#uc-futures

[uc-futures]

FUTURES — ep. 216a: alone

23 February 2023

I should be used to it... right?

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[...]

Alone is a word I have not thought of for a while. After all, in a desolate land like Universe City, we have moved past the question of being alone. Yet, it still bugs me, somehow. Alone is a word that should no longer describe my state, yet I still think of it from time to time. Being the last alive being in the city has long alienated me from civilization, and I still wonder whether anyone can hear me. While I cry for help, perhaps in vanity, I am used to wandering around myself. Talking to gravel and rubble is my expertise, for that is what's left in the City. I wish to be rescued soon, old sport, yet it's wishful thinking., I suppose.

[...]

[writingtraumaforever]

I update just about daily with the UC Series right now, but each chapter is only about 1500 words. I wanted to know if you guys like this format so far, or would want the chapters longer and more spaced out. •w•

[things-with-teeth]

"In a midnight operation, hundreds of police officers descended on People’s Park in Berkeley, California, to clear out the activists and unhoused campers occupying the area, to make way for the construction of a housing complex for students.

By dawn, the park that was once the centre of the 1960s antiwar and counterculture movement was walled off with shipping containers and surrounded by police."

[unchained-linkverse]

Future, the Prince of Hyrule: Takes place post- Four Swords, and before the events of the Hyrulian Civil War.

[shilohtx]

i know I must be pretty normal cause my last two and most significant long running relationships ended with one of us in the mental hospital + one of us in jail. respectively

[leasdoodles]

I imagine Omen doing this pose every time he asks that question

[hazbinsinners]

Does Lilith peg you be honest

--- the king can do nothing but stare.

congratulations, anon; he knows every language to have ever been created, and in all of them, you've rendered him speechless!

[little-eye-guy]

anyway my face psoriasis has been looking better

[msclaritea]

I am very much over this ongoing micro martyring of Pete Buttigieg with the implication being pushed, that he's really being picked on for being Homosexual, not allegedly incompetent as Transportation Secretary. Buttigeig was/is a whole ass bigot, who got a makeover at lightning speed. This is all total bullshit, when it's pretty obvious that not only are many of the GOP Homosexual, but many, many....MANY of the modern Democratic Party are, also. Why else would they push such toxic movements onto our children, with the full approval of the Republican Party? If you choose to expose your kids, they got you. If you reject it... likely swinging hard right, they still got you. Fuck all of Congress. Get on their asses, to get real shit done.

#FrancisScottKeyBridge #LGBTQ #PoliticalLobby #Washington #JayInslee #BidenAdministration #TransgenderCult #Israel #WEF #JustinTrudeau #WomensRights #AbortionRights #VotingRights #TaxScam #TAXTHERICH #DOJ #SCOTUS

[uc-futures]

Welcome to Futures: A Universe City spinoff

((blog under construction)) Hello. You have reached Futures, a channel occupying the old airspace that Radio Silence used to broadcast to. Overtaking the name and the identity, Futures is set to a timeline after Radio has moved on from Universe City, and most people have left after the Governors turned what was already desolate land into rubble. The speaker hails from the outskirts of the City, not knowing that evacuation has already come and gone. They are the only one left inside the City's walls, or at least, what used to be. Futures become the speaker's only outlet.

EPISODES UPDATE... whenever. See end of post for episode list. Track episodes using #uc-futures. Keep reading to see the episode list!

NOTICE: Universe City, the Universe City artwork, and the story concept are original works by Alice Oseman as part of their second novel, Radio Silence. Alice Oseman reserves the moral right to be identified as the original concept creator. Futures is acknowledged to be derivative work.

EPISODE LIST

Episode numbers are arbitrary, and depict timeskips. Episodes are not written in a linear manner (mostly.) Episodes with the 🎧 icon depict inclusion of an audio version. Episodes with the 📻 icon are derived, inspired by, or may be confused with written Universe City excerpts in the book.

ep. 216a/216b - alone (23 February 2023)

ep. 240 - heavy heart (23 February 2023)

ep. 249 - µcosmos (19 March 2023)

ep. 410 - i'm not fine (6 April 2023)

ep. 423 - goodbye (23 April 2023) 🎧

ep. 433 - whatever (6 May 2023) 🎧

ep. 442 - cosmic wave (16 May 2023) 🎧 📻

ep. 448 - kodachrome (6 June 2023) 🎧

ep. 510 - dark blue (31 August 2023) 🎧 📻

ep. 512 - regrets (6 September 2023) 🎧

[reasonsforhope]

As relentless rains pounded LA, the city’s “sponge” infrastructure helped gather 8.6 billion gallons of water—enough to sustain over 100,000 households for a year.

Earlier this month, the future fell on Los Angeles. A long band of moisture in the sky, known as an atmospheric river, dumped 9 inches of rain on the city over three days—over half of what the city typically gets in a year. It’s the kind of extreme rainfall that’ll get ever more extreme as the planet warms.

The city’s water managers, though, were ready and waiting. Like other urban areas around the world, in recent years LA has been transforming into a “sponge city,” replacing impermeable surfaces, like concrete, with permeable ones, like dirt and plants. It has also built out “spreading grounds,” where water accumulates and soaks into the earth.

With traditional dams and all that newfangled spongy infrastructure, between February 4 and 7 the metropolis captured 8.6 billion gallons of stormwater, enough to provide water to 106,000 households for a year. For the rainy season in total, LA has accumulated 14.7 billion gallons.

Long reliant on snowmelt and river water piped in from afar, LA is on a quest to produce as much water as it can locally. “There's going to be a lot more rain and a lot less snow, which is going to alter the way we capture snowmelt and the aqueduct water,” says Art Castro, manager of watershed management at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. “Dams and spreading grounds are the workhorses of local stormwater capture for either flood protection or water supply.”

Centuries of urban-planning dogma dictates using gutters, sewers, and other infrastructure to funnel rainwater out of a metropolis as quickly as possible to prevent flooding. Given the increasingly catastrophic urban flooding seen around the world, though, that clearly isn’t working anymore, so now planners are finding clever ways to capture stormwater, treating it as an asset instead of a liability. “The problem of urban hydrology is caused by a thousand small cuts,” says Michael Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute at UC Berkeley. “No one driveway or roof in and of itself causes massive alteration of the hydrologic cycle. But combine millions of them in one area and it does. Maybe we can solve that problem with a thousand Band-Aids.”

Or in this case, sponges. The trick to making a city more absorbent is to add more gardens and other green spaces that allow water to percolate into underlying aquifers—porous subterranean materials that can hold water—which a city can then draw from in times of need. Engineers are also greening up medians and roadside areas to soak up the water that’d normally rush off streets, into sewers, and eventually out to sea...

To exploit all that free water falling from the sky, the LADWP has carved out big patches of brown in the concrete jungle. Stormwater is piped into these spreading grounds and accumulates in dirt basins. That allows it to slowly soak into the underlying aquifer, which acts as a sort of natural underground tank that can hold 28 billion gallons of water.

During a storm, the city is also gathering water in dams, some of which it diverts into the spreading grounds. “After the storm comes by, and it's a bright sunny day, you’ll still see water being released into a channel and diverted into the spreading grounds,” says Castro. That way, water moves from a reservoir where it’s exposed to sunlight and evaporation, into an aquifer where it’s banked safely underground.

On a smaller scale, LADWP has been experimenting with turning parks into mini spreading grounds, diverting stormwater there to soak into subterranean cisterns or chambers. It’s also deploying green spaces along roadways, which have the additional benefit of mitigating flooding in a neighborhood: The less concrete and the more dirt and plants, the more the built environment can soak up stormwater like the actual environment naturally does.

As an added benefit, deploying more of these green spaces, along with urban gardens, improves the mental health of residents. Plants here also “sweat,” cooling the area and beating back the urban heat island effect—the tendency for concrete to absorb solar energy and slowly release it at night. By reducing summer temperatures, you improve the physical health of residents. “The more trees, the more shade, the less heat island effect,” says Castro. “Sometimes when it’s 90 degrees in the middle of summer, it could get up to 110 underneath a bus stop.”

LA’s far from alone in going spongy. Pittsburgh is also deploying more rain gardens, and where they absolutely must have a hard surface—sidewalks, parking lots, etc.—they’re using special concrete bricks that allow water to seep through. And a growing number of municipalities are scrutinizing properties and charging owners fees if they have excessive impermeable surfaces like pavement, thus incentivizing the switch to permeable surfaces like plots of native plants or urban gardens for producing more food locally.

So the old way of stormwater management isn’t just increasingly dangerous and ineffective as the planet warms and storms get more intense—it stands in the way of a more beautiful, less sweltering, more sustainable urban landscape. LA, of all places, is showing the world there’s a better way.

-via Wired, February 19, 2024

[unchained-linkverse]

Unchained Linkverse Weapons:

The Master Sword: The Blade of Evil's Bane. This Legendary sword is exchanged between both Future and Stories, both of which aren't very keen on fighting in general, for their own reasons. When not in combat, it's usually held by Future, who humms and talks to the blade sometimes. Stories will engage in combat with the blade, though it's mostly in dire circumstances.

The Traveler's Blade: A sturdy blade owned by Awake. This blade has seen much use, given Awake's position as a Royal Guard (what an upgrade). He spends most of his free time cleaning the blade with Dreamer's assistance at camp.

Silver Dragontamer: Owned by Dragons. The Red Rubies in the sword emit a warmth that keeps Dragons warm while riding Divine Dragons. They also let Dragons commit atrocities with fire blasts.

Sun Dagger: Remnant of the Sun Tablet. This small blade allows Sun to delve into his favorite fighting style: sliding. After forging the dagger, he likes to pretend he's very good at using it.

Moon Dagger: Remnant of the Moon Tablet. This weapon hardly gets used as it sits in the holster as Moon studies more magical attacks. In tight situations, or when he remembers that he has it, he'll give it a nice slash or two, before trying to apologize to the Moon Itself and cleaning the blade for several hours.

Giant's Hammer: The Supreme Bonkin'. Dead's main weapon outside of potions. The wooden handle can extend even further for Maximum Bonkage. Due to being a little frailer than most his age, the Hammer usually gets dragged behind him.

Sword of Dreams: Blade of Nightmares. Dreamer's sword in which he was never trained to wield. Slashing wildly usually works, he's found. This sword, when the blade contacts blood, depending on the wielder's decision, inflicts either daydreams, or waking nightmares. This blade has no scabbard, and has tied itself to Dreamer's magic, disappearing and reappearing at will. The TriForce Trinket at the top is a tool to send Dreamer into the Silver Goddesses' Dream Worlds.

[michaelgabrill]

NASA and UC Berkeley Host Discussion on the Future of AI at Work

What does the rise of artificial intelligence mean for the workers of tomorrow? What could it mean for NASA? Leaders from government, academia, and commercial industries gathered earlier this fall to learn, discuss, and collaborate at the inaugural “The Future of Skills in the AI Era” symposium at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon […] from NASA https://ift.tt/3KoL1NX

[cavenewstimes]

Class 3: “Globalization, Tech & Future Work” by UC Berkeley Professor Reich

In the ‌wide expanse⁢ of our rapidly changing ​world, where boundaries are blurred and technology intertwines with our daily lives, we find ourselves standing at the precipice of a new era. It is a time of immense transformation, one that has been shaped by the forces of globalization, technology, and the future of work. Gather around, dear readers, as we embark on a journey ⁣guided by the wisdom…

[kroosluvr]

temptation

i lowkey have too many notes to write down properly KDFHKDS but ill write them down for Future Cele so i can read it later and be like omggg past cele ur so fun and interesting

in general, the more "color" the scenes have, the closer it is to "real life" as opposed to the muted/hushed winter blues of maruki's reality

i.e. the dark frames w akira smiling and the very last panel are when reality sinks in: first for akira, then for goro

by the way this is long winter au but sumire is still brainwashed. this also works for canonverse but i just had long winter au in mind:o

youve heard of laundry and taxes now get ready for coffee and pastries

in every panel, akira is smiling! :) and goro is very much not smiling.

intentionally his face is hidden in the last 2 pages so its unclear whether it's the "ideal reality" already (akira/goro's daydreams/wants/desires), or if goro is still fighting akira on making sure he picks the right choice

the smoke from the first page kinda leads into the 3rd page omfg COMPLETELY UNINTENTIONAL BUT REALLY COOL LMAOOO

that's nameless and belladonna in jazz jin!!! i love them. I LOVETHEM. i miss them so bad is it obvious

the cafe is loosely based off of caffe strada @ uc berkeley LMAO. my parents used to take me there a lot as a little kid so that's the first cafe i think of when i imagine one. its like right on the streetside, basically on the sidewalk, so its very bustling and people are always walking by... probably a little disconcerting to see everyones summery bright smiles despite the bitter cold and snow

in long winter AU, the Ideal Reality starts before 1/1 so yeah they get to see the new years fireworks together (or something)

also intentional that they wear the same winter outfits in the whole comic although it Probably does not take place at the same time. in maruki's snowglobe, time seems frozen in place... but akira and goro are both acutely aware that the sands are running thru QUICK

goro's frustrated expression on page 3 is one also of disdain: "don't speak FOR me you fucking imbecile" type of expression.

goro, who's never lived a normal life and therefore doesn't know much abt "normalcy" nor really actively seeks it. this 3rd semester is basically purgatory for him and he doesn't care to try and go through the motions the way akira does. akira what do YOU know about the type of "normalcy" i deserve? how do YOU know if i "deserve" that?

im thinking that this is a naive akira who is mostly set on taking the deal because he feels hopeless... seeing all his friends with good happy lives while goro and himself are alive and miserable and shouldering the weight of the world during the horror of long winter......

oh but if he takes the deal they could all be good and alive and happy!!!.... and goro knows this. i feel like in any other universe (i.e. akira is 100% certain on not taking the deal and goro knows this) then goro would be happy and carefree to do these little indulgences for himself and akira's sake, to just enjoy the snowglobe world while it exists.

but this goro is discontent. he sees how akira is enjoying the snowglobe and knows maruki is depending on this. goro has to be the one to remind akira that none of this is his to keep........ in this fucked up world, routine is dangerous. becoming comfortable is dangerous. they cannot keep any of this.

on that note, goro says "i hate you" in a halfhearted sort of way (it's not true and akira knows that.) but he's trying to think of a way that he can dissuade akira from picking the wrong choice.....

and i think the thing is, goro thinks all of this, but he still falls into the rhythm of routine with akira anyway. in a way, goro feels hopeless too.

all of this is maruki's doing........ paralyzed by the inability to choose... whatever you do, you lose. goro needs to hold akira at arm's length so the stupid sentimental fool doesn't get too attached and falls into the wrong universe. akira needs to make a concentrated effort to detach himself from goro even though he wants the simplest thing in the world: just one more unremarkable day with him. it's lose-lose..........,

also i liked drawing the tentacles in the last pic the freaking blue lines on them were SO satisfying to draw

edit: also the last page: the blood flooding the panel….. the idea of the ideal world being built off of the blood and sweat and tears and bodies of the people who could have been. of those lost in the actualization, of those destroyed, of those stitched together and brought back to life. all just for a little false happiness. goro sees it but akira doesn’t, and it’s a grim sight.