relatively short, the whole action takes place in a span of a few days, it has an idealistic nature, and a perfectly good ending.

The dialogue and humor are good, manner of speech is convincing for each character, there’s a lot of strategic decisions during battle and I love watching/reading the whole crew working together as the whole.

The fact that McCoy is new to commanding helps the reader to understand what’s going on better and his decision making, it is easier to imagine how you’d feel in his shoes. The whole McCoy commanding aspect in my opinion was very in character.

The book has a lot of focus on the planetary species, human characters getting to know them better, studying them and discussing them from a scientific perspective (so, the book puts science into science fiction). It was a curious read, but I think it is not exactly for those who came for an action adventure. A bunch of scientists discussing species and linguistics is the bigger part of the book. I love this stuff as I said earlier, I personally could read all these discussions about interesting species and their culture forever, but I can imagine it can be boring for some (although IMO if you’re a ST fan you should expect this).

I quickly understood what’s going with them personally but there were some aspects which I didn’t quite understand or that were not explained enough. Why Ornae were building stuff? Maybe I’m forgetting something, but I don’t remember if they gave a clear answer. I also didn’t get why ;At would say yes in the end. It felt for me rather logical that they would say no. I didn’t feel that either Federation either the species would benefit in anything else then knowledge. Well, they could protect the planet, but… I thought ;At are a bit too powerful to really need extra protection.

There are also Klingons. I thought it was a very nice touch that doctor managed to find a common ground using psychology. It was funny, but also believable.

Klingons do not feel as a threat, well, not dangerous enough. Klingons’ motivation to be on the planet for me personally seemed not really satisfactory for a reader. It made them even less threatening (while they of course shouldn’t be exactly threatening, I just wished for more… spice).

I really did like the unexpected friendliness simply because McCoy is a professional medic and knows psychology, it’s very in character and canonical. I enjoyed the bits when he uses his profession to command and even as a moral compass.

My biggest issue was there was not enough tension. And it is primarily because of Spock.

It might be my own vision, but what I can judge from the show is that Spock and McCoy have a complicated relationship in the span of the series. Their philosophies opposite each other, while both characters are not so different as either McCoy or Spock would think (they both are very emphatic for example) so it creates this unique dynamic of a lot things being unsaid and truths ignored.

Most of the time when McCoy and Spock are left alone with each other, they start an argument and can say actually hurtful things to each other. It is quite obvious to me that Spock likes McCoy, while McCoy’s reaction to him is not exactly unambiguous. There should be tension. It what makes their relationship interesting.

In the book McCoy and Spock are as friendly as could be.

Of course there are a few funny moments, but for me there should be a lot more bickering, a lot more emotions involved around Kirk’s disappearance, and there could be just done more (for example, a danger which would force them to leave the orbit, but McCoy wants to stay to find Jim, and Spock is there to try to make him understand the logics and the fact that he feels that Jim is alright… ).

Kirk is there to balance Spock and McCoy out. The idea of McCoy being forced to rely on Spock with whom he disagrees mostly, or Spock relying on emotional McCoy is such an interesting concept, so it’s a pity for me I didn’t get this explored in the book.

Kirk isn’t in a real danger, which also makes it lack tension. But it’s probably my own issue, I like “damsel in distress” trope when it comes to strong characters like the Enterprise crew and the trio in particular.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read. Despite the lack of tension, there is some good dialogue, realistic approach to the idea of a medical doctor being in command, the battle is great & the worldbuilding is creative.

[juleteon]

VERY LONG INFO DUMP ABOUT THEM IN THE READ MORE..

Before the expedition / home planet: would zone out often thinking about how the world around them works. They experimented a lot with optics, light and especially color, was a great source of fascination to them. They'd crouch at the corner of a room, playing with shadows when light hit through a slit in the wall. They'd construct little toys and crystals to reflect and refract the light through. They were so drawn to the fact that despite these colors being so rare, they did have eyes that evolved to see them,. A lot of spite towards their ancestors that brought the eternal darkness upon their kin. Was bashed and judged for not just accepting it as is, for being so deeply preoccupied with whatever they saw as "wrong" in the world instead of accepting the reality as it currently was. But their curiosities led them to study and learn enough to be a useful and relevant asset in interdenominational research. They've been bored for too long in their life and being an intern really sucked. They were tired of adults telling them to stop playing with toys, they were tired of teachers telling them to focus on more important subjects and they were tired of the expected complacency. Becoming a rather bitter, anxious and avoidant person. Preferring to hone their skills to work independently and alone as often as they could manage. They accepted the job when it came to field work. But field work was dangerous and was never permitted for expedition without a registered pair or group, which made them very uneasy. They were not a cooperative worker by any means. Brilliant, experienced, very knowledgeable and useful, but they worked best alone and hardly ever connected to their fellow scientists or workers.

■ Basically accidentally causes death of their coworker (she / her) in an expedition because they dismissed her and left her alone for a task they were sure would be simple - in truth, it was a selfish desire to just distract her so they could engage in the research that they cared about alone, without interruption. Will have nightmares of her haunting them. Has an ick for ghost types.

■ Getting to Alola: The wormhole that brought them to alola basically meant escape. They couldn't return. They didn't speak at all for a good portion of their hiding. Coping by watching Pokémon and people and compulsively taking notes like a scientist's diary because treating it as "research" was their way of dissociating themselves from the situation they're in. Has a tendency to analyze and intellectualize their feelings rather than feel them.

At first, they from what they've gathered, they thought to reach to the Aether Foundation as they too, seemed like respectable scientists. But…! Not a good place for an alien to walk into…! They're clever enough to escape (not without harm) but now all their brain is even more jumbled up because they feel like everything they've learnt about humans and communication so far was a lie (being manipulated into wrong sense of security but then we're taken advantage of). Instincts of fear kick in, anxiety and paranoia are spiked up.

Team skull is their shelter. They get long garments to cover and hide their skin. Sunglasses to protect their eyes. They're learning to be part of a group and about actually belonging. They're still a bit of a bitch at first but the grunts want to learn and they figure how to navigate their language to share their interests and teach actual science to uneducated dropouts (basically autistic rambling).

They pick up on the teams mannerism and character. They're in love with bug types and colonies, and how social structures work and ecosystem coexist in such wide diversity. They hoard wimpods & style their hair like antenna.

Eventually they learn to chill and become way more laid-back, less stuck up and stressed 24/7. Because they have faith in their abilities through having faith in their team. Still an antisocial bastard though. Bonus factoids:

■ Has blue / teal blood like horseshoe crabs

■ Really dislikes strong artificial lights especially flourescent lights. It hurts their eyes

■ Makes very weird noises as a vocal stim, very embarrassed if anyone but their pokemon catch them do that, though

■ Gets dizzy if in the sun for prolonged periods of time but if they're focused on a mission they don't care as much

■ Struggles to pay attention to their own state and body, too preoccupied with their surroundings and interests

■ Doesnt register humor very well, takes them a while to acclamate. The concept of puns is beyond them.

■ Very picky eater. Doesn't take too well on human food. Murky drink enjoyer tho.

■ Will basically get drunk off of Pinap juice ( similar to pinapple enzymes, it gets their brain a little woozy and funny )

■ Loves chewing gum ( was taught to blow bubbles by Plumeria ) and icecream

■ Struggles with local tech because it's not as advanced or nearly as precise to what they're used to so they resort to traditional methods instead ( paper & chalkboards. Chews on the chalk sometimes too )

■ Writes a lot of notes of observations and lessons in their shitty handwriting. Loves pens and stationary more than screens

■ Collects bunch of sand, rocks , feathers and shells in their pockets to study later.

■ Doesn't have a fear of weapons (guns, knives) because they view them as an indicator of weakness or cowardly (basically, in their eyes: if you're weak, its legitimate and smart to wield a weapon to protect yourself, if you're powerful* and still use a weapon they find it cowardly and undignified) Much more afraid of those that use their words to influence others, instead (aka powerful people that Know how to use their power)

*powerful doesn't necessarily meaning physically strong, but also as in a position of power / control / influence.

[rallamajoop]

Mia Winters and the Connections

There are a lot of bad takes on Mia Winters out there, a lot of really irritating shallow misconceptions. But for now, I’m just going to tackle one of the big ones that annoys me the most.

Mia Winters is not a scientist, and it's debatable whether she had any long-term association with the project that created Eveline. She may not have even met Eveline before being assigned to transport her to South America.

Mia’s not any kind of researcher. Her job when she worked at the Connections is laid out clearly in the first document you find within moments of starting the flashback ("Orders"): she’s a member of the Special Operations Division in the English version, or a 'special agent' in the Japanese (特殊工作員, tokushu kousaku-in). The English version also gives Mia the role of 'caretaker', implicitly of Eveline, but there's not much to suggest this is a role extending beyond the bounds of this particular mission (for comparison, the Japanese doesn't mention caretaking at all).

Mia's job is exactly what we see her doing in the game: transporting important assets under cover identities, and running around doing damage control with a machine gun if things go south. She echoes the same in her letter to the Bakers, stating she 'was assigned to transport some important cargo.' Even the 'imprinting protocol' she refers to seems to be mostly part of a transport protocol (going by the very little we ever learn about it), and may not even have been implemented until shortly before they left.

Even in the one photo of her standing with the research team, you might note that Mia and her partner Alan are the only people present not wearing lab coats (and believe me, with how much other photoshopping there is in this photo, Mia would have been wearing a lab coat if they'd wanted her in one). The photo itself is far more of an easter egg than a real plot point anyway, and probably isn't worth reading too much into ‒ I mean, Alan is apparently the director of the Special Operations division, so it makes no sense to assume he's part of this one science team. But if you really want a 'canonical' explanation for this photo, considering Mia and Alan are wearing the same clothes as in the ship flashback, you could reasonably assume it was taken right before Eveline was shipped off to America ‒ a kind of "Let's get one last snapshot of the team together with the transport crew before Eveline goes to South America" deal. It's completely plausible Mia may not even have met Eveline until the same day this was taken.

So where does this 'scientist' nonsense come from? The only source which does call Mia a 'researcher' is a timeline entry in this one RE7 strategy guide which has never been published in English – and it's a good example of why sources like this are usually better treated as pseudo-canon at best. You can find various translations of it online – but you can also buy the whole ebook (which I did), so here's the page where it originally comes up.

And yes, inasmuch as I’m qualified to translate, the line does state that Mia joined the company as a ‘researcher’ (研究員, kenkyuu-in) in 2010. But the same guidebook also refers to her as an operative (工作員) just a couple of pages later, so even the guidebook is hardly consistent.

Charitably, perhaps we could read that Mia was initially hired as some kind of generic, low-level research assistant before being transferred to the special operations division after showing aptitude in that area. But it's more likely that Mia was simply going to be a researcher at some point in the game’s development history, before Capcom changed their minds, and the timeline that made it into the guidebook is just very out of date ‒ it happens. Either way, one line in an inconsistent guide book hardly trumps what actually made it into the games.

I do realise that asking people to pay attention to what's actually in the games over what's repeated in some wiki somewhere (or a gazillion different fanfic) is a big ask for any fandom, but Mia was clearly never a scientist in the game we all played. She still knowingly worked for some really evil people – she doesn’t get to claim innocence here – but the idea she's personally responsible for every bad thing ever done to Eveline is absurd.

FWIW, other details from the guidebook also back up the idea that transporting assets was a major part of Mia’s job. Her bio (above) mentions that she was away from home a lot, something that strained the Winters’ marriage, and that she told people she worked for a ‘trading company’ – a solid cover for a job focused on travel and logistics.

A very little is said about Mia’s relationship with Eveline. The guidebook does mention that the reason Eveline’s so attached to Mia is because Eveline had known her since she was ‘confined to the “mysterious organisation” that created her’, which could be taken to imply she knew Mia well before their trip began, but it's not much to go on. Mia's own feelings on Eveline are described briefly in a caption: “Although Mia found Eveline creepy, she also felt compassion for her lonely situation,” which tracks with how Mia interacts with her in-game. It doesn't track so well with the idea Mia had any real authority over how Eveline was raised or treated, however, and would be perfectly consistent with the idea Mia might not have known her long at all.

The guidebook timeline also tells us that the E-series project begain in 2000, and that Eveline herself was created in "the early 2000s." This doesn't make a whole lot of sense for reasons I've talked about already, but does put Eveline's creation well before 2010, the year the same timeline gives us for when Mia started working at the Connections. Since the guidebook also tells us Mia was 32 in 2017, back in 2000, she would have been all of 15 years old. Whatever Mia's involvement, the project long predates her joining the company.

But the real issue with trying to given Mia any major responsibility for the E-series project is that the lab that created Eveline was located in Europe. Mia, meanwhile, has a driver's license telling us she's from Texas.

The European location for the lab is another detail that gets barely mentioned in the games, though it's mentioned repeatedly in the guidebook, and the Baker Incident Report even puts it specifically in Munich, Germany. Given all we learn in RE8, that location does make a lot of sense, when the mould was found in Eastern Europe, and that Miranda herself was part of the research team (she gets multiple photos and a lab coat, you may note). And even if the lab wasn’t right on Miranda’s doorstep, Munich is a heckuva commute from Texas, or anywhere else in the US. Even if Mia was often away from Ethan for long periods, as her bio implies, how involved could she realistically have been?

I don't want to overstress the idea that it "doesn't make sense" for a special agent from Texas to have been intimately involved in a European research project ‒ making sense has never held back RE lore before. But the idea that Mia was brought in only as a handler for Eveline when she was being moved to America still makes a lot more sense than to suggest the Connections were fine with their star asset’s primary handler going home to the US every other weekend.

There are possibilities between the two extremes, of course: Mia may have had sporadic contact with Eveline before the trip, either regularly or just once or twice. It's easy to assume the 'imprinting protocol' must mean that Mia's been Eveline's primary handler for some time, but heck, maybe it's better read as the opposite ‒ something that can be quickly applied to a new handler or caretaker in a hurry, to explain how Eveline got so attached to someone she'd only just met.

Given everything we actually see of her, you could even speculate that Mia was chosen as Eveline's 'caretaker' specifically because she was someone nice and motherly enough for Eveline to bond with. Eveline was pretty clearly fucked up long before Mia ever got involved, and not actually wanting to adopt a walking bioweapon whose idea of a happy family involves mould-powered mind control really does not reflect badly on Mia's character.

Whether Mia was already working for the Connections before she met Ethan also isn't clear. The guidebook tells us she began working for them in 2010, and married Ethan in May of 2011 (later confirmed by the date on Mia's ring in RE8) – though it doesn't specify when she and Ethan met. Even by Texas standards, marrying someone you’d known less than a year would be pretty unusual, so it’s likely Ethan knew her before she took the job. But even that 2010 statement comes along with the bit about Mia being hired as ‘a researcher’, so you can always take it with a grain of salt if you'd prefer.

And that's pretty much it for what the complete RE canon ever tells us about Mia and her former employers.

So here’s where I’m left with Mia’s role at the Connections. Even if she wasn’t aware of exactly what she was signing up for when she joined the company, and even if she considered all that lying to her husband about it to be a simple matter of confidentiality around sensitive research, she’s fully aware by the disaster in 2014, and plainly has a guilty conscience when she admits to lying to Ethan in her video message. However responsible she may or may not have been, she's still complicit. Her hands are hardly clean.

But they’re still a whole lot cleaner than, say, Luis’, considering that he was a key member of the science teams at both Umbrella Europe and in Saddler’s cult, and I don’t see him getting a fraction of the same hate as Mia. They both regret what they’ve done, and they’re both willing to give their own lives to make up for it. No, Luis never lied to a spouse about it (that we know of), but he's every bit as shifty and secretive. And frankly, most of the other shit that gets dumped on Mia’s doorstep is just as much bullshit (like, people do realise the “Mia” we see having “marital problems” with Ethan at the start of RE8 isn’t Mia, right?) But that’s material for other posts.

We don’t know how Mia got involved with the Connections, or how she felt about working for them, because the games never give us this information, and that’s a real shame. But in the capitalist hellscape we’re all living in, she’d hardly be the first to find herself stuck working for truly terrible people, one way or another.

Meanwhile, everything we see her doing during the outbreak on the tanker speaks to a basically good person, desperately trying to run damage control in a fucked-up situation. She tells Alan she’s not going to let him die, even though what’s going down is his fault. She tries so hard to talk Eveline down. After she’s rescued by the Bakers in the Daughter's DLC, she insists on staying in the trailer, meaning to leave at her first opportunity – pretty significant, considering she knows she’s infected already. She also leaves them a message warning them to stay away from Eveline, even sharing information on how to make a serum if they are infected. If you pick her over Zoe on the dock, the first thing she does is try to convince Zoe to come with them anyway. Even under Eveline's mind control, you'll catch her ranting about needing to contain the outbreak, blaming herself, and telling Ethan she loves him with her last breath.

And after being infected herself, the first thing on her mind is to try and protect Ethan, recording that message admitting she’s lied to him, and warning him to stay away (Ethan never gets that message, but you can’t say Mia didn’t try). Mia loves Ethan enough to die to save him – and she will, if you choose the Zoe path, and she’ll do it without a second thought.

Mia is fascinating to me as a character because she’s so full of contradictions: a woman who leaves syrupy video messages sending ‘tons of kisses’ to her husband, but who is completely comfortable running around with a machine gun killing mould-monsters, and who shrugs off an Eveline jump-scare with 'fucking hallucinations!' Someone who’s done bad things and knows it, and is trying so hard to make up for it, but whose background and motivations are left frustratingly undeveloped. But if you haven’t caught that Ethan and Rose mean more to her than anything, you really haven’t been paying attention.

Whatever you assume about Mia’s full story, she’s complicated in a way that makes her so much more interesting to me than most of the franchise’s more popular playable characters. I am very serious in saying I want RE9 to be just the full Mia-Winters-story, because to me that’s the only remotely satisfying justification for keeping her such a mystery for so long. I know that's not at all likely, but fuck it, I can dream.

Mia’s made her share of mistakes, but holding her responsible for everything the Connections has ever done is no kind of fair.

[quirkwizard]

MHA Characters in Horror Movies

As it is All Hallow's Eve, I thought it'd be fun to do something more in line with the holiday. And what's more in line with the holiday then wondering how some of your favorite characters would fare in a horror movies. Sans Quirks, of course. Can't give any of our would be victims a chance, now can we?

The First Victim: A basic but useful tool to set up the killer for the film. Someone close enough to the cast to set up the rest of the characters, but no one near important enough that you remember their names by the time the opening credits finish.

The Hapless Authority: Any kind of power within the movie who would be able to help out. So they're either incompetent, mean-spirited, or just out of the movie. If they are in it, it either's a last-second rescue or to be killed to show how bad the situation is.

The Disbeliever: Usually part of the authority figures, but can be part of the cast, these are going to be the people that are denying everyone and everything that is happening. No, your friend wasn't decapitated by a monster. It's clearly an accident.

The Hysterical One: Some of the background friends or random people who are only around to get killed early on to pad the numbers, give over-the-top reactions to the terrible situation, just to stand around and look pretty, or even all of the above.

The Gimmick: Characters that are only really around to get killed and only have one defining character trait to them. One that will almost certainly play some role in how they die. Some even have the misfortune of being cast as "comedic relief".

The Know It All: The person who is going to go off to try and find out what's really going on with all the strange killings. That or they are figures that already have some knowledge about what is happening. Tend to be massive nerds or supernaturally inclined.

The Tough One: This is usually a punk or jock kind of character. The point is, they are the tough ones who are heading into danger, ego in tact, before quickly realizing how dead they are. Can and will try to one on one whatever the monster is.

Secondary Survivor: The secondary characters that disappear from the plot for a bit to have the final survivor take on the monster. Maybe they ran away to get help, maybe they are too wounded to help out, or maybe they didn't even die in the first place.

The Final Survivor: The last person standing against the horror show. Tend to either be the bland every person, someone with a deep tie to the monster they are fighting, or the one person who has the will to push themselves to fight whatever terror's in their way.

The Obvious Killer: The classic red herring. You just need someone around to be creppy or to throw certain characters off from what is really happening. Usually just around to die when the real killer finally gets revealed and they don't have any purpose left in the plot.

The Villains: Ah, but a horror movie is only as good as its villains. And there are so many wonderful choices. The horrific science experiment, the revengeful revenant back from the dead, the seemingly normal girl hiding from the crowd, the hulking brute, the mad scientist, and just a straight-up serial killer.

Notes: -Ojiro and Hagkaure would for sure be that couple killed at the start of the movie.

-Mina is the scream queen of the class, without question. Aoyama is a close second.

-Denki is the kind of guy who calls out people's names in the dark when he hears a noise.

-Koda's pet is the likely target for the first kill because that's easy evil killer cred.

-Spinner is going to be the guy who clearly shows that the writers have never played a video game in their life.

-Momo and Hawks are the kind of people to do hours of research in the library, because the writer can't seem to grasp that people would use the Internet.

-Tokoyami and Ibara are the goth and religious person looking up spells or holy books to defeat the monster if it's of a more mystical persuasion.

-Kirishima is the person who is going to go for the sacrifice play against the monster. Bakugou just straight up thinks he can take them.

-If you cannot see Izuku and Uraraka surviving to the end of the movie, dirty, bloody, but alive after beating the killer, then you do not understand their characters.

-The entire set up of the Todoroki family feels like it could easily be applied to a horror movie. Like you have the death of a family member literally haunting the family.

[mushroomcrepe]

Hi i'm back about Senku and Byakuya because they are everything helppdkfjeke

I felt my post [x] about their father-son relationship lacked their shared love for science, because i was worried the message of my post would give an "science is only what makes them close" impression. But I think it could be interesting to talk about how Byakuya's view of science influenced Senku's view of science.

I won't talk about much about Senku personal relationship with science, because a famous manga called Dr Stone already talks about it in numerous ways (go check out i swear it's good), and I wouldn't have the words to give another interesting perspective.

So Byakuya's point of view 100% oriented Senku's vision of science and way of using it. How ? Well first he is a very dedicated man. He dedicated his life for the progress of science in his way. As Senku said, he was accepted by the Jaxa not for his scientific capacities, but for his "vigor". Now i can't say with confidence just how athletic he was (all astronauts have to be, and he sure was ripped hahaha), but i am sure there were younger more athletic people than his 40 years old self out there. I rather think when he said vigor, it was also a matter of mental strength.

We never, ever in the whole manga saw him give up on trying. We saw him fail sometimes like any human, but he simply doesn't give up. And Senku witnessed that his whole life too, even after his death. How Senku couldn't pick up on that and become the not giving up, going step by step, trials by trials and try and find out person he is now ?

His father waited 10 years for the opportunity of being astronaut, waited in his peaceful rest millenias for Senku to wake up, tried again and again for ramen space food, and also never gave up on trying to bring fun or romance in science things to his son (ex : the moon following him, the fireworks). Even if it's not something his cartesian mind enjoy, Senku saw that his father never stopped being himself. He showed him a science where he could fully be himself and have fun in his way.

Byakuya works for the progress of human civilisation, that's something drilled in his mind and he died with this belief. He worried about the precious ressources being less accessible so he collected as much as possible to be sure that civilisation could grow again. Of course, like said in the first post, his son was a very important source of motivation. But remember when the children of the astronauts asked him why he didn't stop, he answered "because i'm an astronaut".

Everytime he mentionned he is an astronaut, it always felt special, almost solemn which show how serious he took this job. An astronaut, the epitome of scientific progress and the very pride of humanity.

He is a man of science, he doesn't have the scientific brain of Senku or his deceased colleagues, but he has the mindset of a scientist. And this is what Senku got from him. Senku was already walking toward the sciences by himself, all Byakuya did was showing him the mentality of a scientist that wants to discover and help the futur of humankind. That's why they both decided to bring back humanity, they just worked differently for it.

Byakuya worked until someone took his place, which is Senku, that he considered as the next astronaut, the next scientist working toward the progress of humanity.

(unrelated note : he literally, in this world with nothing left to give, prepared an heritage specifically for Senku before his passing which is his final gesture as a father. Really what a character Boichi what happened in your mind)

Byakuya showed Senku how science isn't about only cool technology or data pilling up, it's about methodic work, trials and errors, sharing your competences with other to achieve better... Actually, he showed him that despite everything, science was profoundly human. That's why Senku respects people's personal capacities, like when he explained the division of work to Magma, how he's opposed to Xeno's opinion about the use of science (not developping to prevent spoilers)...

One of the things that shows the best this division of competences is the Yuzuhira/Taiju/Senku bff trio or the Creation/Labor/Science pillars. The trio represents 3 distinct characteristics you find in humanity and they still are the closest characters in the manga.

To conclude Senku way of doing science is so much like him, his personality really breathes through his silly ideas and ultra ambitious plans (who would have think of making a phone in a stone world ???) because he learnt from Byakuya that used science while being himself (the record disk to transmit a song and one last message)

[queer-scots-geordie-dyke]

"A couple of months after I shot the pilot for “Babylon 5,” I got an invitation to something called “a science fiction convention.” What could that be? “I’m not quite sure,” said Diane. “What do I have to do there?” I asked. “Sign autographs and do a Q&A.” “What is a Q&A?” I asked, puzzled. “I guess the fans will ask questions and you will answer.” “The fans? Who are they?” “Yes, the fans. The fans of the show,” said Diane, probably thinking her new client was mildly challenged in the intellectual arena. “Ok, I don’t quite get it but yes, of course, I’ll do it. It seems like an easy job,” I said. “Do they pay or is it just publicity for the show?” I asked, clearly an alien who fell onto this planet without getting the necessary information about human ways. No wonder I got my green card as an “alien with extraordinary abilities.” (Or should it be “inabilities,” I sometimes wonder.) “They do pay. $5,000 for two days.” What? Really? I don’t have to learn any lines? I don’t have to descend into dark tunnels of emotion? I don’t have to “perform?” I just have to be me? And they’ll pay me for that? Oh yeah, count me in! Keep bringing it on! Maybe life doesn’t have to be such an incredible struggle all the time. Maybe one doesn’t have to bleed to death for every penny earned. Maybe even I deserve some lightness, some easiness. Or do I?

Stonybrook was the place. Michael O’Hare was the other guest. I was on stage, answering questions from “the fans” who seemed unusually kind and, for the first time in my American experience, sincerely interested in “my story.” Finally, someone was actually getting it. “The fans” struck me as sophisticated, smart, and well-educated. They seemed not to be buying the black and white picture of the war in the former Yugoslavia, the picture that the media kept serving them. Their questions were intelligent. And, what struck me most, they seemed to be peace-loving people. It seemed we were on the same side: the side of the people, the side of peace. I realized: I actually liked talking to them. I was on stage, talking about my experience of being exiled from my own city, from my profession and my life. “I lost my career, my colleagues, my family.” Then I heard a voice from the audience. “But you gained another one. Welcome to your new family. Welcome to our family.” It brought tears to my eyes then. It is bringing them now, as I’m writing this.

I’ve been a part of the science fiction family for more than twenty years now. Conventions have become an important part of my life. I’ve met interesting people, including respectable scientists, engineers, astronauts and computer wizards. I’ve traveled America, from coast to coast and in between. I’ve traveled Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Some of the people I met I will never forget. Some became my friends. Whatever resistance I may have felt throughout the years towards being pushed into the category of “science fiction actors,” is gone now. This new family has been good to me. And although I will never become a social media gal, having a deeply organic, strong aversion towards the increasingly blurry line between the private and the public, I do hope that I haven’t been too dysfunctional as a member of my new family either. This new family has proven to be much more loyal and much more reliable than the one I left behind (or that left ME behind)."

- Mira Furlan, Love Me More Than Anything In the World