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elminx · 25 days ago

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Energy Update: December 2024

December is a “2” Universal Month (12 (December) + 8 (2024) =20 = 2+0 = 2] in an “8” Universal Year. Two is a movement number – things begin to balance out from the pure creation of the energy of the “1” month prior, and decisions start to present themselves. This aligns poorly with the astrology of the month, which is dominated by two major personal planet retrogrades (Mercury and Mars). In order to seek out balance or come into alignment with what is, we may need to work backward.

The Set Up

We begin the month with the Sun and retrograde Mercury in Sagittarius, Venus in Capricorn, Mars deep in its pre-retrograde shadow in Leo, retrograde Jupiter in Gemini, Saturn and Neptune in Pisces, retrograde Uranus in Taurus, and Pluto in Capricorn. This month, we will only have two planetary ingresses: our Sun will enter Capricorn, and Venus will enter Aquarius. This is due to Mercury’s retrograde, which ends on 12/15, that keeps our planet of Communication, Travel, and Technology in the sign of its exile for an exceptionally long time.

The Details

All eyes are on Mars, which will retrograde on 12/06 at 06° Leo. This retrograde will stretch into the new year; it ends in late February, but the post-retrograde shadow will continue until the beginning of May. This is the Big News Bear of the month as it will impact our entire holiday season, but it also sets the tone for 2025.

Mars

Mars gets top billing this month due to its upcoming retrograde on 12/6. This isn’t a post specifically about the retrograde (that’ll be out later – look for it in your email if you’re signed up for my mailing list), but it is significant enough to warrant a brief discussion. Mars is the slowest moving of our personal planets and tends to retrograde every 26 months or so. Because this planet dictates our modes of action and energy levels, we can expect forward motion (as a whole) and output to be lower during Mars’ retrograde periods. This is business as usual and the expected result of a Mars retrograde, but that doesn’t mean that people will be comfortable or accepting of this outcome.

Therein lies a lot of the struggles of a Mars retrograde cycle. Many of us (especially those ruled by Mars – Aries and Scorpio – or those with strong Martian placements) rely on accomplishments and consistent action to regulate our nervous systems. When thwarted, the Martian temperament can get aggressive and moody. Some types can be pushy or overtly forceful, and if one thing is for sure, it is that nothing should be forced during a Mars retrograde. Let it unfold slowly, and try to enjoy the ride.

This retrograde starts in fixed fiery Leo and ends in cardinal watery Cancer. A lot of people are going to fuck some shit up so that they can feel like they are still sitting on their throne and likely cry about it later.

It’s wise to remember that the planets aren’t here to hurt us, no matter how much our dysregulated brains might try to tell us so. Instead, if we look at planetary retrogrades as an opportunity to review, restart, realign, reassess, and rejuvenate, they can actually be valuable times of othered space. Each planet in retrograde adds a layer of the liminal to the space soup, and the more planets in retrograde at a time, the more liminal our space becomes.

It’s worth noting here that Mars’ retrograde overlaps with Mercury’s in December by five days (from 12/6-12/15). These are powerful days to slow down and assess where your life is and what you need to change to move forward. This is especially fortunate for those who celebrate the new year in January, as it is an early chance to align yourself with your goals for the year ahead.

Mars will station direct on 2/23, so this is a long-game transit – much longer than Mercury’s month-long retrogrades. Other than slowing us all down (and probably causing some significant tifts over the holidays), Mars won’t be doing much this month as – during the time when a planet stations (changes directions) they tend to hold their position in the sky for an abnormally long time. If you have a personal planet in the early degrees of the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius), you might feel the strain of Mar’s lack of movement all month. Expect things to get angsty. Expect divas to be on the very biggest tears. It is what it is; I find Leo’s energy pretty easy to walk away from if it’s getting to be too much, but your experience may vary.

Iron gate boundaries might be in order, especially with that incredibly demanding family member who never figured out that they aren’t the main character in your life. You might find that you need to do less; if you do, know you are right on time.

Mars retrogrades are almost inevitably challenging. Even if you can manage your own life slowing down (some of us even like it this way), you still have to deal with the absolute temper tantrums of those who can’t stand still for whatever reason. Stay aware of the Aries, Scorpio, and Capricorn types in your life (Sun, Moon, Ascendant, and Mars placements mostly here) or anyone with Mars in Cancer or Leo. They may be seriously losing their shit (and, if so, iron-clad boundaries, as I said), but they may also just need support as to what to do when you can’t do.

This retrograde aligns well with the season of withdrawal (lovingly called Fallowtide by some) but less well with our hustle-and-bustle holiday season. It’s okay not to do anything, especially if you are prone to low energy for any number of reasons. Take care of yourself often and early.

Our Lights: The Sun and the Moon

Our big win for the month is our two new moons – the first in Sagittarius on 12/01 and the second in Capricorn on 12/30 – which bookmark our month. Our Capricorn moon is especially auspicious because – as I have mentioned elsewhere – in 2024, we had two Capricorn new moons and two full moons. If, as I suggested, you have worked the Capricorn moons this year, this is your fourth and final chance to do so. Even though it is early from a calendar perspective, I would do any magic working or intention setting for 2025 during the hour of the new moon on 12/30. Capricorn is THE sign of long-term planning. Use that to your advantage.

We begin the month on 12/1 (always significant as the 1st dictates the energy for the month ahead) with a new moon at 09° Sagittarius in a t-square with Saturn at 13° Pisces and retrograde Jupiter at 16° Gemini. It’s worth noting two things here. The first is that Sagittarius, the sign of our lunation, is ruled by the planet Jupiter, which is currently in the sign of its exile, Gemini. Luck is on the fritz right now, and all that glitters is most certainly not gold. Additionally, this square between Jupiter and Saturn is Ascendanting meaning that the two planets haven’t actually met at a 90° angle; we are working towards this square, not away from it.

This square between Jupiter and Saturn, currently in Pisces and Gemini, will be a major player in the energy of 2025. The planets meet in an exact square on the Pisces-Gemini axis and the Aries-Cancer axis. Luck may have gone awry, but this is an opportunity to glimpse what lies ahead.

So you are saying, there is a chance. On this day the answer is almost irrevocably yes.

Our Sagittarius new moon is a 9/2 new moon. 9 (Sagittarius moon) + 9 (Sagittarius Sun) = 18 = 1+8 = 9. 9 (Sagittarius new moon) + 2 (December 2024) = 11 = 1+1 = 2.

We are in the midst of some big endings, symbolized by the “9” energy, but the “2” echoes the glimpse into the future and the choices that lie ahead. This is a day well spent in divination or pathfinding of all kinds.

Our Sagittarius Sun squares Saturn on 12/04, which should not surprise anyone. Everyone is being held accountable for their actions in some way or another. This is business as usual; the Sun squares Saturn twice a year, but I’ve always noticed that it seems to show up like clockwork when the world needs it the most. Any Sun/Saturn transit adds a lot of power to magic used for justice and to hold people accountable for their actions. The sign of the archer can be especially helpful for Justice spellwork as Sag has a natural desire toward the highest good. If you work with runes, the Tiwaz rune would be especially useful during this time.

Our full moon falls on 12/15 at 23° Gemini. It is mostly unaspected besides a square to Neptune in Pisces, which carries energy similar to a major lunation anyway. This is also the day that Mercury stations direct at 06° Sagittarius. The twofold nature of switching, Mercury in direction and the Moon in purpose (wax on/wane off if you will) can be used to enact many types of magic for change. Mars is retrograde by this point, though, so be careful how you word anything focused on movement in the physical world during this time. Think Road Opener rather than a spell to force direction.

Our Gemini full moon is a 3/5 full moon. 3 (Gemini moon) + 9 (Sagittarius Sun) = 12 = 1 + 2 = 3. 3 (Gemini full moon) + 2 (December 2024) = 5.

3 is our Manifestation number (useful for all types of magic), and 5 has the go-to-itsness to break through nearly all barriers.

Once the Sun enters Capricorn, it squares the lunar nodes on 12/23. Our lunar nodes will leave the Aries-Libra axis for Pisces-Virgo at the end of January; this is the end of the line for this cycle. Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, can work too hard to keep the peace at times; where are you saying “yes” when you really mean “no” in your life? This might be one less thorn in an old wound or pass less painfully. Cardinal signs are the most likely to notice this transit.

It all comes full circle to our new moon at 09° Capricorn on 12/30. This lunation is still in a wide square to our lunar nodes and is also sextile to Saturn, echoing the energy of that early Sun-Saturn square. Both Saturn and the lunar nodes rule something you could classify as fate or destiny. But in a less woo way than many would use the terms today. Some things are meant to be. You live. You die. A volcano erupts. A major plague races across the land. Because you took your first breath at this exact time in that exact place, you will live through these things. Because our Moon touches on both, but not in exactitude, I would expect all of us to be contemplating our place in the universe a bit during this lunation. Both where we have been – our place in this existence – and where we are going.

What can we can do to help? (Helping is the best way to actualize Capricorn energy)

Our Capricorn new moon is a 2/4 new moon. 10 (Capricorn Moon) + 10 (Capricorn Sun) = 20 = 2+0 = 2. 2 (Capricorn New moon) + 2 (December 2024) = 4.

I have to giggle at this because I consider Capricorns to naturally carry a lot of “4” energy around with them. “4” is a very balanced number; it is all about structure. What are Capricorns doing if not shoring up their world to protect it from the elements? (as is their nature, being born in the deep winter months) When considering the power of the Number 4, I would ask you to think of the older man-made structures still standing. Did the Egyptian pyramids come to mind? That is “4” energy; it grounds in all directions; it has longevity. Again, this 4 energy makes this a great day to do magic or set intentions for the new year ahead. You may wish to set an intention that will become manifest by the Capricorn full moon on 7/10/25.

Mercury

For the first half of December, Mercury will be moving backward in retrograde towards 06° Sagittarius, where it will station direct under the light of our Gemini full moon. This is notable because Mercury is the ruling planet of Gemini; this will be a day highly invigorated with Mercurial energy. We should all realize by now that Mercury retrograde is business as usual and simply a change in the expression of our “normal” Mercury energy. I’ve written more about this particular Mercury retrograde here.

It’s worth also remembering that Mercury is in exile in Sagittarius because Sagittarius is the opposite sign of Gemini, the sign of Mercury’s domicile. In Sagittarius, thoughts can be demanding, and people can become convinced that their way of thinking is the only right way. We all need to watch out for intellectual elitism and educational superiority, two bad behaviors of Mercury in Sagittarius. Every lived experience brings a different story and background to the table, and we need each to function together rather than separately. This is the first hit on this lesson, and it will take on a greater meaning as our North Node enters Pisces next month.

This retrograde cycle involves big hitters Jupiter in Gemini and Saturn in Pisces. This circles back to what I said above about Jupiter square Saturn having a big part to play in the year ahead. We often visit troublesome aspects through Mercury first. This cosmically makes some sense because when presented with a problem, to proceed, the best course of action is usually to think something through. Keep in mind that in firecracker Sagittarius, Mercury does not seem inclined to take that kind of time.

It is an oversimplification, but Jupiter brings the Go/Expansion energy and Saturn the Stop/Retraction energy. This is interesting because Jupiter gets nothing but space to expand in formless, airy Gemini, which you would think it would like, but it really doesn’t (it is the sign of Jupiter’s exile), and amorphous watery Pisces does nothing to give Saturn the form it so desperately requires. Neither giant is at its best, making them more demanding. In this case, Saturn will always be the rock, and Jupiter is playing the role of the hard place.

Mercury has to pass through this vice three times. We’ve done this once while Mercury was in forward motion and when Jupiter and Saturn weren’t in a very tight square. The second pass happens early this month between 12/04 when Mercury opposes Jupiter (each planet in its exile, a nasty untethered opposition) and 12/06 when Mercury squares Saturn. We might want to expand during this time (or just jump out of the way of the rocks rolling downhill toward us), but there’s nowhere to go. This is the hole of Mercury’s retrograde cycle; I’d bet most people fall into it somehow.

Alternatively, you could be trying to get your ball rolling, and one thing after another keeps getting in the way. This kind of aspect works both ways, sometimes both ways in the same situation, which can be extremely uncomfortable.

That the Mercury-Saturn squares goes exact as Mars retrogrades on 12/06 tells us a lot about the character of that day. Just don’t. If it’s not Essential, emphasis on the Capital E, do it another day. Things generally grind to a halt for a reason. You can force the wheels or look for a rock in the tires. The choice is, of course, up to you.

And then, just in time for Christmas, we get our third pass-through of this rough t-square between Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn between 12/24 and 12/26, this time with Mercury in forward motion. If you need to make amends for anything you said out of line earlier in the month, this is the time to come clean about it. The more you take responsibility for your own part in this mess, the less pressure Saturn will put on you. Always placate Saturn first; Jupiter is too all-important to care about turn order.

Things will feel a bit easier after Mercury’s retrograde ends mid-month, but Mercury remains in its exile all month long as it tracks its way all through its post-retrograde shadow in Sagittarius. The benefit of Sagittarius is that most Sag will tell the absolute truth as they see it. Sometimes, that includes coming clean about things, too. It should be no surprise that this will be a holiday season full of hard conversations; we can hope that at least they include honesty and words spoken from the heart. (Sag sometimes needs to be reminded they have a heart, but they will come in strong once encouraged there)

Mars will greatly overshadow this retrograde, but keeping it in the back of your mind is still important. If that person is just talking out of their ass, maybe make a snide comment to yourself, blame Mercury, and walk the fuck away. If it takes an extra two hours and a detour to get to Gramma’s house, that’s two hours less of talking to Uncle Eddie. Make sure you are sending those nudes to Tara in Sales and not Tara, your boss, if you know what I mean. Things tend to go awry during a Mercury retrograde cycle when we are on autopilot and not paying attention.

The easy and obvious anecdote to that is to pay attention. Standard Mercury retrograde advice applies: save often, double-check before you hit Send, and expect delays. Your friendly neighborhood Geminis and Virgos will be down for the count like they are every Mercury retrograde. The energy of all things communication, technology, and travel will be slower and deeper as Mercury wanders the low road. The more you can work with Mercury’s energy rather than against it, the easier your life will be.

Mercury exits its post-retrograde shadow in early January. We will have relatively smooth sailing with our planet of communication until the end of March and early April.

Venus

Venus is almost two full signs ahead of our Sun and Mercury all month long as it begins the month in Capricorn and ends it in Aquarius. It is on its own journey, which doesn’t really include stepping in to help out with the inevitable squabbles that are bound to come up all month long as both Mercury and Mars retrograde in fire signs. Venus can be pretty far out there in the fixed air sign of Aquarius and, at times, even unattainable.

Venus makes two major appearances this month. First, Venus will conjunct Pluto at 00° Aquarius on 12/07. Pluto is our outermost planet and seems responsible for the erosion of all things through the lens of time itself. Of course, in Roman mythology, Pluto was the god of the Underworld. On a long enough timeline, all things end: nations, marriages, lives, and this world.

Pluto has never before been in the sign of Aquarius when astrologers knew of the planet’s influence, so we can only surmise what this new journey will bring to humanity. But we will taste it through a Venusian lens this month.

Then, on 12/12, Venus opposed retrograde Mars in Leo. This is pretty big break-up weather, but that shouldn’t be anything to worry about if you are in a safe and secure relationship. Leo and Aquarius aren’t that different from one another (Sun sign opposites are and should be ready as a pair), but where they differ is very stark. Where Leo is a traditionalist, Aquarius is pointed straight toward the wildest of infinite possibilities. Leo wants the world, and Aquarius wants the universe. They can become aligned but often choose not to out of ego and the inability to step off their respective daises.

Fixed signs aren’t inclined to move; that much is for sure, and this will go doubly for all Martian and Leo types during this time. If anyone is going to give an inch, it will have to be Aquarius.

Although I specified break-up weather, I want to clarify that relationships do not always involve love, sex, or romance. We are in a relationship individually with each of our family members, with our best friends and our worst enemies, and with our bosses and coworkers. American culture puts a huge emphasis on love and sex, but relationships exist of all kinds. We talk about wars between nations but rarely about wars within families or workplaces. The interplay between Venus (receiving) and Mars (giving) shows us how our relationships are flowing – even international ones between nations. Together, they give us an idea of how easy it will be to get along.

Oppositions are fidgety and difficult to read, even for the most seasoned astrologer. Sun Sign opposites can differ in specific ways but are also quite similar and desperately need each other. The conflicts that will arise during this time CAN be resolved, but it calls for somebody to step down and let the other by. Neither planet looks well poised to do so, which is generally unfortunate. We still get free choice, though; that’s the beauty of how the above is reflected below: the planets dictate that there will be conflict, but WE still get to choose what we do when it happens.

What is worth fighting for? Is it worth standing up to the one you love the most? Is it worth standing up to your family? Is it worth standing up to the world?

Many of us have to grapple with this right now, and I think many people will say resoundingly, “Yes.” I’m not here to give you the correct answers because my trials and choices will differ infinitely from yours.

What I am here to say is that there is a reason (in the skies and our lives) why people are going to choose Fight this holiday season, and we should think about both how we are making those choices for ourselves AND how we should respond when someone decides they want to fight with us. The big flex all month will be to pick your fights, but we all know that will be easier said than done.

I’m choosing to discuss conflict in the Venus section for a reason. Diplomacy plays as important a part in conflicts as Action, though culturally, we often downplay this. Venus in Aquarius can be talked into looking back at the rest of us earth landers, but only if you speak to her higher nature and propose something new and innovative. Venus in Aquarius doesn’t have time for momentary peace; it wants the whole package or nothing at all. The craziest idea might be the one that is the solution all month long.

Jupiter and Saturn

Our two intermediate planets, Jupiter and Saturn, play a major role in dictating the pace of our lives. Jupiter, the planet of Luck and Expansion, quickens everything it touches, while Saturn, the planet of Time and Consequence, slows or halts. We need both of these forces in our lives. They are moving in and out of squares for the next year.

The first square happens on 12/24 with Jupiter in Gemini and Saturn in Pisces. Neither planet is at its strongest here, but Saturn probably wins out due to Jupiter being in its exile. Expect things to be slow. But that’s also indicated by our Mars retrograde, so let’s say it’s extra slow. This first square includes Mercury in Sagittarius square to Saturn and opposed to Jupiter. This is a harsh mutable t-square, which will have everyone scrambling but few finding solid ground.

You may notice this repeating cycle of three squares (one in December and two next year). If it sounds awfully like a retrograde cycle, that’s because it is. This is happening because Jupiter (being the faster-moving sign) has caught back up to Saturn (by degree) and is now going to retrograde forward and back again thrice across Saturn’s path. Jupiter and Saturn will both change signs in 2025 in synch with one another – this will put a lot of stress on the line between Gemini-Cancer (for Jupiter) and Pisces-Aries (for Saturn). We will be in this push/pull cycle for a while; this is just the first pass.

Looking Forward

Hello January! Hello 2025!

The big deals in January will be our Mars retrograde and the changing of the guard as our lunar nodes slide onto the Pisces-Virgo axis. The big deal for the year is that Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune all change signs in four months. As we move into each new sign in 2025 with our Sun, Mercury, and Venus, we are forced to confront all of our outer planets in unison. We are on the event horizon now.

The Details

12/1 – New moon 09° Sagittarius 12/2 – retrograde Mercury in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries, Venus in Capricorn trine retrograde Uranus in Taurus 12/4 – Sun in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces, retrograde Mercury in Sagittarius opposed retrograde Jupiter in Gemini, Venus in Capricorn sextile retrograde Neptune in Pisces 12/5 – Sun conjunct retrograde Mercury 14° Sagittarius 12/6 – retrograde Mercury in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces, Mars retrogrades 06° Leo 12/7 – Sun in Sagittarius opposed retrograde Jupiter in Gemini, Venus enters Aquarius, Venus conjunct Pluto 00° Aquarius, Neptune stations direct 27° Pisces 12/9 – Venus in Aquarius sextile North Node in Aries 12/10 – Sun in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries 12/12 – Venus in Aquarius opposed retrograde Mars in Leo 12/13 – Retrograde Mercury in Sagittarius sextile Venus in Aquarius 12/15 – Full moon 23° Gemini, Mercury stations direct 06° Sagittarius 12/18 – Sun in Sagittarius square Neptune in Pisces 12/19 – Venus in Aquarius trine retrograde Jupiter in Gemini 12/21 – Sun enters Capricorn 12/23 – Sun in Capricorn square the lunar nodes, Venus in Aquarius sextile Chiron in Aries 12/24 – Retrograde Jupiter in Gemini square Saturn in Pisces 12/26 – Mercury in Sagittarius opposed retrograde Jupiter in Gemini 12/27 – Mercury in Sagittarius square Saturn in Pisces 12/28 – Venus in Aquarius square retrograde Uranus in Taurus 12/30 – New moon 09° Capricorn 12/31 – Mercury in Sagittarius trine Chiron in Aries

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#astrology #transits #energy update #December 2024

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princessanneftw · 8 hours ago

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Last month, we celebrated the induction of our newest Academy Fellows, marking the start of their Fellowship journey.

The occasion included a prestigious dinner attended by our Royal Fellow, HRH The Princess Royal, pictured here alongside the 2024 cohort.

Discover more about our 71 new Fellows - trailblazers in engineering and technology who have made remarkable impacts in their sectors.

@RAEngNews | 26 December 2024

#I love this top and skirt combo so much #so festive and christmassy #shine bright like a diamAnned #princess anne #princess royal #british royal family #brf #anne does stuff #workanne 9 to 5

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shousetsubangbang · 4 months ago

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Can you believe it’s going to be our 20th year in print? Shousetsu Bang*Bang is still here and still queer!

To make sure you don’t miss a single deadline, click here for our Google calendar with the dates pre-loaded.

Issue 113: Nine to Five * issue date: Monday, February 24 * text deadline: Tuesday, February 11 * art deadline: Saturday, February 22 Looking to make a work spouse your real spouse? Clock in on time for our office-romance-themed February issue!

Issue 114: Quantum Entanglement * issue date: Monday, April 28 * text deadline: Tuesday, April 15 * art deadline: Saturday, April 26 Our April issue is all about bringing things together, no matter how far apart they are.

SPECIAL NOTE: Obviously there are a number of ways to interpret this theme, especially along isekai lines, and we’re happy to see all of them. However, for this issue, we’d especially like to encourage submissions that are “entangled” with other SSBB stories and art. One way to do this is to come back to older pieces — rewriting a story from a different character’s point of view, writing a story based on a standalone illustration, or creating a radically different version of a story or illustration that already exists in our archives. Another way is to team up with other creators for this issue on completely new pieces and either collaborate on a single submission or create two (or more!) submissions that work as counterparts to one another.

As always, stories have to stand alone and should not necessitate someone’s having read something else before — which should also mean that stories submitted together should be able to be read in any order and must be complete stories with a self-contained beginning, middle, and end.

Note that this is not about continuing someone else’s story, much less just plain rewriting it. While you are welcome to use someone else’s work as a starting point, your finished product should be substantially different. Works inspired by pieces in earlier issues will have linked credit to their inspiration(s).

Issue 115: Bedside Manner * issue date: Monday, June 30 * text deadline: Tuesday, June 17 * art deadline: Saturday, June 28 Hello, nurse! If your erection lasts more than four hours, you’re probably reading our June issue!

Issue 116: Binary * issue date: Monday, August 25 * text deadline: Tuesday, August 12 * art deadline: Saturday, August 23 Our sexy technology-themed August issue wants you to fire up your ones, your zeroes, and everything else in-between.

Issue 117: The Old Ways * issue date: Monday, October 27 * text deadline: Tuesday, October 14 * art deadline: Saturday, October 25 Is that a wicker man in your pocket, or are you just happy to see our traditionally spooky October issue celebrating folk horror?

Issue 118: Theme Free * issue date: Monday, December 29 * text deadline: Tuesday, December 9 [note that this is a week earlier than usual!] * art deadline: Saturday, December 27 For our final issue of the year, both theme and word count are what you make of it! Bring your festive best to our year-end theme-free big band and make the yuletide … well, you know.

#s2b2 #original fiction #original art #lgbtq #queer #queer art #queer fiction

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 1 month ago

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New SpaceTime out Monday

SpaceTime 20241125 Series 27 Episode 142

How Mars got its moons

A new study suggests Mars got its two moons Phobos and Demos after a passing asteroid was ripped apart by the red planet’s gravity.

Starship Test Flight 6 full report

SpaceX has undertaken a successful sixth test flight of its Starship mega-rocket with United States President-elect Donald Trump joining SpaceX boss Elon Musk to witness the spectacular launch first hand.

A billion-year shift in the formation of the planet’s largest ore deposits

A new study has found that the Earth’s largest iron ore deposits – which are found in the Western Australian Pilbara -- are about one billion years younger than previously thought.

The Science Report

How an hour long daily walk could extend your life.

Global plastic waste to double by the middle of the century.

A new study shows that switching to a vegan diet could lower your food costs by 19%.

Skeptics guide to the Bent Spoon award.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States. The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science. SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research. The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network. Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor. Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually. However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage. Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently. StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016. Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

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darkmaga-returns · 5 hours ago

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Former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vice presidential running mate Nicole Shanahan warned at last week’s AmericaFest conference that Big Tech and other powerful forces are using ‘wireless products’ to ‘pollute’ people chemically and electrically.

By Stephen Kokx Lifesite News

December 26, 2024

Former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vice presidential running mate Nicole Shanahan issued a cryptic warning to attendees at last week’s AmericaFest conference in Arizona.

During her talk at the Turning Point USA-organized event, Shanahan seemed to suggest powerful forces are using wireless technologies for nefarious ends.

“People called me a conspiracy theorist for pointing out that the electric field we inhabit on Earth is being polluted through the use of unmitigated wireless products,” she said. “Well, here’s the truth – this is a real truth, and I’m from Silicon Valley, so I’m filling you in on a secret – these technologies can be made safe, but Big Tech is in bed with Big Pharma.”

Implying that human being are unknowingly being poisoned, Shanahan then said: “we are an electrochemical species, and we are indeed short-circuiting at a cellular level — young people falling over on stage, which we are seeing time and time again on social media, video after video, of a newscaster or a young person literally speaking on stage and falling over.”

“This is not normal. It’s not normal,” she then declared. “There’s something biological happening … we are being polluted both electrically and chemically on a daily basis.”

Shanahan’s profile has grown since being tapped by RFK Jr. to be his running mate this summer. A former tech industry executive who was once married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Shanahan, 39, reportedly has over $1 billion. She has spent the last several months pushing for reforms in the agricultural industry and advocating for politics aimed at preventing childhood illnesses since Kennedy dropped out of the race.

“The American farmer is the only doctor you need,” she told Catholic journalist Jack Posobiec at the event.

Shanahan’s remarks will no doubt be seen as a warning about the use of electromagnetic frequencies, cell phones, Wi-Fi routers, 5G and other wireless technologies.

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homestuckreplay · 18 days ago

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Webcomics at Day 100 #7: Achewood

Pages read: 10/1/2001 – 12/5/2002 & 4/13/2009 – 12/5/2009 (about 370 strips)

Reason for selection: Achewood is the webcomic that cultural institutions took seriously. Celebrated by Time, The New Yorker and Rolling Stone, the comic was wildly popular in the 2000s, with some of its strips – such as ‘Here Comes A Special Boy’ – still passed around the internet today without context.

Current status: Originally ran from October 1, 2001 to December 25, 2016, beginning with updates every weekday and becoming more sporadic over time including multiple hiatuses. Returned in 2023 and currently updates every Friday only for Patreon donors. Creator Chris Onstad is experimenting with use of AI in the artistic process.

Content warnings: frequent sexual content, heavy alcohol and drug use, slurs (especially the R slur), anti-Chinese racism, gender essentialism, occasional homophobia, sexism and fatphobia, suicide jokes, Harry Potter.

In 2002, Onstad states that his wife is Chinese in an effort to justify a strip that makes fun of a Chinese speaking character’s accent and name, suggesting that even in 2002 he already faced criticism for this portrayal, or felt he might.

Overall thoughts:

Achewood’s opening strip perfectly establishes the comic. It looks professional from day one, with crisp lines, recognizable character designs and an art style which would stay remarkably consistent throughout its run. But the humor of ‘Philippe is standing on it’ with its straight-faced delivery and lack of a punchline is really the defining feature of Achewood. It’s a type of humor that’s massively influenced the internet and persists to this day – some Achewood strips from 2002 feel like they could’ve been written this year.

The first few months of Achewood detail the lives of four of Onstad’s real stuffed animals in a fictionalized version of his own house, ’62 Achewood Court’. While they have remained major characters, two cats from the Achewood neighborhood, Ray and Roast Beef, became the true leads in 2002. Clicking ‘New to Achewood?’ on the comic’s website leads to the strip from March 21, 2002, but the site doesn’t make it clear that this is not the first strip. However, it is a good jumping in point – characters Téodor and Roast Beef state their names in this strip, and it comes shortly before a strip where character Mr Bear discusses his background as a children’s book author, which is the first time a character has had an in-depth backstory. It’s also partway into the comic’s first continuous story arc, the 26-strip ‘The Party’ arc – so it’s a time where Achewood is beginning to take itself seriously.

Achewood doesn’t have an overarching story, instead placing a group of well defined characters with distinctive voices into a sandbox for a variety of story arcs. Most of these characters grow older and reach life milestones, developing slowly and organically. The plot follows no such guidelines – in June of 2002, Pat the cat reveals his newly built rocket ship, even though it’s never previously established that cats in this world can have engineering knowledge or technology, and in November of 2002, Ray the cat sells his soul to the devil in exchange for piano playing abilities in a strip that comes out of nowhere and impacts the rest of the comic’s run. When violence appears in the comic, it’s similarly out of nowhere, and a character getting shot or getting into a car accident happens unexpectedly with no foreshadowing, which gives a real sense that anything could happen when scrolling to the next strip.

Despite occasional experiments with color and promises for one full-color strip a week, Achewood stays monochrome for its full run. Its black, white and gray palette might contribute to Achewood’s being seen as serious literature. The comic tries hard to be intelligent in other areas, too – it educates the reader on the Roman poet Catullus (March 8, 2002), archaic felted wool terminology (June 2, 2009), and plants that cause neurological damage (the comic’s title), drawing attention to its knowledge each time. Sharing obscure facts, and knowing a lot of obscure facts as a sign of intelligence, is definitely something I associate with the internet.

Given its acclaim, I was surprised at how little scholarly work has been written on Achewood. I did find one conference paper on multimedia masculinity in the comic, which feels appropriate, as it’s very much a story about men. The characters are stuffed animals, cats, robots and occasionally squirrels, but they are very pointedly almost all men, who recreate the ideas that men and women are two disconnected categories with almost no common ground. I do think the comic explores masculinity in interesting ways, such as when the spirit of Billy Idol enters Philippe’s body in July 2002. However, Onstad’s clear capability of taking an absurd character and giving them complex humanity makes me wish this was applied to a female character, too – it’s glaring that the strip’s first woman, Penny, is contrived to always be off screen.

Between 2002 and 2009, Achewood’s strips evolved from a few panels on average to a full page, allowing for more complex stories and art in each update. There might be three or four panels that show the minutiae of a character opening a door, which years earlier would have happened in a single panel. There’s more use of shading and dark colors, and a sense that Onstad is still trying to stretch himself artistically, working with more complex themes such as the karmic cycle (August 31, 2009) and the morality of giving modern technology to historical people (April to May 2009). It feels like Onstad is trying to make the Oscar bait movie of webcomics, while keeping the Internet spirit of nacho based humor. It’s a hard balance to strike so I’m really impressed that it works.

During its original run, Achewood featured fanart on its website, which seems relatively common for webcomics and highlights how the internet broke barriers between fans and creators from its early days. Onstad has also spoken publicly about creator burnout, holding himself to impossibly high standards of both quantity and quality, and experiencing negativity from a large internet fanbase.

Achewood has been very well preserved, with all its strips easily available on a fast loading, ad free, mobile optimized website. The site is very well made, but it does use infinite scroll, which didn’t exist during Achewood’s original run, can’t be turned off, and really changes the reading experience. The active choice to click to the next page is part of webcomics for me, it increases my focus and investment when I have to make that decision each time instead of letting the strips scroll past. Infinite scroll takes the old-internet nostalgia out of the experience, too.

Finally, I think Philippe might be my favorite character from any non-Homestuck webcomic I’ve ever read. He’s a wide-eyed stuffed otter who is eternally five years old and I would tear the world apart for him.

Relevance to Homestuck: [ooc – contains spoilers for Act 5]

Achewood experiments with the webcomic form and meta layers in some ways that are similar to Homestuck and some that are different. Andrew Hussie links to Achewood in MSPA’s ‘No Shortage of Good Websites’ section, so where Hussie employs the same techniques as Achewood, it could be direct reference or inspiration.

From the start, strips can be three horizontal panels, four panels in a square, six panels in two lines, depending on what the day’s story needs. More complex formats including strips of 12 or more panels and strips with differently sized panels appear intermittently. Onstad is aware that he’s not working within the constraints of a newspaper or book layout and is using that freedom.

‘Cutting Room Floor #1’ (January 18, 2002) contains six panels, each with no context, supposedly from strips that never materialized. They’re arranged as if scattered on a table, a visual move that Homestuck will directly replicate. ‘Bloopers and outtakes’ (December 10, 2001) contains alternate panels from previous strips where the characters made mistakes or forgot their lines. ‘The unfinished strip’ (December 26, 2001) has five panels of story followed by a final panel reading ‘The cartoonist is too tired to finish this strip because his inlaws’ sofa-bed afforded him no sleep on Christmas’.

‘An ad’ (February 15, 2002) is an Achewood strip that doubles as an advertisement for the comic itself, and ‘En Espanol’ (April 25, 2002) and ‘Auf Deutsch (April 26, 2002) are strips in other languages. Interestingly, the German strip includes a translation while the Spanish does not. ‘The Making Of’ (May 29, 2002) details Onstad’s process of creating an Achewood comic from start to finish, presented as a strip in itself. ‘Thanatos Has Left the Building’ (September 15, 2009) is a newspaper-style wrap-up of the most recent story arc, featuring ‘loose ends, unanswered questions & exciting trivia’ presented up front instead of revealed organically in the story; Homestuck will also use recap and clarification as tools. Achewood characters write both original fiction (June 30, 2009) and fanfiction (August 2005) within the story, paralleling (among other things) Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff.

But my favorite example of playing with form is ‘Roast Beef’s Tone Poem’ (April 20, 2009), a 20-panel monologue from character Roast Beef with the alt text ‘Mix and match any four panels for instant *almost-works* inscrutability!’ I love this mix and match, create your own comic strip ethos, so I decided to create my own tone poem by rolling 4d20. Here’s the result.

Achewood quickly expands beyond the confines of the strip, just as Homestuck does. Achewood begins employing alt text on every strip in January 2002, with Onstad pretending for some months that somebody besides him is writing the text. Sometimes, the text announces what the comic will feature tomorrow, which is generally a lie – for example, alt text for May 30, 2002 reads ‘Mr. Bear tries to play chess with Todd but Todd has a cocaine problem – TOMORROW!’ while May 31’s strip does not feature Mr. Bear, Todd, chess, or cocaine. Alt text for September 8, 2009 reads ‘Meanwhile, even though he is supposed to be asleep, Philippe is using a flashlight to read a slender volume entitled, How Come a Bird Can Die?’ Philippe does not appear in the day’s strip, but we still get his story. Including a side story outside of the main panel is another technique Homestuck will use.

In a notable difference to Homestuck, alt text for September 30, 2002 reads ‘To-day is the 364-day anniversary of Achewood!’ while alt text for October 1, 2002 reads ‘I finished my soda!’ The true first anniversary is not acknowledged within the strip, and any celebration of it has not survived. This appears to be Onstad’s trolling, as future anniversaries do have dedicated strips.

On July 2, 2004, Onstad launched nine Blogspot blogs, eight for the comic’s main characters and one for himself, all of which received regular updates for the rest of Achewood’s run. Six zines, two novellas, a cookbook and an advice column all add new material to the canon, and it seems that Achewood outgrew the webcomic format altogether, as its final entry on December 25, 2016 is not a comic strip, but a post on Onstad’s blog. It includes the line ‘The blogs are where I personally think the heart and soul of that universe live… in words I haven't had to maddeningly jockey into tiny speech bubbles.’

In a final and wonderful parallel, for a brief period in 2009, Achewood becomes an adventure game. While nothing is interactive, strips from October 9 to November 7, 2009 are mostly written in Homestuck’s command-narrative text format. In the final adventure game strip, we even see the mechanisms behind the narrative prompt, a complicated system of pulleys and levers hooked up to a reel of paper. This is shown in three dimensions while other, two-dimensional Achewood panels happen around it. It’s one of the comic’s most experimental strips, and would not feel out of place in Homestuck.

Continue reading? Yeah, I had a blast reading this. I can imagine wanting to check this every day in 2002 for a momentary bright spot during work, and in the modern day, infinite scrolling the Achewood archives is probably a more enriching way to spend time than infinite scrolling on social media. Because of its sprawling format, lack of plot and current paywall, I don’t feel like I need to ‘complete’ Achewood, but I definitely want to see more of it.

#webcomics 100 #achewood #its always so hard to narrow down what strips to include. i cant believe i had to cut the model trains one #(july 9 2002 is the model trains one. if anyone would like to know that)#also my last sentence is a little old man yells at cloud i know. i know. i know <3 #anyway i loved getting back to these! what a great comic to pick up with!#chrono

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ms-m-astrologer · 21 days ago

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Transiting Ceres enters Aquarius

Saturday, December 7, 2024 - Sunday, February 23, 2025

Caveat: this probably won't have much of a personal impact unless Ceres is prominent in your chart (closely in aspect to the Sun, the Moon, &/or an angle; possibly strong Virgo &/ or 6th House energy).

Ceres is going to be in “trigger” mode during this transit - it sets off things that the slower-moving planets (Jupiter and further out) are trying to bring about. In Aquarius she’s looking for innovations, looking to move Ceres areas along:

Procreative sexuality, parenting, children, family - technology to facilitate conception. Concern about how much time the kids spend on their devices. We encourage their individuality. Families of friends, and making friends with our families.

Child care, elder care, nurturing professions - automation and AI intruding into caring work. Progressive ideas (like, why not combine elder and child care?); maybe some more attention to online schooling.

Agriculture, gardening, growing cycles, food - not very fertile, alas for you green thumbs. Concerns with processed food and genetic engineering of food, and with “agribusiness.”

Concern for domesticated animals - maybe some pushing to microchip pets? Attention to those factory farms, wanting humane treatment for the animals.

Nothing too extreme coming up. Allow couple days or so on either side of these dates:

Sunday, December 8 - Friday, December 13:

Ceres/Aquarius conjunct Pluto/Aquarius, 0°24'

Ceres/Aquarius (0°57') sesquiquad Jupiter Rx/Gemini (15°57')

Ceres/Aquarius sextile North Node/Aries, trine South Node/Libra, 2°26'

Conjunctions are like planting seeds - the combination of the two energies, not so much what they do, if that makes any sense. We have some urge or some idea, but we don’t have all the information we need - or, what info we have, is faulty. It’s a really good idea, so hold that thought and be patient with it.

Friday, December 20 - Ceres/Aquarius opposite Mars Rx/ Leo, 4°51. “The holidays” are usually fraught enough without this opposition making it angrier! It will help if we try to be less insistent on having 100% our own way.

Saturday, December 28 - Ceres/Aquarius semi-sextile Sun/Capricorn, 7°58. Pretty mild, maybe a few post-holiday guilty feelings or guilt trips. It will pass.

Sunday, January 5 - Ceres/Aquarius (10°39') semi-square Mercury/Sagittarius (25°39'). Communication snafus, nothing too major.

Thursday, January 9 - Ceres/Aquarius trine Jupiter Rx/Gemini, 12°22'. Excellent for doing Ceres things on a big (Jupiter) scale, probably a lot of good ideas floating around. Grab one!

Friday, January 17 - Sunday, January 19:

Ceres/Aquarius (15°35') semi-square North Node/Aries, sesquiquad South Node/Libra (0°35')

Ceres/Aquarius semi-sextile Venus/Pisces, 15°50'

Ceres/Aquarius semi-sextile Mercury/Capricorn, 16°01'

Ceres/Aquarius semi-sextile Saturn/Pisces, 16°09'

Minor aspects, but unsettling ones. The big deal going on is the Venus-Saturn conjunction in Pisces, sextile Mercury/Capricorn - Ceres acts as a focal point for that. We worry about how that conjunction/sextile affects our “tribes” - there may be some conflict between traditional ways versus progressive ideas.

Thursday, January 30 - Ceres/Aquarius inconjunct Mars Rx/Cancer, 20°41'. More family/tribal difficulties and adjustments. Problems with hypersensitivity and coldness - with dishing it out, but not being able to take it. We have to respect others’ wishes about how much they want to be coddled.

Thursday, February 6 - Friday, February 14:

Ceres/Aquarius square Uranus/Taurus, 23°17'

Ceres/Aquarius sextile Eris/Aries, 24°28'

Ceres/Aquarius conjunct Mercury/Aquarius, 25°16'

Ceres/Aquarius conjunct Sun/Aquarius, 26°17’

Major things, flowing in to each other. Uranus gives us a nasty surprise, Eris helps us get angry about it, Mercury gives us ideas, and the Sun sets us on a new cycle of expression.

Thursday, February 20 - Ceres/Aquarius semi-sextile North Node/Pisces, inconjunct South Node/Virgo, 28°48’. The Nodes are now across the Pisces/Virgo axis. Ceres is trying to acclimate to this shift, leading up to their conjunction in May.

#Astrology #Transiting Ceres enters Aquarius #Ms M astrologer

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world-of-wales · 1 year ago

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─ •✧ WILLIAM'S YEAR IN REVIEW : DECEMBER ✧• ─

4 DECEMBER - William wrote the Foreword for 'Two Million Shout conversations: Saving lives at scale through the power of technology'. 5 DECEMBER - The Prince of Wales joined Dave Martin in selling the Big Issue Magazine at Tesco in Hammersmith. Afterwards, he joined Catherine at the annual Diplomatic Corps Reception. 6 DECEMBER - The Waleses were spotted Christmas Tree Shopping at Windsor Great Park. 7 DECEMBER - The Prince of Wales attended a Royal Foundation Meeting at the offices in London. Afterwards, William visited Emma Webb on Day-13 of 'Leg on to London’ Mental Health fundraising and awareness campaign in memory of her daughter - Brodie. He also appeared in a video message to ICAP for ICAP Charity Day. 8 DECEMBER - William along with Catherine and their children attended the Christmas Carol Service in Westminster Abbey. 9 DECEMBER - The Wales Family's Christmas Card was released. 11 DECEMBER - William chaired a Meeting of The Prince's Council at Buckingham Palace. Afterwards he visited The Passage Charity's St. Vincent's Centre for a Pre-Christmas Lunch. 12 DECEMBER - William visited the Warrant Officers' and Senior Non-Commissioned Officers' Mess at Combermere Barracks. 14 DECEMBER - The Prince of Wales was received by His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Devon (Mr. David Fursdon) as he attended the Lord High Admiral's Divisions at Britannia Royal Naval College. 18 DECEMBER - William presented condolences to The Emir of the State of Kuwait in Kuwait, following the death of The Emir Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. 24 DECEMBER - 'Together At Christmas' Carol Service aired on ITV with a special reading by William. 25 DECEMBER - A personal tweet from Will & Cat was released wishing everyone a merry christmas. Later, they along with their children joined other members of the Royal Family for the Divine Service at Sandringham Parish Church. The Waleses appeared in a video during the King's Christmas Address. 26 DECEMBER - William appeared in 'Charles III : A Coronation Year'. 29 DECEMBER - An 'Year In Review' video was released by Kensington Palace. 30 DECEMBER - Matt Porteus released a new photograph of the Waleses attending the Coronation Concert in May.

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cringywhitedragon · 2 months ago

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Saw a YouTube comment on an Electric Angel cover that made me think (This is still a heavy WiP but I decided to post it early)

If you know, Meiko and Kaito are indeed companion voice banks but I find it a bit strange on why there’s a pretty big sized gap between their initial V1 releases.

In comparison, it’s pretty interesting since it lines up pretty close to when Microsoft trashed Longhorn and shifted development to the train wreak we would know as Windows Vista (Post Reset which was 2004 - 2006. (Vista was finished in 2006 and shipped to manufacturing in November but officially released to the public in January of 2007 (Almost right on February) to the displeasure of most everybody because of how infamously slow it ran on dated hardware)

(Though the real question is can Longhorn run Vocaloid)

For comparison in a timeline structure (Note: The yyyy/mm/dd format will be for known archived Post reset Vista beta builds that are online. This info comes from the BetaWiki.)

August ?? 2004: Microsoft resets longhorn’s development on what would soon become vista

2004-08-03 One of the first archived builds of Post-Reset Longhorn is compiled (Omega-13 builds)

2004-08-08

2004-08-09

2004-08-18

2004-08-26

2004-09-02

2004-09-27 (There’s a cow on this one)

November 05 2004: Meiko’s V1 voicebank releases

December 2004 - Prior to April 2005

Longhorn Developer previews release. (The wiki lists three that have unknown dates currently but fall within this timeframe)

April 1st, 2005: Vista Beta 5048 is compiled

2005-04-04

2005-04-12 Last build to have the Luna Theme

2005-04-17 / 2005-04-20: Builds 5059 and 5060 are compiled / Aero theme is introduced

2005-04-21: build 5061 is compiled

2005-05-11: build 5063 is compiled

2005-06-05 / 2005-06-04: builds 5071 and 5081

2005-06-21 /25: build 5086

2005-06-16/2005-07-20 -Final of the Beta 1 builds, IE 7 and RRS feed support are showed off here, Vista name gets finalized.

Start of the Beta 2 cycle

2005-07-02/2005-08-30 - Start of beta 2 up to the September Community Technology Preview build. More stuff was added. Games were highlighted as well.

2005-08-22/2005-10-04 - October 2005 CTP build, Aero gets showcased on a news channel, Oberon updates their games.

Nov 03 2005: MEIKO turns 1

2005-10-26/2005-12-14 December 2005 CTP build, Some more stuff is tweaked

2006

Two years have almost passed now since the folks in Redmond started reworking this would be dumpster fire of an OS. Across the pond in Sapporo, another company was getting ready to release their second vocal synth.

What has Microsoft added to the table for the new year? MEDIA PLAYER

August 29, 2006: Earliest mention of Microsoft Anna (She counts too right?)

#work in progress #reshi rambles #windows vista #vocaloid #meiko #kaito vocaloid #windows xp

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mariacallous · 3 days ago

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Of all things about dating that people got wrong in 2024, one remains the standout: that old people don’t have a lot of sex.

On several dating platforms, boomers (individuals aged 59 to 72) were actually the fastest growing userbase. Aging singles were also having the most orgasmic sex of their lives, according to data from Match.com, where 50-plus daters are joining at a higher rate than every other demographic. Since 2022, the kink-positive app Feeld has experienced a 340 percent surge in users who are 60-plus. “Feeld has definitely introduced me to new desires and made me 100 percent more aware of my body and what I enjoy,” Wendy, 72, said when we spoke in April. “It’s been liberating.”

Many other apps also reported a record 2024. Tinder, setting a new benchmark, reached 50 million users. Hinge’s global downloads topped an all-time high, ranking it as the second most downloaded dating app in the markets it serves, the company reported in a November shareholder letter. Sniffies, the platform for queer cruisers that uses map technology, saw a 26 percent increase in straight singles. A total of 130 billion chats—yes, billion—were sent between gay men on Grindr. On Bumble, where women make the first move, paid users increased by 10 percent, topping 3 million.

So why, in spite of that growth, was 2024’s unifying hypothesis that dating apps failed?

Modern dating is broken. If you caught any whiff of the cultural metanarrative around love and sex this year, that’s probably the story you heard. Many traditional relationship structures loosened as a result—polyamory was on everyone’s mind, for one—and many people turned to TikTok for dating advice from armchair therapists. A study released by Flirtini found that one in four people rely on TikTok to figure out how to navigate their relationship, despite a clear rise in misinformation.

Singles were also caught in an “assumptions epidemic,” according to Tinder’s annual trends survey, where many users said they regularly misinterpreted green flags for red ones. The study found that “65 percent of women thought men were mostly after casual flings, but only 29 percent of men actually said that was what they wanted.” In more ways than one, it was a year of mixed signals.

To fix that, several startups launched niche dating apps—some puzzling, others entirely predictable—designed to satisfy unique needs, with many of them built around the promise of AI. Volar, created by a former product director at Snap, uses a chatbot to message back and forth with potential daters on your behalf. There’s also Rizz, Iris, and Elate, all of which leverage AI to find your soulmate by helping users maneuver first impressions and awkward conversations. For singles interested in other, let’s say, avant-garde forms of companionship, ones that completely remove humans from the equation, there are apps like EVA AI and Luna, who act as your AI girlfriend.

It’s still too soon to say how effective any of these AI-powered apps are in lessening the possibility of people being ghosted, but a recent report from Hopelab found that 40 percent of young people rely on chatbots to have ongoing conversations. Dating’s future, the report concluded, promises to be chattier, and stranger, than ever.

Still, the exhaustion of swiping right remains a major concern among singles of every demographic. In the dating wilds, app fatigue is contagious. No one knows that better than JB, the power dater from New York I spoke with in September. At the time, he’d been on 200 dates following a breakup—the majority sourced from Hinge and Raya—and expressed a feeling of burnout, even as he couldn’t fully pull himself away from app dating’s addictive thrill.

I heard from JB in December. He reached out to let me know that he’d somehow forgotten to share the “most unhinged” dating story from our initial series of conversations. “I can’t believe I only thought of it recently,” he wrote via text message. “A girl on our third date saying, ‘If you fuck me really good tonight I’ll cancel my other dates this week.’”

Did she? I shot back.

“I was pissed. I almost ended the date,” he said. “She was winning until she hit me with that toxic shit.”

JB told me he is still exhausted by the apps but very much still on them. The week we talk, he is fresh off another breakup. A recent courtship in Philadelphia, he said, fizzled after the woman lied about talking to other people. She made the first move on Raya and they later established more of a bond trading DMs on Instagram. She had pursued him, which was rare and a refreshing change of pace. “I was smitten,” he says. Which made it all the more difficult when the relationship ended. “She sought me out, only to lie about it?”

JB is currently on the rebound, or what he describes to me as a period of “side quests”—pet-sitting his neighbor’s cat, surfing TikTok, trying new restaurants. “I was down bad but we back up,” he told me. He wonders if dating apps will ever have a solution for singles like him. “It’s truly rotten out here.”

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