#time-does-not-exist-for-photons

[acid-ixx]

I have a question, well 2 questions to be exact that’s been rattling around in my head since I started reading platonic yandere batfam fics, why would reader stay in Gotham? I’d be sneakily stealing as much money as I could without getting caught as soon as I reach a “fuck these guys” mentality. Like, asking to have some money for groceries or something and just pocketing it so that I could get a bus ticket and leave the city. Would you do it if you were reader? It just makes sense to me “this place sucks, these people suck, I’ve gotten enough to leave”, this is with me assuming that reader has the means of course, if the reader doesn’t then okay, yeah that makes sense

And my second question, do you ever feel resentful towards Alfred when you read batfam photonic yandere content? I do sometimes, especially when the reader is neglected. I know this might sound odd but when I read these fics I recognize that Alfred could do more, out of everyone in the manner, I think Alfred’s word carries the most weight, especially with Bruce due to him raising Bruce. I also notice in some batfam fics that the reader doesn’t get mad at him due to him giving them attention, but idk it feels kinda like a slap to the face, knowing that I don’t have the power but he does and yet not exercising it until I’ve burned every last tie to that family.

I know my thoughts are a more “well you’re on the outside looking in” type takes, but idk, it hurts my heart knowing that if reader stays in that city, it will be far more easier for the batfam to find them, where if they were outside the city, they’d have a fighting chance to make a new life for themselves

On a side note, I think we are underutilizing the angst potential of reader legally changing their name and the batfam not knowing until months or even years later when reader leaves. Like Bruce and the fam would just have to sit and realize that reader hates/dislikes/doesn’t care about them enough to legally change their name from Wayne to whatever reader chooses. Jason was Batman’s greatest failure, but Reader would be Bruce’s greatest failure, and what a delightful public failure it would be if the tabloids were to somehow find out that one of Bruce Wayne’s biological children changed their legal name

I’m loving your batfam content btw, like it makes me want to create one of those “screw therapy, I need to fist fight my dad” tiktoks and tag Bruce Wayne, that’s what I can phenomenal writing!! And sorry for making this so long! Hope you have a great existence!

slight spoilers for future chapters.

this is one of my favorite asks... anon, you are so brilliant because your two questions tie into the reader's character so well and the flaws that they (you) conjured from years of neglect, so i hope my answers would suffice (i am answering based on the perspective of the reader from my series: again & again with a bit of my own perspective). tysm for sending this in, i actually really enjoy long asks and appreciate it when people take the time to send me these things!

why would the reader stay in gotham?

chapter one wasn't all the detailed about why they stayed in gotham. firstly, their self-worth had them reason that in no way, shape, or form would their family that basically estranged them would come running to them, especially not when the only time the reader could even stumble across them is by some miracle of coincidence. this also ties into their lack of knowledge about their family. sure, they know that babs is the oracle but do they know just how much access she has across gotham? not really. they know tim, like bruce, has a tendency to collect information about other people, but they don't know that they have contingency plans to be creeped out enough to get away from gotham and from their reach.

"it's not like tim or bruce or barbara considered you important enough to be stalked. hah, as if!"

and the third point is, despite bruce being a billionaire of some sort, it was stated that the reader was too well-behaved and quiet. how does this make sense? as you've stated, they wouldn't simply have the means to get out. seeing as they were sheltered by alfred and never really explored the concept of traveling far away, they never asked for money; the only advantage of being a wayne is having quite a lot of things served on a silver platter.

they have this sort of toxic bond for staying with the people who have hurt them and it materialized to them physically staying despite knowing it would only cause more pain than anything else, and they don't know that. plus, they'd rather not have the wayne name associated with them and getting money from cheques or credit cards would be too risky for the reader's safety.

they've only realized just how shitty their family is after more than 10-13 years of staying in the manor, and saving up to move to an entirely different place would be difficult, alongside college and the jobs they have to take. so the next best thing they could do is rely on any means of advantage they could get whilst also moving on to the path of self-discovery and recovery.

but that doesn't mean they're staying in gotham forever, definitely not. the moment the reader realizes that dick gained some sort of interest towards them, they're booking it out of gotham. preferably to metropolis or central city or even somewhere far, far away— they're naive, but not stupid. sudden interest towards them means danger rather than anything else. and they're aware that alfred is capable enough to pull strings, so that's why spoiler alert: they have a secret stash of money hidden somewhere and like any children of bruce, they inherited the capability to be smart enough to already back up their contacts and everything on their phone, buy a burner phone and even change their entire identity in one quick go right after they move into an entirely different city or country.

gotham is merely their practice course.

do you ever feel resentment towards alfred?

quite frankly, yes. the reader in the fic feels resentment towards everyone for a reason actually, but alfred's part was stated vaguely as to not spoil a future chapter that focuses on his perspective. they know that he has the more power inside the manor more than bruce has. everyone, and i mean everyone respects alfred, and it doesn't take a genius to know that if you mess with him, you're messing with an entire family of crime fighters.

it's not obvious, but the reader's narrative in chapter one is them trying so hard to delude themself into thinking things can be better until it's too late. so in a sense, there's false narrative coming into play.

"alfred would be too busy sometimes to attend your school ceremonies because he had to assist bruce with missions. of course, you understood his priorities. after all, he tried his hardest to make you feel less lonely inside the mansion, it wasn't enough but he was there at least."

at some point in time, alfred had also neglected the reader emotionally with the same reasoning as the others; he was busy with their father. and this all could've been avoided if alfred had tried to confront the entire family about it. i'm not delving deeper into this to really avoid spoilers other than pointing out some details in the first chapter.

just know that alfred relishes in your newfound favoritism towards him, and that he may or may not have pulled some strings himself from helping you become closer to the family.

the part about reading changing their name from (name) wayne to (name) (last name) is what made me so drawn to this ask. you have pretty much predicted one of the chapters that explored (name) wayne to the public eye. they're not so much of an internet celebrity because of their rare appearances in public, but that's what causes immense curiosity about their identity to uprise in gotham, and their fame was one of the means to get to you.

there was one news article published that was the reason that made bruce distant towards you.

but let's focus on what yan! bruce would've felt once he turns a full 360.

because the first thing he would do once he has you in his grasp is to change your last name back to his. you are not the child of a (last name), you are a wayne first and foremost, bruce's third child and his greatest mistake, quite literally. you were a product of a one-night-stand, and because he was drowning in despair from jason's death, he had failed to notice you. all his years of neglect, and he doesn't even know a single thing about you, simply because he refused to acknowledge your presence.

and you rightfully hated him, he should've accepted that. but your diary entries and the way you innocently thought of him destroyed any sliver of hope for a peaceful reconciliation. he hates how you were experiencing the same type of despair as him when it comes to battling your own monsters— you truly are a wayne at heart. he couldn't afford to let you get away any further. just like dick, he needs to fix it now or further sever the already broken ties you have with him.

it's not batman now, but rather bruce. bruce wayne had failed to save another one of his children, not as a vigilante, but as a father.

knowing bruce, he's quick to take into action and search for you.

holy shit, this is a really long post but i hope it does answer the questions ! im so grateful that you like my writing enough to write a really long ask, and i hope to see your messages more once the new chapters are published <3

[zosonils-art]

rewatched the sonic ova a few months ago. since then i've thought a bit too hard about the only loosely explained way that hyper metal sonic was created, been irreversibly changed by the idea of a sonic who wakes up in a body that isn't his and discovers that all his memories and friendships and adventures belong to someone else now, rekindled my obsession with the various metal sonics of pre-reboot archie, and finally learned how to care about sonic heroes

photon is basically every version of metal sonic ever, a few of the charmingly edgy aus i wrote when i was 11, and a few sonic cd fan theories all thrown in a blender and kicked down a flight of stairs, and i'm kind of obsessed with him. really, REALLY long infodump and some supplementary scribbles under the cut

WELCOME TO THE PHOTON ZONE

a little after sa2, eggman lures sonic into some trap that pins him down long enough for an electronic copy to be made of his brain. sonic trashes the place and escapes with only a mild headache and a bruised ego, but all the data eggman scraped is intact. as he's creating neo metal sonic, eggman uploads this digital ghost of sonic into him, with the intention to upgrade from having a fancy bootleg to a truly 'perfect' answer to sonic, who can simulate his entire psyche in real time and know everything he's going to do before he does it

[eggman would love to steal a hedgehog, actually]

unfortunately for eggman, his latest copy is too perfect, and sonic's indomitable will and sense of self easily overpowers any feeble attempts the rest of neo metal sonic's programming makes to keep him in line. pretty much the moment he's booted up, he books it outta there as fast as possible to go find his friends and fix things. with all of sonic's memories embedded in him, the thought that he isn't the real thing doesn't even cross metal's mind - as far as he knows, he made an embarrassing blunder in a dingy old egg base, had something done to his brain, and then woke up miles away in a robot body that eggman must have stuffed him into somehow. he just has to find tails and amy and knuckles and the rest, make sure he didn't hurt any of them during that mysterious gap in his memory, and slap together a plan to get his body back and shove eggman into a puddle. no sweat!

so naturally, it's a bit hurtful when none of his friends believe for a second that he's who he says he is. and it's a LOT hurtful when the real sonic shows up, in the body that's SUPPOSED to be his, and metal suddenly has no idea who or what he is

even though it's not enough to override the sonic personality, eggman's programming is still twisting metal's thoughts. an angry killer robot is an effective killer robot, so any negative emotion or violent impulse is forced to the front of his mind. metal is angry at eggman for doing this to him, and at his friends for not trusting him, and at sonic for existing in the body and life that belong to him, and all of this gets mixed in with the existential despair and knee-jerk denial of what's happening to him and then magnified tenfold. a version of the sonic heroes storyline takes place as metal's mental state worsens exponentially, and he begins to lash out more and more violently at everyone and everything around him in increasingly desperate attempts to prove [mostly to himself] that this other sonic is a fake.

this culminates in the metal overlord battle, where metal [who's escalated from 'prove himself superior to sonic' to 'defeat sonic and force him to admit the truth' to 'literally just kill him, since he's obviously a hyper realistic android sent by eggman or whatever and not a real thing that can feel pain and die'] harnesses the chaos emeralds in a last-ditch effort to prove his strength and reduce the 'fake' sonic to ashes - only for his body to twist and mutate into something so utterly, viscerally Wrong that the fear and confusion cause what's left of sonic in him to just shut down from distress, finally leaving only the mindless killing machine eggman set out to make in the first place and forcing super sonic to step in and kick metal overlord's ass. defeated by the power of friendship, depowered, and severely damaged, metal finally accepts and admits that he isn't the real sonic and probably never was, and doesn't fight it when his systems fail and he loses consciousness

contrary to what his anger had him believe, though, metal's [former?] friends did see that he was suffering and needed answers, and so sonic and tails take him back to the workshop in mystic ruins to shed some light on the whole situation. when tails finds a disturbingly perfect resemblance to an organic brain in the program map, everything finally clicks - what that weird Beam Of Give You Headache sonic got hit by a couple months ago was, how eggman made a metal sonic that knew so much about the real thing's life, why this metal seemed less mechanically violent and more genuinely emotionally distressed. with eggman's loyalty programming scrubbed from his system, metal wakes back up confused and upset but much more 'himself', and even manages a few natural-feeling responses as tails explains what he found and apologises over and over for not being able to help sooner.

he still doesn't like sonic.

metal leaves pretty much as soon as he's in working condition. even when sonic isn't there reminding him that he isn't himself anymore, he can't stand being around a tails who isn't his brother. he takes to wandering the world directionlessly, trying to figure out who he is now and find a place in a world that doesn't remember him. he's not sonic anymore, and it'd be easier to list the things he doesn't hate about being called 'metal sonic' or just metal, so after a while he settles on introducing himself as 'photon' - another intangible fast thing, like sound, but comfortably distant from his old name. [it's also a stupendously petty means of one-upping sonic, light being faster than sound and everything. drama queen.]

the timeline gets way fuzzier after all this overdetailed nonsense, but things do get better for photon. he has an identity now, and it's fragile and cobbled together and still missing pieces, but it belongs to him and nobody else. he strikes up a few odd but sincere friendships - he hangs out with big when he needs a calm and comforting presence, and has a fierce friendly rivalry with shadow underpinned by their quietly shared experience of not knowing whether to trust their own memory, and much later down the line he bonds with belle over the mundane frustrations of being a robot [and, privately, because she's the best fit so far for the tails-shaped hole in his heart]. he keeps up the drifter lifestyle, making new memories to replace painful old ones, finding ways to use his robot abilities for fun or to help people rather than purely as tools of destruction. it's not perfect for photon, he's still deeply bitter and existentially lonely and missing a sense of purpose, but it's Better, and that counts for something

photon is like some of the earlier [western] depictions of sonic in personality - rougher around the edges, more sarcastic and much less sincere, often brushing up against the line between playfully teasing and just being a bully. whereas sonic has grown into the generally kinder and more patient person he is these days thanks to the friends he's made and the adventures he's had, photon split off from him when that character development was just barely starting, and the trauma from his loss of identity made him regress instead of moving forward. he's still a kind person at heart, but that period of artificially inflated anger and despair has left its mark on how he handles his emotions, even if the programming that first caused it is long gone.

powers-wise, photon is pretty much identical to neo metal sonic, albeit with some limitations. he's as fast and strong as the real thing, can shapeshift or use chaos control if he's got an emerald with him, and with all 7 can take on a super form - though since the metal overlord incident, he's refused to try. [i'm leaving it open whether metal overlord is his innate super transformation now or if it was caused by him tapping into the negative energy of the chaos emeralds rather than sonic's usual positive, since both are really fun ideas. either way, becoming metal overlord was way too traumatic for photon to have any interest in trying again for now.]

he can still copy the biodata of living beings that he comes into contact with, but most of his storage space is taken up by the entire organic brain being simulated in realtime, which he's definitely not willing to modify or delete, so he's effectively limited to only the most recent two or three powers he's copied. he shapeshifts a little to reflect the data he's pulling from, mostly because it's fun to imagine what it'd look like. also because i'm a mega man guy. once again it all comes back to worlds collide being peak fiction

this concludes THE PHOTON ZONE, if only because this has been in my drafts for 3 days and i just want to make my damn post already. if the 1400 word infodump didn't make it clear i am VERY obsessed with my sad little metal sonic amalgam lmao. all this and i still had to cut a ton of details to prevent this infodump from being do you love the colour of the photon, so if my unhinged ramblings have convinced you to care about him even a fraction as much as i do i'd be thrilled to answer any followup questions here or on my main!!!!

[mysticstronomy]

DOES QUANTUM GRAVITY EXIST??

Blog#389

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024.

Welcome back,

All the fundamental forces of the universe are known to follow the laws of quantum mechanics, save one: gravity. Finding a way to fit gravity into quantum mechanics would bring scientists a giant leap closer to a “theory of everything” that could entirely explain the workings of the cosmos from first principles. A crucial first step in this quest to know whether gravity is quantum is to detect the long-postulated elementary particle of gravity, the graviton.

In search of the graviton, physicists are now turning to experiments involving microscopic superconductors, free-falling crystals and the afterglow of the big bang.

Quantum mechanics suggests everything is made of quanta, or packets of energy, that can behave like both a particle and a wave—for instance, quanta of light are called photons. Detecting gravitons, the hypothetical quanta of gravity, would prove gravity is quantum. The problem is that gravity is extraordinarily weak.

To directly observe the minuscule effects a graviton would have on matter, physicist Freeman Dyson famously noted, a graviton detector would have to be so massive that it collapses on itself to form a black hole.

“One of the issues with theories of quantum gravity is that their predictions are usually nearly impossible to experimentally test,” says quantum physicist Richard Norte of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. “This is the main reason why there exist so many competing theories and why we haven’t been successful in understanding how it actually works.”

In 2015, however, theoretical physicist James Quach, now at the University of Adelaide in Australia, suggested a way to detect gravitons by taking advantage of their quantum nature. Quantum mechanics suggests the universe is inherently fuzzy—for instance, one can never absolutely know a particle's position and momentum at the same time. One consequence of this uncertainty is that a vacuum is never completely empty, but instead buzzes with a “quantum foam” of so-called virtual particles that constantly pop in and out of existence.

These ghostly entities may be any kind of quanta, including gravitons.

Decades ago, scientists found that virtual particles can generate detectable forces. For example, the Casimir effect is the attraction or repulsion seen between two mirrors placed close together in vacuum. These reflective surfaces move due to the force generated by virtual photons winking in and out of existence.

Previous research suggested that superconductors might reflect gravitons more strongly than normal matter, so Quach calculated that looking for interactions between two thin superconducting sheets in vacuum could reveal a gravitational Casimir effect. The resulting force could be roughly 10 times stronger than that expected from the standard virtual-photon-based Casimir effect.

Recently, Norte and his colleagues developed a microchip to perform this experiment. This chip held two microscopic aluminum-coated plates that were cooled almost to absolute zero so that they became superconducting. One plate was attached to a movable mirror, and a laser was fired at that mirror. If the plates moved because of a gravitational Casimir effect, the frequency of light reflecting off the mirror would measurably shift. As detailed online July 20 in Physical Review Letters, the scientists failed to see any gravitational Casimir effect.

This null result does not necessarily rule out the existence of gravitons—and thus gravity’s quantum nature. Rather, it may simply mean that gravitons do not interact with superconductors as strongly as prior work estimated, says quantum physicist and Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who did not participate in this study and was unsurprised by its null results. Even so, Quach says, this was a courageous attempt to detect gravitons.”

Originally published on https://www.scientificamerican.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, April 6th, 2024)

"HOW DOES A NEUTRON STAR FORM??"

[physics-of-one-piece]

Law's ROOM

Welcome to Law’s Physics Lab.

Or should I say Law's Room?

In this post, we’ll cover his ability ROOM. It’s the most powerful ability in Law’s arsenal, because without it, Law would not be able to do anything.

I'll explain the principles of physics ROOM influences, and why it's the most powerful and complex physics-related thing in One Piece.

Let's go!

We'll cover the starting shape of Room, the blue sphere which Law summons over an area, because Shambles & Takt are all influenced by the quantum physics of ROOM and deserve their own post covering them.

The blue sphere/circle Law summons as ROOM is a controlled quantum field.

What is a controlled quantum field?

Quantum fields are matter.

I added the word controlled for a reason. Pretty self-explanatory.

The quantum field is explained by quantum field theory.

In quantum field theory, what we percieve as particles are excitations (the process in which an atom or other particle adopts a higher energy state when energy is supplied) of their quantum fields and they can interact with the field. By putting up ROOM Law puts up a quantum field where he can dictate the state of these excitations.

A good example of such excitation (particle adopting a higher energy state by an energy supply) is Gamma Knife. Excitations are also objects and people. Law uses excitation even on himself for his energy attacks.

The interactions within a quantum field are mediated by gauge bosons (one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particles → bosons) which are photons & gluons.

Bosons are subatomic particles whose spin quantum number has an integer value (0,1,2…). A spin quantum number is a quantum number that describes the angular momentum (or spin) of an electron or other particle.

Okay, enough about subatomic particles.

Within ROOM, Law can adjust the parameters of space and time, creating a unique zone where the usual laws of physics can be bypassed. This space is completely altered to Law’s rules. He has control of the momentum, energy, distance, and interaction between objects. He dictates states and positions of all matter inside ROOM.

Law controls physics, bends them, breaks them, whatever he wants, he can do it within the sphere of ROOM. Rules don’t exist in ROOM. It does whatever Law wants it to do. Law is the creator and energy source of the quantum field, and therefore its master.

If anyone’s Devil Fruit should be called magic, it’s Law’s. It makes physics a servant to a human. Do you know how crazy and amazing that is? A human being controls physics within ROOM.

This ability makes the Op-Op Fruit worthy of its name as the Ultimate Devil Fruit.

[wanderersrest]

G Gundam Prelude: The Real Robot vs Super Robot Debate

So before I begin talking about Mobile Fighter G Gundam, I'd like to take a minute to preface that conversation with a companion piece of sorts. This involves the nature of how the mecha "genre" of anime is divided into two subgenres, and how this subdivision (*synth and bass solo play at the same time*) is often used as a sort of dick-measuring contest by fans to argue that their preferred genre is better than the other.

Tetsujin 28-go, Mazinger Z, and the "Super Robot"

To understand the two sub-genres, we first need to understand the general history of the mecha. Technically speaking, our story really starts with Osamu Tezuka's Mighty Atom (Astro Boy in the west), but the giant robot style of mecha would not appear in earnest until Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go (Gigantor in the west) and Go Nagai's Mazinger Z. Tetsujin and Mazinger would go on to codify a lot of the tropes common to a lot of these early robot series alone. If it wasn't either of those two, chances are likely Ken Ishikawa's Getter Robo will have you covered.

These so-called "Super Robots" were known for their superhero-like power sets. They were usually powered by either nuclear power or a fictional power source such as Photon Energy or Getter Rays. Almost every single robot in these stories were made with some sort of Super Alloy (or Chogokin), and each super robot had a whole arsenal of weapons, including but not limited to swords, axes, drills, lasers, and, of course, the rocket punch. These super robot series would dominate a lot of Japanese television for most of the 70's. But behind the scenes, one man would be forging his own path. And at the end of the decade, he would release a show that would turn the canon of mecha stories on its head.

Gundam, VOTOMs, and the "Real Robot"

In 1979, the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam would air on Japanese television for the first time. This is one of the many mecha series directed by anime legend Yoshiyuki Tomino, and follows a direct lineage from his other works such as Brave Raideen, Zambot 3, and Daitarn 3. Gundam, however, would herald a new style of mecha stories thanks in part to it ditching a lot of the more fantastical elements of its "super robot" forebears in favor of a more grounded war story. These would be the so-called "real robot" style of mecha stories, and would further be codified by Ryousuke Takahashi's first two series, Fang of the Sun Dougram and Armored Trooper VOTOMs.

The "real robots" were a hard departure from their super robot brethren in that they were grounded in reality. Gone were the super alloys and the fantastical weapons, which were now replaced with weapons similar to that of a modern military. More importantly, the stories were now about wars, not with aliens as the antagonist, but other people. Humans. These stories would dominate a lot of the 80's, though the more traditional robots of the 70's would still be around as well.

There's just one problem with the term "Real Robot." The realism doesn't come from the machines themselves.

The Realism of Really Real Robots (It's Not What You Think It Is)

(Wanderer Not Mention Patlabor Speed Run [IMPOSSIBLE])

One of the issues with the term "real robots" is the fact that the realism in most "real robot" shows does not necessarily come from the robots themselves. Take blog favorite Patlabor, for example. Part of what makes the Labors as realistic as they are is not necessarily due to the imagined mechanics behind these machines. It's how the existence of these giant machines changes the lives of the characters. It's little things like how having a special police division that's devoted to Labor crimes is a bit of a money pit, or how SV2 has constant insurance problems due to the fact that Division 2, even in their best moments, are just as destructive as the people they're supposed to stop.

Or take the original "real robot" series, Mobile Suit Gundam. The realism does not lie in the design of the RX-78-2 Gundam. The realism comes from the One Year War and how it affects all of the characters. We can see this in how badly it affects the Gundam's pilot, Amuro Ray, as the poor sod of a teenager basically develops PTSD throughout the original show's run. And it's not just Amuro that's under a lot of stress. The infamous Bright Slap happens not only because Amuro refuses to get back into the Gundam, but because White Base captain Bright Noa (who's 19, by the way) is also at his wit's end. Never mind the fact that the slap makes everything worse.

So What Does This Have To Do With G Gundam?

Everything. There's this idea that being a "real robot" series is what gives Gundam its bite and that G Gundam spits in the face of Gundam's original vision by being a hot-blooded "super robot" anime. There's just a couple of problems with that line of thinking. First, it's insulting to the series to say that it has nothing worthwhile to say. Y'know, G Gundam. The series that opens with the Gundam Fight (the Future Century replacement for traditional war) making its way to a ruined Rome, where the poor people who could not afford to leave for the space colonies are panicking as the Gundams literally crash onto their homes. The series where some of the last dialogue of the series is how, even after defeating the imminent threat that was the Devil Gundam, there is still work to be done when it comes to fixing the world, namely by finding a more sustainable replacement to the Gundam Fight. This doesn't even touch on the fact that all of the nations of the world join forces to face an threat that could wipe out all of mankind.

Second, and the part that I think is more insidious, is the idea that G Gundam is a lesser series because it went for more of a classic robot anime vibe as opposed to the serious war story that Gundam is known for. I say this is insidious because it not only ignores the fact that Gundam had just come off of the heels of the extremely depressing Victory Gundam and needed a bit of a palette cleanser, but it also implies that only so-called real robot stories can have serious storylines. God forbid something like Space Runaway Ideon exist, which is probably one of the most serious classic, pre-Dougram robot series out there, or Combat Mecha Xabungle, which is a really goofy but technically a "real robot" series.

This is also related to the idea that G Gundam is just "dumb fun." This line of thinking I can understand, because let's not kid ourselves here. While I wouldn't call this series dumb, G Gundam is kind of known for being insane (but in a good way). What makes this take just as grating is when a similar series can get away with a similar style of story just because it's not related to an existing franchise like Gundam. A series like, oh I don't know, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. And that's a series that's often treated as somehow being different from most other mecha shows because "it's about the characters." Gurren Lagann is one of those shows, and people often treat it like it's a literary masterpiece while G Gundam, which I'd argue is one of the former's progenitor series alongside Getter Robo and GaoGaiGar, is treated as B-movie schlock. It's not, and I hope you'll join me when I dive into the insane masterpiece that is Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

[serenpedac]

With golden string

Since I finally made a personal astronomy tag a while ago, it seemed about time to make an actual post with N-related astronomy thoughts. Most of this has been shared before, but it's nice to have it all in one place.

Going to start nearby, because the sun is one of the first things that come to mind for me when thinking of N. I say “for me”, but I've seen N be compared to the sun/sunlight a lot, so I'm far from the only one, haha. They radiate such warmth, with their open affection and their genuine smiles.

Despite how open they are about their feelings, whether they are romanced or a friend, they do keep their past, their trauma (their tier X ability) close to themselves. There are layers there, underneath their kind, warm exterior! Also here, the comparison to the sun is very apt, because that sunlight that warms us here on Earth comes only from the sun's outermost layer. Before a photon can escape the sun, it has been emitted, absorbed and re-emitted countless of times in the dense layers hidden underneath.

What I love about this is how it's not darkness that is hidden, but it's heat, something turbulent, something intense. And that again fits N's intensity so so well. (Okay, that one might be stretching it but, idk, there's something there)

Something more related to N's own life is how during N's existence, the universe has become so much larger. Yes, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto have been discovered after they were born, but there's also the discovery that galaxies exist outside of our Milky Way. Although it was already hypothesized in 1755 by Kant (yes, the Kant) that the Milky Way is one of many galaxies, it wasn't until the 1910s-1920s that his was confirmed by measurements. Before this time, it, just like the other galaxies that had been observed, was thought to be a “nebula” located within the outskirts of the MW. As it turned out, the blurry appearance was because those objects were so very distant, yet large enough to be observed.

Nate would have been familiar with the stars and constellations from navigating at sea, and I can't help but think that Nat would also have loved looking at the stars, learning the constellations as she learned the myths associated with them. Maybe little N used to look up at night and forget about their issues with their health as they marvelled at the immensity of that starry sky. To then learn, lifetimes later, that some of those objects they thought they knew are entire other galaxies, to learn that the universe is even larger than than they thought, larger than they could have ever dreamed of, would that have inspired that same sense of awe they had as a child?

I'm being entirely self-indulgent here, but I like to think that N does enjoy following discoveries in science over the years, despite their dislike of modern technology. Maybe more so in the past, attending gatherings of academic societies in coffee houses (yes, this is me hinting at my own fic, but I'm also thinking about this ask that said N might have been a college professor in an alternate universe). So, I can see them following these theories, seeing some disproven, while others turn out to be correct, and let themselves be amazed at it all. And in that amazement, they might once more feel so very close to the humans they share it with, because what does it matter whether you're a vampire or a human in the context of the entire universe? Here I have to credit the most wonderful @evilbunnyking, who worded this sentiment beautifully: “Not understanding the technology but the moment! To experience that! How alive it is to feel with all other human beings!”

These discoveries don't change everyday life, but I wonder if it changes how we think about ourselves, about our place in it all. Oh, what I wouldn't give to hear N's thoughts on this!

The title is from Sun by Sleeping At Last

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Shrouded in axions

Physicists show that neutron stars may be shrouded in clouds of ‘axions’ – and that these clouds can teach us a lot

A team of physicists from the universities of Amsterdam, Princeton and Oxford have shown that extremely light particles known as axions may occur in large clouds around neutron stars. These axions could form an explanation for the elusive dark matter that cosmologists search for – and moreover, they might not be too difficult to observe.

Earlier this week, the new research was published in the journal Physical Review X. The paper is a follow-up to previous work, in which the authors also studied axions and neutron stars, but from a completely different point of view. While in their previous work they investigated the axions that escape the neutron star, now the researchers focus on the ones that are left behind – the axions that get captured by the star’s gravity. As time goes by, these particles should gradually form a hazy cloud around the neutron star, and it turns out that such axion clouds may well be observable in our telescopes. But why would astronomers and physicists be so interested in hazy clouds around far away stars?

Axions: from soap to dark matter

Protons, neutrons, electrons, photons – most of us are familiar with the names of at least some of these tiny particles. The axion is lesser known, and for a good reason: at the moment it is only a hypothetical type of particle – one that nobody has yet detected. Named after a brand of soap, its existence was first postulated in the 1970s, to clean up a problem – hence the soap reference – in our understanding of one of the particles we could observe very well: the neutron. However, while theoretically very nice, if these axions existed they would be extremely light, making them very hard to detect in experiments or observations.

Today, axions are also known as a frontrunning candidate to explain dark matter, one of the biggest mysteries in contemporary physics. Many different pieces of evidence suggest that approximately 85% of the matter content in our Universe is ‘dark’, which simply means that it is not made up of any type of matter that we know and can currently observe. Instead, the existence of dark matter is only inferred indirectly through the gravitational influence it exerts on visible matter. Fortunately, this does not automatically mean that dark matter has no other interactions with visible matter at all, but if such interactions exist their strength is necessarily tiny. As the name suggests, any viable dark matter candidate is thus incredibly difficult to directly observe.

Putting one and one together, physicists have realized that the axion may be exactly what they are looking for to solve the dark matter problem. A particle that has not yet been observed, which would be extremely light, and have very weak interactions with other particles… could axions be at least part of the explanation for dark matter?

Neutron stars as magnifying glasses

The idea of the axion as a dark matter particle is nice, but in physics an idea is only truly nice if it has observable consequences. Would there be a way to observe axions after all, fifty years after their possible existence was first proposed?

When exposed to electric and magnetic fields, axions are expected to be able to convert into photons – particles of light – and vice versa. Light is something we know how to observe, but as mentioned, the corresponding interaction strength should be very small, and therefore so is the amount of light that axions generally produce. That is, unless one considers an environment containing a truly massive amount of axions, ideally in very strong electromagnetic fields.

This led the researchers to consider neutron stars, the densest known stars in our Universe. These objects have masses similar to that of our Sun but compressed into stars of 12 to 15 kilometres in size. Such extreme densities create an equally extreme environment that, notably, also contains enormous magnetic fields, billions of times stronger than any we find on Earth. Recent research has shown that if axions exist, these magnetic fields allow for neutron stars to mass-produce these particles near their surface.

The ones that stay behind

In their previous work, the authors focused on the axions that after production escaped the star – they computed the amounts in which these axions would be produced, which trajectories they would follow, and how their conversion into light could lead to a weak but potentially observable signal. This time, they consider the axions that do not manage to escape – the ones that, despite their tiny mass, get caught by the neutron star’s immense gravity.

Due to the axion’s very feeble interactions, these particles will stay around, and on timescales up to millions of years they will accumulate around the neutron star. This can result in the formation of very dense clouds of axions around neutron stars, which provide some incredible new opportunities for axion research. In their paper, the researchers study the formation, as well as the properties and further evolution, of these axion clouds, pointing out that they should, and in many cases must, exist. In fact, the authors argue that if axions exist, axion clouds should be generic (for a wide range of axion properties they should form around most, perhaps even all, neutron stars), they should in general be very dense (forming a density possibly twenty orders of magnitude larger than local dark matter densities), and because of this they should lead to powerful observational signatures. The latter potentially come in many types, of which the authors discuss two: a continuous signal emitted during large parts of a neutron star’s lifetime, but also a one-time burst of light at the end of a neutron star’s life, when it stops producing its electromagnetic radiation. Both of these signatures could be observed and used to probe the interaction between axions and photons beyond current limits, even using existing radio telescopes.

What’s next?

While so far, no axion clouds have been observed, with the new results we know very precisely what to look for, making a thorough search for axions much more feasible. While the main point on the to do-list is therefore ‘search for axion clouds’, the work also opens up several new theoretical avenues to explore.

For one thing, one of the authors is already involved in follow-up work that studies how the axion clouds can change the dynamics of neutron stars themselves. Another important future research direction is the numerical modelling of axion clouds: the present paper shows great discovery potential, but there is more numerical modelling needed to know even more precisely what to look for and where.  Finally, the present results are all for single neutron stars, but many of these stars appear as components of binaries – sometimes together with another neutron star, sometimes together with a black hole. Understanding the physics of axion clouds in such systems, and potentially understanding their observational signals, would be very valuable.

Thus, the present work is an important step in a new and exciting research direction. A full understanding of axion clouds will require complementary efforts from multiple branches of science, including particle (astro)physics, plasma physics, and observational radio astronomy. This work opens up this new, cross-disciplinary field with lots of opportunities for future research.

[drowninnoodles]

Back to UT/DR phase, baby

I spent way too much time looking for this information so if anyone is curious...

Its mostly some pseudo physics things :p

Well, I think everyone here knows this quote:

I haven't seen anyone actually break down Undertale and make references to quantum physics, but if someone did, I'd be grateful for the links because I find it very interesting. Well, I thought I'd try to do it myself, even though I don't know anything about mathematics or physics. I will rely entirely on internet sources, so I apologize in advance for any mistakes.

I will also speak rather briefly because no one will want to read long descriptions about something neither of us will understand.

We can start with an obvious introduction about the fact that, of course, this science is about photons and protons. I don't know if there's a point in explaining what I'm referring to, because of course it's the whole thing with Negative Photons in UT, but I'd like to remind you again of my old theory about the black hole. But that's in a moment.

However, this physics is deeply connected with philosophical issues and this is what I am initially going to talk about. So let's start with the, so appropriately named, view of Determinism. In short, it says that all decisions and events are inevitable. Of course, this is the opposite of free will, the ability of individuals to make decisions, because everything is already written down in advance. There are different visions of this view, but I want to specifically address the fact that, according to some, the universe is a determined system. Of course, what I'm pointing to here is that every game has a script that assumes what will happen after making some decision and what ending we will have at, well, end of the game.

Determinism leads us to the next theory, the multiverse or many words theory. This is, by the way, my favorite theory of the world and I'm not talking about Undertale, but about our real one. However, I will explain it as simply as I can, and also remind you that Toby himself said that there are “AUs” in the UT and DR universe. Multi worlds theory is basically that DR may be a world existing in parallel with Undertale, but some event or decision made them go in two different directions. Quite hypothetically, let's take into account that the point in history that divided the universe into two, into Undertale and Deltarune, was the war between Humans and Monsters. During this war, humans and monsters had two possible outcomes, humans winning or monsters winning. We know what happened when the humans won, because this story is basically what we know from Undertale. But what if the monsters won? For now, we can only guess that this is a story from Deltarune, but nothing has been confirmed.

Another example would be that when you play Undertale you have a lot of options to choose from, right? So let's follow this lead and choose the most significant one, i.e. killing or not. Of course, the ending of True Pacifist is generally considered to be the true ending, but in Genocide we also get one. Here we started one story in the same way, but our choice created two different worlds existing in parallel. One world is the one where everyone is happy and the other is the one where everyone is dead. Of course, the fact that we have a choice does not give us complete free will, here the theory is combined with the already mentioned determinism. Because although we make decisions, their consequences are already determined, they exist because there is a game script. By the way, maybe why there are so many cats in Deltarune is simply a reference to the so-called Schördinger's Cat, but this is just a guess.

In any case, quantum physics nicely explains the existence of what we call the timeline.

While searching Wikipedia, I also came across something called String Theory, but I can't understand it, so you'll have to forgive me.

Now I will talk about what I consider to be the most logical explanation of the history of what "Dark Darker Yet Darker" refers to. Black Hole, of course.

The Black Hole has such a strong force of gravity that nothing, not even light, can escape from it. When an object falls into such a hole, all information about it is lost for observators. There is a black hole information paradox, but once again, my brain is too small to understand. We can also keep in mind that "darkness keeps growing” didn't mean it was getting darker. That meant there was literally MORE of it. Black Holes grow by eating matter, and I dare to propose a theory that opening the Fountains in Deltarune creates small micro black holes that, if not sealed, can devour the world.

Now let me remind you of the well-known fact that passing through this Hole is called Spaghettification or the Pasta Effect. In this process, the object or, in our case, a person, is torn to pieces and their matter is added to the black hole. Poor Gaster, I guess.

As for Sans, Quantum jumping isn't just thing, it's an actual thing in science. Yes, it's something that gives you access to alternate universes. This goes completely back to what I said earlier, that every decision opens up another new world to us, and somewhere we probably exist in another world at the same time. These jumps involve visualizing yourself in a given place and... that's it. You will then attract events that will help you achieve this, which will make you appear in the timeline you wanted to jump to. So personally, I don't think Sans teleports per se. For example, imagine that you meet Sans near his house, and then you go on and meet him again, but this Sans is not 100% the same because he came here from a different timeline. Does this make sense? It depends on whether I explained it well XD.

Also remember that moment when Sans is in several places at the same time? Yes, this also applies to jumping.

I think a good explanation for this might be "It's raining somewhere else". It's raining somewhere else because there was a possibility that it might or might not rain. It is not raining in this world you are in now, but in a parallel space-time it is raining because factors have occurred that allow it to happen.

By the way, according to Google, it is impossible to create a black hole in a laboratory. Oh well.

However, if someone hypothetically created one, intentionally or not, being close to it would have no chance of escaping.

Whoops?

I think it's also worth noting that it's damn cold inside such a hole, -237,15°C is, yeah, a little bit of not sunny.

Maybe that's why Black Holes are so Cool…

So summary at the end:

-Determinism means that everything is written down in advance, i.e. basically the game script.

-Many worlds and Multiverse theory explains why Sans is everywhere, and also that all timelines are happening at once

-Black holes tear people to pieces and it's called Spaghettification. (we all know it)

I don't know anything about physics, so these are just my thoughts.

[shamandrummer]

Changing the World

Whether you realize it or not, you are creating your reality all the time. Your reality is the perfect, exact mirror of your thoughts and what you consistently focus upon. Every thought, idea, or image in the mind has form and substance. Everything that we perceive began with a thought. The structure of our universe is thought, mind and consciousness. Consciousness determines the form of our experience. Consciousness is the "theater of perceptual awareness." It is the collective consciousness of humanity that shapes physical reality. We are the universe made conscious to experience itself. We are mind. We live in a universe of mind. From photons to galaxies, life is conscious intelligent energy that can form itself into any pattern or function.

Metaphysically, the ultimate nature of existence is that there is but one consciousness which presides over a singular, yet multidimensional, field of energy that it can form into any patterns it desires by the exercise of its thoughts and intentions. And these patterns encompass everything seen and unseen. This consciousness has been referred to as source consciousness, universal consciousness, or cosmic consciousness. Moreover, cosmic consciousness not only creates patterns of energy, it can also perceive and experience them.

There is only consciousness, information and the perception of information, and this facilitates the creation and experience of multiple realities. The world that you believe exists outside of you is basically an illusion--it is a purely perceptual experience. Your experiences are real, but the outer world is imaginary. Your reality is only information that was imagined into existence and is essentially just imagery that your consciousness perceives. Perception is an illusory product of consciousness. The world around you is nothing more than a very convincing perceptual illusion.

If consciousness creates reality, then change starts within. It starts with the way you observe the outer world from your inner world. You can change the outer world by changing your inner world. The world is your stage. The stage that collective reality plays out on is just there to create a context within which to play out the story of your personal reality. You can create anything you want in life, and it is not limited to what already exists in the collective reality, but it does provide a host of options to select into your life. However, they are all optional--they cannot enter into your experience unless you invite them in with your thoughts. In fact, the collective reality can be a distraction that lures you into focusing on "what is" instead of "what can be."

Quantum physics points out that this is a participatory universe in which the power to change reality is literally in our hands at every moment. Modern physics is describing what indigenous shamans have long known. Shamans know that the creative matrix of the universe exists within human consciousness, enabling humans to participate in creation itself. For the shaman, changing reality is not just an ability, but also a duty one must perform so that future generations will inherit a world where they can live in peace, harmony and abundance.

Shamans access the creative matrix through techniques of ecstasy such as drumming. Rhythmic drumming is a simple and effective way to induce an ecstatic trance state. Shamanic drumming transports you to the creative matrix within. It is an inward spiritual journey of ecstasy in which you interact with the inner world, thereby influencing the outer world. Ecstatic trance enables you to participate directly in the work of encountering and transforming your inner structure, which mirrors your reality. Structure determines how energy will flow, where it will be directed, and what new forms and structures will be created. Through the transformation of your inner landscapes, you transform the external landscapes. You create new forms, new structures that are not based on hierarchy, estrangement and exploitation. You renew the Sacred Hoop of life on Earth.

[just-another-mess-in-a-dress]

B/G/3 Snz Head Cannons pt 1 Bois

Writing horn at work because that’s what you do when you’re an adult waiting on emails right??

Snz headcanons for b/g/3 characters let’s gooooooo (in parts because tumblr has decided word count matters rip)

Astarion

Photonic sneezer for sure

Beyond that I think his nose is much more sensitive now than it was when he was alive so being out in the wilds I think made him an absolute sniffly mess for the first few days

After the initial shock of being in the wide open world I think the sensitivity to strong florals sticks with him.

Usually sneezes in doubles but sometimes threes when he’s really irritated

Covers with steepled hands or tries desperately to stifle

Is REALLY bad at stifling

I feel very strongly about this - his voice gets deeper when he sneezes/is congested

Like we know when he’s quiet and genuine his voice gets a bit deeper and less performative

And I imagine he’s shit at changing how his sneezes sound so they’ve gotta be deep in his chest

Typically follows up with a dazed, ‘excuse me’

Expects to be blessed and will be pouty about it if he’s ignored

If vampires could get sick he would make it everyone’s problem

But be lowkey embarrassed about it if a partner was genuinely worried and doting on him

Gale

This man always has a handkerchief on him

Compulsive stifler even before the orb but after the orb it becomes even worse

Ignore his high con score this man gets sick often and it’s always a stuffy head cold situation

Does that thing where he keeps his handkerchief balled up under his nose while he reads/writes to keep it from dribbling.

Is an expert at covering sneezes but on the off chance he didn’t feel one coming he gets super flustered about it

King of the stuck sneeze and he’s mostly okay with that - if it doesn’t come out he can’t blow up lol

Once he’s cured of the orb the first time he catches a cold it’s the sneeziest cold he’s ever had and he lowkey forgets that he can sneeze freely until his partner or a well meaning friend gently points it out (or points it out like an asshole if you’re like that or Astarion lol)

His natural sneezes are loud and always comes in fits, like never one or two

Apologizes every single time

Cannot hold a conversation in the midst of a fit but will try

Doesn’t really have allergies but will occasionally get stuffy voice if he spends too long in the archives

Halsin

This man has never covered a sneeze in his goddamn life okay?

Will blow his nose into his hand if he’s out in the woods and will flick the mess onto the ground before wiping his hand on his thigh

Loud sneezes but not quite atomic bomb levels of loud

Almost always at least a little bit of visible spray

Gets really bad itchy fall allergies every year and knows exactly which genus of plant causes it (will weaponize this fact for a partner who has the kink)

Sneezes mainly in singles but when it’s allergies it’s always doubles

Doesn’t expect blessings but will gladly take them

Usually directs the blast down or away from others if they’re around

Openly acknowledges that he likes sneezing ‘It’s a natural process and it feels quite nice I think’

Being a healer means he’s aware of contagion and how it works but doesn’t think much of his own sneezes until it’s too late

Yes he’s built like a brickhouse and yes he does work himself too damn hard - he also loves being taken care of by a partner

Has been known to induce unprompted because he ‘just wants to hurry things along’ whore

Wyll

Baby boy has the most expressive nose in existence

He always describes sneezes as tickly or buzzy when he’s congested

Comments on his sneezes all the time

Hitchy and gasping breaths into every sneeze

King of build ups, cannot have a sneeze without at least five seconds of warning

Covers every single time but can never find his hanky so it’s usually hands or elbow

Will ask to borrow your handkerchief and will give it right back after decimating it with a blow

Tries to stifle but is really bad at it and it just makes him sneeze more

Sneezes in threes and fours but occasionally sneezes only once

Dust and pollen sensitivity

Every cold starts in his chest but settles in his nose for weeks after

Will breathily remind you he’s not contagious as a sneeze rips through him.

Can be loud or soft but are always drawn out

Doesn’t want to admit he loves being taken care of but it does melt him on the inside

Gets really teary when he sneezes and will make jokes about it to deflect his embarrassment

Very aware of germs and contagion but still manages to catch every bug that goes through his friend groups

Gets disappointed if he’s not blessed after a sneeze

[jack-in-the-dark]

Jack Builds Spaceboats: The Martinet, Part 2: Spam the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

Disclaimer: I am not an expert on this game, and some information I present may be erroneous.

So torpedoes in Star Trek Online are not natively spammable. If you want your ship to spew out photon torpedoes like it's Christmas at the Explosion Factory, you're going to have to jump through some hoops.

I believe I've mentioned that before in STO, torpedoes have a relatively long cooldown (from 4 seconds with Kelvin Photon Torpedoes to 10 seconds for Chroniton, to 30 seconds for Tricobalt) and every time you fire a torpedo, it triggers a global cooldown on all your other equipped torpedoes. So we have two cooldowns to manage here.

The global cooldown is, ironically, the easier of the two to deal with... if you're willing to pony up some cash (or be patient). The Terran Eagle raider ($30 in the game store) comes with a Covert Warhead Module universal console. It gives you a clicky that cloaks you and attaches a time bomb to enemies you pass close to, but that's not why we're here. We're here for this console's FANTASTIC passive: it sets the global torpedo cooldown to 1.5 seconds, or 0.5 seconds if the ship has pilot maneuvers (the Martinet does not, sadly). So as long as you have a loaded torpedo, you can fire a minimum of one ever second and a half. Nahbad!

Now, the torpedo cooldown itself. Naturally, she's equipped with multiple torpedo launchers - three fore, two aft. They're crafted Photon torpedo launchers, natively having a six-second reload. With the Covert Warhead module, that means I've fired all three torpedoes in three seconds (first, 1.5 sec wait, second, 1.5 sec wait, third), and the global cooldown is ready again after a total of 4.5 seconds - leaving us a second and a half shy of being able to fire torpedoes again.

The cheaper solution to this is to equip three Projectile Weapon duty officers that each give you a 20% chance to reduce the cooldown of torpedoes - you can't have more than three of them active, though.

The expensive (as in, currently priced at 230 million credits on the exchange) is the starship trait Ceaseless Momentum, which reduces all torpedo cooldowns by 1 second every time you fire a torpedo, addition to +5% bonus kinetic damage and kinetic damage resistance for 45 seconds (stacking up to five times). With Ceaseless Momentum equipped, that means that by the time our third torpedo launches, our first torpedo has completed its reload and will be ready to fire when the global cooldown finishes. It still leaves a gap with the aft torpedoes since there's only two firing, but the aft torpedoes exist to fill in the gap while I turn to bring the target into my forward firing arc.

It may be wince-inducingly expensive, but by god does it get the job done.

I mentioned earlier that the Photon Torpedo Launchers I have are crafted. This is so that each of them has the [Spr] modifier, which is so much fun. You see, the Bridge Officer Ability Torpedoes: Spread is sort of the torpedo equivalent of FAW (this is a bit of a lie, but you'll get the idea); When activated, it makes your next attack fire multiple torpedoes at multiple enemies in that launcher's arc - more torpedoes and more enemies depending on whether you're firing the rank I, II, or III of the ability. The [Spr] modifier gives the launcher a native 7.5% to upgrade the next torpedo attack to a free Spread I, which is just handy and fun. And Torpedoes: Spread is an AOE on each target hit as well, making it very useful against groups of enemies.

I think that's enough rambling for now. I'll give a more thorough rundown of the Martinet's build when I get around to writing Part 3.

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond!: Quill Society Logs (First Findings)

(All recorded by Errorverse Sonic.)

Log 5: Recruitment Requirements

"Log 5; recruitment requirements. It's been a couple of months, and the Quill Society's foundation has started well after both the most recent issue my dimension faced and the failed scheme by Eggman Prime to destroy the original Sonic, with a lot of side villains from other universes helping him, including a brainwashed Sara from Dimension OVA-1996.

The recruit applications had been starting to climb since I brought OMT!Mina in. Considering what her Ash tried to do to her back there... I knew I couldn't just leave her to either die or be thrown into prison for the rest of her existence for something she didn't cause. I also bore witness to Eggman Nega's multidimensional energiser trying to muck things up around us. I'm glad OMT!Tails and those who came to his world managed to stop it, though.

Now, as for the point of this log. I've seen the ways the Spider-Society and the Funkin' Society have operated, and it's something I really want to avoid as a bid to make the Quill Society more of a welcoming side-job for heroes from across dimensions. So, here's some major rules I had pinpointed:

No canon event nonsense is to be utilised within the Society. Our motto is doing the right thing, not just abiding by fate by leaving loved ones to perish.

As long as a potential recruit has any ties to a SEGA property or has ownership under SEGA, like how Avalice used to be around a Sonic fan game, they're open for recruit material with no questions asked. I might consider seeing if some of the -friends through the Funkinverse might suit a role here, depending on their ties.

Abuse is an issue I take really seriously here, so therapy is always available for any victims of abuse in their worlds, but inflicting abuse on other Society members is strictly forbidden. And honestly? Anyone utilising rape shamelessly are those I see as deserving of "Damnatio Memoriae", a fate worse than death.

Unless stated otherwise, I will not stand for any Society member or villain from other worlds as "anomalies". It... makes me feel like any nice person called that is cited as undeserving of basic human rights or sympathy.

A hero in the Society has especially gotta be willing to do the right thing if they're open to doing missions out on the field in other dimensions. That's our whole motto, after all, since helping others is always the right thing to do, even if it causes trouble later down the line.

I'll get a rule board set up while the other facilities like the café are under construction, and I'll hopefully document more findings as I go along. End log."

Log 9: Lightmatter and the Shadow Anomalies

"Log 9: Lightmatter and the "shadow anomalies". I've discovered a recurring event in a few Earths, around the Cave Johnson era of Aperture Science before GLaDOS, or the "Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System", took over. There was another company existing at the same time while the AI prototype was in construction, not counting Black Mesa, of course. I'm talking about "Lightmatter Technologies".

The company was headed by two men named Virgil and Arthur, who had scaled a mountain to discover photon crystals, though along the way, something ended up costing Virgil one of his legs, but his pride remained steadfast for finding the first photon crystal. Experiments went on with technology like photon connectors and photon power cells, the latter of which was a replacement for copper wiring in one block of the mountain facility, until...

...they managed to complete a central part of the base, known as the "CORE", a collection of massive photon crystals. The company got its name when the photon crystals produced a beam so solid, it literally looked like light had become matter! The general idea was to provide infinitely renewable, clean and sustainable energy to the whole world, and the whole thing genuinely does seem like an awesome concept! At least, on paper.

But underlying problems started happening, when side-effects of the crystals' tapped-into energy started causing minor cellular degradation, such as hair loss. Virgil immediately thought that the matter could be solved by installing mineral decontaminators in the facility, though sicknesses were still high and the facility got practically locked down where Virgil and Arthur had been in... disagreements, meaning no employee could leave.

Shortly after, Arthur had seemingly started poisoning employees and using it as further proof to Lightmatter's board of directors that the energy source was causing these side-effects. Virgil wasn't happy, to say the least, and while he was investigating the matter, he learned from one of his employees, who is named "Ellen" from the tape recordings I've taken from one of the Earths, that Arthur had plans to overload the CORE and destroy the facility. Arthur was quickly chucked out by Virgil and his security manager, James, for his actions.

However, just weeks later, the problems were getting worse. Employees were having intense headaches that only subsided when in presence of light, and the decontaminators were not doing their job, since they were still losing hair and fingernails. Ellen took it upon herself to sneak into Arthur's office and do some investigating as to what he was doing, and what she discovered changed everything.

Arthur had built a prototype of his intended experiment on the CORE, and discovered that the CORE was producing a deep-black, obsidian-like tar that only shows up in complete darkness and causes rapid cellular degradation! We've since referred to these as "shadow anomalies", despite actual shadows not being as harmful. And though Arthur knew, he was clearly willing to risk killing billions of lives just to bring Lightmatter into fruition!

Now, onto that theory. Since the CORE cannot be truly shut down and is completely self-sustaining, another solution was found with the prototype. Overcharging the crystals with multiple mother sources would outright destroy them, and within a radius of the smaller CORE, the shadow anomalies were neutralised and all cellular degradation there came to a stop. He managed to find a solution to the problem!

Fortunately, by some unknown people, any Lightmatter mountains between Earths have been wiped out, with the shadow anomalies all neutralised, even if Ellen couldn't do the deed herself. But... I dread to think what would happen in Earths where the anomalies could leave the mountain unimpeded and wipe out humanity for Virgil to rebuild in his image.

So, if any Earths I can record have a Lightmatter Technologies and there is nobody to stop the CORE, I'll send out agile two-man teams to overload them and wipe them out before the shadow anomalies can wipe out an Earth's civilisation. Ellen, wherever you are now, we owe you big time for uncovering all this information, and you have my gratitude for keeping these tapes intact for us to learn about it. End log."

[uapro]

Martin Harran wrote:

It seems to have been first formally stated by Heisenberg in 1958 his book "The Physicist's Conception of Nature" but I would have thought that it would have been noted earlier than that.

Unrelated, or only tangentially related (and I didn't even bother to try, just Googled the correct spelling of "tangentially"), this whole thing is 100% consistent with the Multiverse... especially when taken in the context of "The Copenhagen Interpretation."

In *That* case, the Copenhagen Interpretation, a photon, say, doesn't physically exist in a specific place & time unless & until it is observed/measured. Instead, it effectively exists EVERYWHERE it can potentially exist, the wave function (like a bell curve) and this wave collapses when the photon is observed. But, this wave function is misapplied. Instead of describing the photon It should be applied to the observer.

Simply (or confusingly) put:  The photon exists everywhere it CAN potentially exist, and then when you observe/measure it you lock YOU into whatever version of the universe where that photon exists in THAT particular point in SpaceTime. By observing/measuring the photon you are in a very real sense choosing a version of reality...

I tells ya, it's way hip groovy with bells swinging, this Multiverse thing.

AND WE KNOW THAT THE MULTIVERSE IS CORRECT, it's the right answer because it has supposedly been confirmed!. Though Einstein doesn't name it he certainly describes it in his Simultaneity... and Simultaneity supposedly has been scientifically confirmed.

WARNING:  The Multiverse isn't "Different" universes!

There's only one universe and there can only ever be one universe, as far as we're concerned. If you could step outside our ONE universe you wouldn't see others. In fact, even THIS ONE UNIVERSE wouldn't exist!  There would be no space for it to occupy, no moment in time for it to exist within... there would literally be nothing at all. So nothing can exist outside of our universe, even if it does.

Absurd? Yes. But that hardly makes it unique...

THERE ARE NO DIVIDING LINES!

The Multiverse isn't different universes, it's our one and only universe existing in all potential states at once. It's our one universe with the photon occupying every point in SpaceTime it can potentially exist.

Google the whole confusing "Light Cone" nonsense. In a sense, it's your potentiality. Yours is different from mine. They diverge. So your reality -- your version of the universe -- can be and at some level undoubtedly is different from mine. But we can meet and interact, though I can't think of any reason why I might want to do that.

The further we are apart, the faster we move the more our realities diverge. One easy example of this is Time Dilation: The closer YOU move to light speed, the slower time passes for you. For you. Time will move normally for me so the faster you move, the more our realities diverge...

So, long story short:  Reality is even more f***ed up than we normally give it credit for.

[mysticstronomy]

HOW NEGATIVE TIME WAS PROVEN??

Blog#457

Wednesday, November 27th, 2024

Welcome back,

Can you imagine extinguishing a fire before it even begins or leaving a party before reaching? Have you ever heard about the concept of ‘negative time’? This phenomenon seems possible, at least in photons, where scientists observed photons exiting a material before entering it.

Researchers from the Griffith University and University of Toronto made this astonishing discovery when they were studying the behavior of photons to better understand a phenomenon known as atomic excitation, an interaction between light and matter.

It happens when an atom absorbs energy, causing the electron to jump from its ground state to a higher energy level. This event is not permanent, and soon electrons return to their previous levels and release photons.

This is where photons absorbed by a material experience a delay, known as group delay, before they exit the material due to their interactions with the atoms inside it. This results in a delay which causes light to take longer to traverse the material than it would if it were not absorbed and reemitted by the atoms.

The researchers conducted an experiment to study this delay where they injected photons into extremely cold rubidium atoms. The researchers observed that some photons traveled through the atoms at a speed that exceeded the time required for the atomic excitation process to occur. This implies a negative transit time, where the photons exited before they even entered the material.

Aephraim Steinberg, one of the study authors and a quantum physicist at the University of Toronto, posted on X and said, “It sounds crazy, I know. It took a positive amount of time, but our experiment observing that photons can make atoms seem to spend a negative amount of time in the excited state is up!”

The experiment took a total of seven years, with three years taken to build the apparatus in which photons interacted with ultracold rubidium atoms. Researchers of this study believe that such negative values taken by time have much more physical significance than recognised by people. However, it is important to mention that this discovery has no effect on the already established laws of time and photons, as explained by the special theory of relativity. The photons involved in the experiment did not convey any information regarding the nature of time.

Nonetheless, since time delay, as a concept, does exist, it will likely inspire more research in the quantum world.

Originally published on https://timesofindia-indiatimes-com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, November 30th, 2024)

"HOW DID EINSTEIN PROVE TIME??"

[learnwithmearticles]

Radiocarbon

A recent article touched on how radiocarbon dating works in relation to the impacts of cosmic rays and the secondary particles they create on Earth. Now, let’s focus on radiocarbon dating itself.

Types of Dating

Radiocarbon dating is an invaluable tool to the fields of archaeology and history. Within the process of dating artifacts, there is absolute dating and relative dating. Relative dating establishes if something is older or younger than another artifact, usually within the same excavation. For example, excavations can expose the stratigraphy of the ground: layers of rock and sediment deposit that build up over time and can be visually distinct, though sometimes bleed into each other. Artifacts found in a lower layer can be theorized to be older than artifacts in layers above it.

Absolute dating provides more specific dates for the origin of artifacts, and often relies on chemical processes. Radiocarbon dating is one such method.

Radioactive Isotopes

Radiocarbon dating works on the fact that isotopes of carbon exist in nature, and it is their nature to decay over time.

Isotopes are variations of the same chemical element. They have the same atomic number -and therefore number of protons- as the base element, but different amounts of neutrons in the atom’s nucleus. So all carbon isotopes have six protons, but instead of six neutrons like C-12, they can have seven or eight neutrons, which are known as C-13 and C-14, respectively.

Though an isotope, C-13 is stable, meaning it does not decay into another form or element over time. It has enough binding energy to keep the protons and neutrons in its nucleus together.

C-14 is not stable. Over time, C-14 decays into stable Nitrogen through one of the neutrons becoming a proton. In this process it also loses an electron, which are negative particles that ‘orbit’ the nucleus.

C-14 Dating

From secondary particles produced by cosmic rays, C-14 or 14C becomes 14CO, then 14CO2 (carbon-14 dioxide), entering Earth’s carbon cycle. In this way, C-14 absorbs into living tissues through photosynthesis and the food chain. When the living tissue dies, no more C-14 is introduced, starting the time of radioactive decay.

C-14 has a half-life of 5,700± 30 years, meaning that after that many years, the amount of C-14 in the subject has decreased by half. The amount of C-14 present in a material can be measured in three ways: gas proportional counting, liquid scintillation counting, and accelerator mass spectrometry.

In gas proportional counting, the sample of organic material is converted to carbon dioxide gas before being put into cylinders where beta particles are measured. Beta particles are produced by radiocarbon decay, so the dating measures how much more C-14 is left to decay at the time of evaluation.

Similarly, liquid scintillation measures beta particles by the scintillator producing a flash of light when interacting with a beta particle. In this process, the organic material is in liquid form and put between two photomultipliers, devices that convert photons into electrical signals to register when the scintillator indicates a beta particle.

Accelerator mass spectrometry does not measure beta particles. It measures the proportion of C-14 to C-13 and C-12 present in the sample.

The results of these methods are compared to an international standard reference, which has changed throughout the years. For some time, sugar beets harvested in the 1950s were used as comparison for the amount of C-14 present, as well as wood from 1890 and beet molasses from 1977. These varieties of organic material have helped provide reference for the measurements of C-14 isotopes.

Radiocarbon dating has been a useful source of knowledge when examining artifacts. The science behind it is expansive and requires piecing together many different properties of the universe, such as how C-14 enters the atmosphere from cosmic rays, and how it naturally changes form over time as a radioactive isotope. Understanding these different elements can help demystify the processes of scientific discovery, and help us better understand specific case studies in the future.

Additional Resources

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43586-021-00058-7#

2. gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/isotopes/chemistry.html

3. https://news.uchicago.edu/explainer/what-is-carbon-14-dating4. https://www.radiocarbon.com/about-carbon-dating.htm#

[thesinglesjukebox]

SOPHIE FT. KIM PETRAS AND BC KINGDOM - "REASON WHY"

"Last up today, a reimagined, revisited SOPHIE demo"

[6.82]

Ian Mathers: When someone as brilliant as SOPHIE dies as young as she did, with so much work underway, it's hard not to place too much weight on whatever we're left with. I deliberately avoided looking up any context here; for now, at least, I just want to hear this as a new SOPHIE song I hadn't heard before, with no extra information colouring how I'm hearing it. And it just... sounds good. I love that vocal loop in the background. I will listen to this again, a lot, and I wish this wasn't one of the last times I'll have the experience of hearing a new song from her. [9]

Jonathan Bradley: Sophie's pop avant garde has found a posthumous mainstream presence this year in the from of Charli XCX's Brat, and while that album has its highs, it is thrilling to hear this much focus and intensity restored to a sound that had come to be dominated by event and memification. The hook, a quasar emission from an astral Kim Petras, resists literal interpretation ("in your mind/in your eye/take a little look inside"), but Sophie's heady club thump makes it sound soul-piercing, a dance taking place in the cavernous space of the psyche as much as upon a physical floor. A song of dark spaces punctuated by brilliant neon, its power is in its sense of purpose, even if the ultimate reason why is to surrender corporeal form and be subsumed into gleam and thump. It doesn't quiet its anguish so much as make it vaporous — photonic even. A bonus: Petras has never found a party so conducive to her inconstant but palpable talent; she should drop by here more often. [9]

Katherine St. Asaph: Better as a reflection of SOPHIE's mythology than her music, or even her experimentalism; the tinny synth chords just recall "California Gurls." [5]

Tim de Reuse: For all the people who cite her as inspiration, for all the breathless praise and all her purported influence, it's striking that years after SOPHIE's passing even her disciples have never replicated her particular alchemy. I think it's just that nobody has the chutzpah to arrange a mix like she does. Ultra-clean, ultra-crisp, overstuffed trop-house, all sharp edges, no air; Kim Petras wailing, half-coherent, dragged along by Sophie's velocity and struggling to keep up. BC Kingdom sound lost. A real earworm is halfway to irritation, she's saying. A real earworm has claws. [9]

Brad Shoup: Because it's by SOPHIE, I'm looking for angles that may not exist: something more playful than the club-synth murmur or Petras' over-it posing. BC Kingdom try to bring things into the realm of the existential, or the interpersonal; Petras pats them on the head and sends them to the bar. [5]

Nortey Dowuona: The drums were Benny's fault. Everyone else was fine -- the drums are just wack and ill-fitting. This is how you fail your sister's legacy. Will look into BC Kingdom though. [3]

Andrew Karpan: It’s moving, the way you can hear the mummers of SOPHIE’s wafting, digital haze move through and surround KP’s more direct, and more mildly anonymous, manner of positioning herself as a neo-disco diva, everywhere and nowhere like a gentle fog.    [6]

Taylor Alatorre: True to her words, the Kim Petras hook is engineered to make it sound like it's unspooling from within your own mind, "in your eyes," like it's always been in there and just required this elephant stomp of a bass drum to be dislodged. The pitching-up is complemented by the babyish way she slurs her phrases, amplifying the pre-verbal and almost primordial appeal of the sentiment -- by the song's end, we know what the reason why is, even if we don't know any words for it. The soul-searching aspects of the hook heighten its contrast with the rote hedonism of Petras' verse, and when hook and verse are overlaid, something rare emerges: a Sad Party Song that gracefully reveals itself rather than announcing itself loudly at the entrance. I hope that I'd still be hearing these things if the song had arrived under the originally intended circumstances, but there is no vacuum-sealed bubble in which to evaluate and enjoy music sans context. Even if there were, why would you want to deprive yourself by listening to Sophie that way? [8]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: A perfectly decent Cashmere Cat song that makes me feel a deep and unabating melancholy. [4]

Alfred Soto: Why listeners will love it is what sharpens my resistance: that high-pitched "reason why" sample repeated ad infinitum. The clickety beat and the warmth of BC Kingdom and Kim Petras need air to breathe. Nevertheless, an example of the late SOPHIE's talent. "Can't people like you love people like me? (And I know the reason why)" is the most empathetic queer lyric I've heard this year. [7]

Leah Isobel: I hate talking about transness like it's mysticism. It's corny and feels like chaser language -- as if I'm not a human woman but some sort of unicorn beamed in from Venus, look at my magical sexy body. I get where it comes from, but most of the time I'd rather have my feet on the ground, have a body that I can just move and sleep and fuck in or whatever. Mysticism pushes myself away from myself: I rationalize and explain my choices, as if they need to be rationalized and explained and justified, and as if the only possible justification can come from the divine. I do not feel divine when I inject estradiol; I feel a little pain, and then some itching as the puncture heals. I do not feel divine at the electrologist's office; I feel an hour and a half of pain that I gladly pay for and will pay for again in two to three weeks once my skin heals. I did not feel divine doing surgery consultations over Zoom or paying $300 to get my name and gender legally changed. I pay the money, I jump through the hoops, and I land back on the earth the same as I was.

The first time I heard "Reason Why" was... so long ago that I can't remember now. SOPHIE played it in live sets for years; it circulated online as "It's Your Life," BPM sped up as all of SOPHIE's songs were at the time. (Shout out to all the girls who heard the live rip of "Vroom Vroom" as "Let's Ride" almost ten years ago and knew something good was about to happen.) The clearest version came from Nina Las Vegas' NTS radio show in 2019, its tempo vaguely manic, the synth baubles rubbery and harsh rather than soft and pearlescent. In that iteration, the part that stuck to me was Kim's verse: "Pop a couple in Ibiza / Getting money like a DJ," hilarious and wistful and stupid, God bless the slant rhyme. It felt cyborg-mechanical, a pumped-up power fantasy. I needed that fantasy because I felt that the most valuable, most fun part of my life was over. The shock and joy and blessed emotional volatility of the first year of medical transition had worn down to a nub, and I came back to the same life I had before, stuck in dirty New York snow, acting like I wasn't freezing.

Now, listening to this final version, I hear that girl like she's standing next to me: I hear her desire to be invulnerable, loved endlessly, catapulted into a juvenile fantasy. I hear how afraid and how disconnected she -- I -- was from her -- my -- body. I hear how thoroughly I absorbed the messages I received about how I was most valuable when I was available, fuckable, disposable, and how turning 25 felt like the end of the world because it meant I wouldn't be that way forever. In my creative life, I imagined myself as invulnerable and evanescent, named Angel, wearing elf ears and stick-on jewels; in my regular life, I was tired all the time, letting myself evaporate. I wanted to be ethereal more than human, which also made me not human. I read SOPHIE's work as empathetic to that desire, even affirming -- I took a song like "Immaterial" seriously, literally. Looking back, the empathy is there, but SOPHIE's music feels more like it insists on returning me to my body and its immediate physical sensations. The final version of "Reason Why" is softer, slower, deeper than the leaks; the new context pushes Kim's wish-fulfillment fantasies further back, foregrounding the first verse and the basic, elemental question at the heart of the song. Why does there have to be a reason? Why do I need to justify myself? Why should I listen to voices who don't understand me? Why should I minimize my love? Can't people like you love people like me? When it was released I walked into the stockroom at work, put in my headphones, and cried -- my emotions, my soul, my metaphysical heart, expressed through my body, my real body. I love that I can feel, that I can cry, that I can hear. I love what my body can do. I love the real world. [10]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]