#unidentified rock formation

[sw5w]

Stay Close to Me

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:30:56

[therewillbenoromance]

A major geologic process that has affected the Moon's surface is impact cratering,[148] with craters formed when asteroids and comets collide with the lunar surface. There are estimated to be roughly 300,000 craters wider than 1 km (0.6 mi) on the Moon's near side.[149] Lunar craters exhibit a variety of forms, depending on their size. In order of increasing diameter, the basic types are simple craters with smooth bowl shaped interiors and upturned rims, complex craters with flat floors, terraced walls and central peaks, peak ring basins, and multi-ring basins with two or more concentric rings of peaks.[150] The vast majority of impact craters are circular, but some, like Cantor and Janssen, have more polygonal outlines, possibly guided by underlying faults and joints. Others, such as the Messier pair, Schiller, and Daniell, are elongated. Such elongation can result from highly oblique impacts, binary asteroid impacts, fragmentation of impactors before surface strike, or closely spaced secondary impacts.[151]

The lunar geologic timescale is based on the most prominent impact events, such as multi-ring formations like Nectaris, Imbrium, and Orientale that are between hundreds and thousands of kilometers in diameter and associated with a broad apron of ejecta deposits that form a regional stratigraphic horizon.[152] The lack of an atmosphere, weather, and recent geological processes mean that many of these craters are well-preserved. Although only a few multi-ring basins have been definitively dated, they are useful for assigning relative ages. Because impact craters accumulate at a nearly constant rate, counting the number of craters per unit area can be used to estimate the age of the surface.[152] However care needs to be exercised with the crater counting technique due to the potential presence of secondary craters. Ejecta from impacts can create secondary craters that often appear in clusters or chains but can also occur as isolated formations at a considerable distance from the impact. These can resemble primary craters, and may even dominate small crater populations, so their unidentified presence can distort age estimates.[153]

The radiometric ages of impact-melted rocks collected during the Apollo missions cluster between 3.8 and 4.1 billion years old: this has been used to propose a Late Heavy Bombardment period of increased impacts.[154]

High-resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in the 2010s show a contemporary crater-production rate significantly higher than was previously estimated. A secondary cratering process caused by distal ejecta is thought to churn the top two centimeters of regolith on a timescale of 81,000 years.[155][156] This rate is 100 times faster than the rate computed from models based solely on direct micrometeorite impacts.[157]

Lunar swirls

Main article: Lunar swirls

Wide-angle image of a lunar swirl, the 70-kilometer-long Reiner Gamma

Lunar swirls are enigmatic features found across the Moon's surface. They are characterized by a high albedo, appear optically immature (i.e. the optical characteristics of a relatively young regolith), and often have a sinuous shape. Their shape is often accentuated by low albedo regions that wind between the bright swirls. They are located in places with enhanced surface magnetic fields and many are located at the antipodal point of major impacts. Well known swirls include the Reiner Gamma feature and Mare Ingenii. They are hypothesized to be areas that have been partially shielded from the solar wind, resulting in slower space weathering.[158]

Presence of water

Main article: Lunar water

Liquid water cannot persist on the lunar surface. When exposed to solar radiation, water quickly decomposes through a process known as photodissociation and is lost to space. However, since the 1960s, scientists have hypothesized that water ice may be deposited by impacting comets or possibly produced by the reaction of oxygen-rich lunar rocks, and hydrogen from solar wind, leaving traces of water which could possibly persist in cold, permanently shadowed craters at either pole on the Moon.[159][160] Computer simulations suggest that up to 14,000 km2 (5,400 sq mi) of the surface may be in permanent shadow.[112] The presence of usable quantities of water on the Moon is an important factor in rendering lunar habitation as a cost-effective plan; the alternative of transporting water from Earth would be prohibitively expensive.[161]

In years since, signatures of water have been found to exist on the lunar surface.[162] In 1994, the bistatic radar experiment located on the Clementine spacecraft, indicated the existence of small, frozen pockets of water close to the surface. However, later radar observations by Arecibo, suggest these findings may rather be rocks ejected from young impact craters.[163] In 1998, the neutron spectrometer on the Lunar Prospector spacecraft showed that high concentrations of hydrogen are present in the first meter of depth in the regolith near the polar regions.[164] Volcanic lava beads, brought back to Earth aboard Apollo 15, showed small amounts of water in their interior.[165]

In 2008, NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper equipment on India's Chandrayaan-1 discovered, for the first time, water-rich minerals (shown in blue around a small crater from which they were ejected).

The 2008 Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft has since confirmed the existence of surface water ice, using the on-board Moon Mineralogy Mapper. The spectrometer observed absorption lines common to hydroxyl, in reflected sunlight, providing evidence of large quantities of water ice, on the lunar surface. The spacecraft showed that concentrations may possibly be as high as 1,000 ppm.[166] Using the mapper's reflectance spectra, indirect lighting of areas in shadow confirmed water ice within 20° latitude of both poles in 2018.[167] In 2009, LCROSS sent a 2,300 kg (5,100 lb) impactor into a permanently shadowed polar crater, and detected at least 100 kg (220 lb) of water in a plume of ejected material.[168][169] Another examination of the LCROSS data showed the amount of detected water to be closer to 155 ± 12 kg (342 ± 26 lb).[170]

In May 2011, 615–1410 ppm water in melt inclusions in lunar sample 74220 was reported,[171] the famous high-titanium "orange glass soil" of volcanic origin collected during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The inclusions were formed during explosive eruptions on the Moon approximately 3.7 billion years ago. This concentration is comparable with that of magma in Earth's upper mantle. Although of considerable selenological interest, this insight does not mean that water is easily available since the sample originated many kilometers below the surface, and the inclusions are so difficult to access that it took 39 years to find them with a state-of-the-art ion microprobe instrument.

Analysis of the findings of the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) revealed in August 2018 for the first time "definitive evidence" for water-ice on the lunar surface.[172][173] The data revealed the distinct reflective signatures of water-ice, as opposed to dust and other reflective substances.[174] The ice deposits were found on the North and South poles, although it is more abundant in the South, where water is trapped in permanently shadowed craters and crevices, allowing it to persist as ice on the surface since they are shielded from the sun.[172][174]

In October 2020, astronomers reported detecting molecular water on the sunlit surface of the Moon by several independent spacecraft, including the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).[175][176][177][178]

Orbit

Main articles: Orbit of the Moon, Lunar theory, Lunar orbit, and Cislunar space

A view of the rotating Earth and the far side of the Moon as the Moon passes on its orbit in between the observing DSCOVR satellite and Earth

The Earth and the Moon form the Earth–Moon satellite system with a shared center of mass, or barycenter. This barycenter is 1,700 km (1,100 mi) (about a quarter of Earth's radius) beneath the Earth's surface.

The Moon's orbit is slightly elliptical, with an orbital eccentricity of 0.055.[1] The semi-major axis of the geocentric lunar orbit, called the lunar distance, is approximately 400,000 km (250,000 miles or 1.28 light-seconds), comparable to going around Earth 9.5 times.[179]

The Moon makes a complete orbit around Earth with respect to the fixed stars, its sidereal period, about once every 27.3 days.[h] However, because the Earth–Moon system moves at the same time in its orbit around the Sun, it takes slightly longer, 29.5 days,[i][72] to return to the same lunar phase, completing a full cycle, as seen from Earth. This synodic period or synodic month is commonly known as the lunar month and is equal to the length of the solar day on the Moon.[180]

Due to tidal locking, the Moon has a 1:1 spin–orbit resonance. This rotation–orbit ratio makes the Moon's orbital periods around Earth equal to its corresponding rotation periods. This is the reason for only one side of the Moon, its so-called near side, being visible from Earth. That said, while the movement of the Moon is in resonance, it still is not without nuances such as libration, resulting in slightly changing perspectives, making over time and location on Earth about 59% of the Moon's surface visible from Earth.[181]

Unlike most satellites of other planets, the Moon's orbital plane is closer to the ecliptic plane than to the planet's equatorial plane. The Moon's orbit is subtly perturbed by the Sun and Earth in many small, complex and interacting ways. For example, the plane of the Moon's orbit gradually rotates once every 18.61 years,[182] which affects other aspects of lunar motion. These follow-on effects are mathematically described by Cassini's laws.[183]

Minimum, mean and maximum distances of the Moon from Earth with its angular diameter as seen from Earth's surface to scale

Tidal effects

Main articles: Tidal force, Tidal acceleration, Tide, and Theory of tides

Simplified diagram of Earth bulging, being pulled and streched toward the Moon by its gravity, which is the main driver of the tides. The Ocean and Earth are being pulled more where it is closer to the Moon, causing tidal forces to be weaker at the far-side of Earth creating a second bulge and high-tide. The animation shows the change of the Moon's position on its inclined orbit.

The gravitational attraction that Earth and the Moon (as well as the Sun) exert on each other manifests in a slightly greater attraction on the sides closest to each other, resulting in tidal forces. Ocean tides are the most widely experienced result of this, but tidal forces also considerably affect other mechanics of Earth, as well as the Moon and their system.

The lunar solid crust experiences tides of around 10 cm (4 in) amplitude over 27 days, with three components: a fixed one due to Earth, because they are in synchronous rotation, a variable tide due to orbital eccentricity and inclination, and a small varying component from the Sun.[184] The Earth-induced variable component arises from changing distance and libration, a result of the Moon's orbital eccentricity and inclination (if the Moon's orbit were perfectly circular and un-inclined, there would only be solar tides).[184] According to recent research, scientists suggest that the Moon's influence on the Earth may contribute to maintaining Earth's magnetic field.[185]

The cumulative effects of stress built up by these tidal forces produces moonquakes. Moonquakes are much less common and weaker than are earthquakes, although moonquakes can last for up to an hour – significantly longer than terrestrial quakes – because of scattering of the seismic vibrations in the dry fragmented upper crust. The existence of moonquakes was an unexpected discovery from seismometers placed on the Moon by Apollo astronauts from 1969 through 1972.[186]

The most commonly known effect of tidal forces is elevated sea levels called ocean tides.[187] While the Moon exerts most of the tidal forces, the Sun also exerts tidal forces and therefore contributes to the tides as much as 40% of the Moon's tidal force; producing in interplay the spring and neap tides.[187]

The tides are two bulges in the Earth's oceans, one on the side facing the Moon and the other on the side opposite. As the Earth rotates on its axis, one of the ocean bulges (high tide) is held in place "under" the Moon, while another such tide is opposite. The tide under the Moon is explained by the Moon's gravity being stronger on the water close to it. The tide on the opposite side can be explained either by the centrifugal force as the Earth orbits the barycenter or by the water's inertia as the Moon's gravity is stronger on the solid Earth close to it and it is pull away from the farther water.[188]

Thus, there are two high tides, and two low tides in about 24 hours.[187] Since the Moon is orbiting the Earth in the same direction of the Earth's rotation, the high tides occur about every 12 hours and 25 minutes; the 25 minutes is due to the Moon's time to orbit the Earth.

If the Earth were a water world (one with no continents) it would produce a tide of only one meter, and that tide would be very predictable, but the ocean tides are greatly modified by other effects:

the frictional coupling of water to Earth's rotation through the ocean floors

the inertia of water's movement

ocean basins that grow shallower near land

the sloshing of water between different ocean basins[189]

As a result, the timing of the tides at most points on the Earth is a product of observations that are explained, incidentally, by theory.

System evolution

Delays in the tidal peaks of both ocean and solid-body tides cause torque in opposition to the Earth's rotation. This "drains" angular momentum and rotational kinetic energy from Earth's rotation, slowing the Earth's rotation.[187][184] That angular momentum, lost from the Earth, is transferred to the Moon in a process known as tidal acceleration, which lifts the Moon into a higher orbit while lowering orbital speed around the Earth.

Thus the distance between Earth and Moon is increasing, and the Earth's rotation is slowing in reaction.[184] Measurements from laser reflectors left during the Apollo missions (lunar ranging experiments) have found that the Moon's distance increases by 38 mm (1.5 in) per year (roughly the rate at which human fingernails grow).[190][191][192] Atomic clocks show that Earth's Day lengthens by about 17 microseconds every year,[193][194][195] slowly increasing the rate at which UTC is adjusted by leap seconds.

This tidal drag makes the rotation of the Earth, and the orbital period of the Moon very slowly match. This matching first results in tidally locking the lighter body of the orbital system, as is already the case with the Moon. Theoretically, in 50 billion years,[196] the Earth's rotation will have slowed to the point of matching the Moon's orbital period, causing the Earth to always present the same side to the Moon. However, the Sun will become a red giant, most likely engulfing the Earth–Moon system long before then.[197][198]

If the Earth–Moon system isn't engulfed by the enlarged Sun, the drag from the solar atmosphere can cause the orbit of the Moon to decay. Once the orbit of the Moon closes to a distance of 18,470 km (11,480 mi), it will cross Earth's Roche limit, meaning that tidal interaction with Earth would break apart the Moon, turning it into a ring system. Most of the orbiting rings will begin to decay, and the debris will impact Earth. Hence, even if the Sun does not swallow up Earth, the planet may be left moonless

i think we're annoying like 60% of my mutuals /silly

Tachocline

Main article: Tachocline

The radiative zone and the convective zone are separated by a transition layer, the tachocline. This is a region where the sharp regime change between the uniform rotation of the radiative zone and the differential rotation of the convection zone results in a large shear between the two—a condition where successive horizontal layers slide past one another.[75] Presently, it is hypothesized that a magnetic dynamo, or solar dynamo, within this layer generates the Sun's magnetic field.[62]

Convective zone

Main article: Convection zone

The Sun's convection zone extends from 0.7 solar radii (500,000 km) to near the surface. In this layer, the solar plasma is not dense or hot enough to transfer the heat energy of the interior outward via radiation. Instead, the density of the plasma is low enough to allow convective currents to develop and move the Sun's energy outward towards its surface. Material heated at the tachocline picks up heat and expands, thereby reducing its density and allowing it to rise. As a result, an orderly motion of the mass develops into thermal cells that carry most of the heat outward to the Sun's photosphere above. Once the material diffusively and radiatively cools just beneath the photospheric surface, its density increases, and it sinks to the base of the convection zone, where it again picks up heat from the top of the radiative zone and the convective cycle continues. At the photosphere, the temperature has dropped 350-fold to 5,700 K (9,800 °F) and the density to only 0.2 g/m3 (about 1/10,000 the density of air at sea level, and 1 millionth that of the inner layer of the convective zone).[62]

The thermal columns of the convection zone form an imprint on the surface of the Sun giving it a granular appearance called the solar granulation at the smallest scale and supergranulation at larger scales. Turbulent convection in this outer part of the solar interior sustains "small-scale" dynamo action over the near-surface volume of the Sun.[62] The Sun's thermal columns are Bénard cells and take the shape of roughly hexagonal prisms.[76]

Photosphere

Main article: PhotosphereImage of the Sun's cell-like surface structures

The visible surface of the Sun, the photosphere, is the layer below which the Sun becomes opaque to visible light.[77] Photons produced in this layer escape the Sun through the transparent solar atmosphere above it and become solar radiation, sunlight. The change in opacity is due to the decreasing amount of H− ions, which absorb visible light easily.[77] Conversely, the visible light perceived is produced as electrons react with hydrogen atoms to produce H− ions.[78][79]

The photosphere is tens to hundreds of kilometers thick, and is slightly less opaque than air on Earth. Because the upper part of the photosphere is cooler than the lower part, an image of the Sun appears brighter in the center than on the edge or limb of the solar disk, in a phenomenon known as limb darkening.[77] The spectrum of sunlight has approximately the spectrum of a black-body radiating at 5,772 K (9,930 °F),[12] interspersed with atomic absorption lines from the tenuous layers above the photosphere. The photosphere has a particle density of ~1023 m−3 (about 0.37% of the particle number per volume of Earth's atmosphere at sea level). The photosphere is not fully ionized—the extent of ionization is about 3%, leaving almost all of the hydrogen in atomic form.[80]

Atmosphere

Main article: Stellar atmosphere

The Sun's atmosphere is composed of five layers: the photosphere, the chromosphere, the transition region, the corona, and the heliosphere.

The coolest layer of the Sun is a temperature minimum region extending to about 500 km above the photosphere, and has a temperature of about 4,100 K.[77] This part of the Sun is cool enough to allow for the existence of simple molecules such as carbon monoxide and water.[81] The chromosphere, transition region, and corona are much hotter than the surface of the Sun.[77] The reason is not well understood, but evidence suggests that Alfvén waves may have enough energy to heat the corona.[82]The Sun's transition region taken by Hinode's Solar Optical Telescope

Above the temperature minimum layer is a layer about 2,000 km thick, dominated by a spectrum of emission and absorption lines.[77] It is called the chromosphere from the Greek root chroma, meaning color, because the chromosphere is visible as a colored flash at the beginning and end of total solar eclipses.[74] The temperature of the chromosphere increases gradually with altitude, ranging up to around 20,000 K near the top.[77] In the upper part of the chromosphere helium becomes partially ionized.[83]

Above the chromosphere, in a thin (about 200 km) transition region, the temperature rises rapidly from around 20,000 K in the upper chromosphere to coronal temperatures closer to 1,000,000 K.[84] The temperature increase is facilitated by the full ionization of helium in the transition region, which significantly reduces radiative cooling of the plasma.[83] The transition region does not occur at a well-defined altitude, but forms a kind of nimbus around chromospheric features such as spicules and filaments, and is in constant, chaotic motion.[74] The transition region is not easily visible from Earth's surface, but is readily observable from space by instruments sensitive to extreme ultraviolet.[85]During a solar eclipse the solar corona can be seen with the naked eye during totality.

The corona is the next layer of the Sun. The low corona, near the surface of the Sun, has a particle density around 1015 m−3 to 1016 m−3.[83][e] The average temperature of the corona and solar wind is about 1,000,000–2,000,000 K; however, in the hottest regions it is 8,000,000–20,000,000 K.[84] Although no complete theory yet exists to account for the temperature of the corona, at least some of its heat is known to be from magnetic reconnection.[84][86] The corona is the extended atmosphere of the Sun, which has a volume much larger than the volume enclosed by the Sun's photosphere. A flow of plasma outward from the Sun into interplanetary space is the solar wind.[86]

The heliosphere, the tenuous outermost atmosphere of the Sun, is filled with solar wind plasma and is defined to begin at the distance where the flow of the solar wind becomes superalfvénic—that is, where the flow becomes faster than the speed of Alfvén waves,[87] at approximately 20 solar radii (0.1 AU). Turbulence and dynamic forces in the heliosphere cannot affect the shape of the solar corona within, because the information can only travel at the speed of Alfvén waves. The solar wind travels outward continuously through the heliosphere,[88][89] forming the solar magnetic field into a spiral shape,[86] until it impacts the heliopause more than 50 AU from the Sun. In December 2004, the Voyager 1 probe passed through a shock front that is thought to be part of the heliopause.[90] In late 2012, Voyager 1 recorded a marked increase in cosmic ray collisions and a sharp drop in lower energy particles from the solar wind, which suggested that the probe had passed through the heliopause and entered the interstellar medium,[91] and indeed did so on August 25, 2012, at approximately 122 astronomical units (18 Tm) from the Sun.[92] The heliosphere has a heliotail which stretches out behind it due to the Sun's peculiar motion through the galaxy.[93]

On April 28, 2021, NASA's Parker Solar Probe encountered the specific magnetic and particle conditions at 18.8 solar radii that indicated that it penetrated the Alfvén surface, the boundary separating the corona from the solar wind, defined as where the coronal plasma's Alfvén speed and the large-scale solar wind speed are equal.[94][95] During the flyby, Parker Solar Probe passed into and out of the corona several times. This proved the predictions that the Alfvén critical surface is not shaped like a smooth ball, but has spikes and valleys that wrinkle its surface.[94]Depiction of the heliosphere

[lmk-aus-galore]

Cinema Sins/Wins Rip Off of Lego Monkie Kid.

Yeah yeah I’m back folks, I just decided to take a looong break.

Inspired by @satansaidmyturnintheh3||scape

Rules:

-I won't be counting Animation Mistakes, because Idk how to do that, and I myself am a beginner animator (more like incredibly amateur, to the point I'm asking my sister for help) Unless of course the Animation is obviously and clearly having a mistake for me to watch.(Or it is said in the wiki) The other reason is because I don't want to keep repeating a scene just to check for an animation mistake.

-!This is mostly for entertainment purposes, sorry if I sound too mean!

-I also won't be counting flashbacks as 'mistakes' because most of them are based on bias.

-I'll be formatting it like this

-Neutral

-Sin

-Win

Let’s get started.

——————————————-

-Intro.

._.

-Love how you can see where Mei, Sandy and MK are in this scene.

-On the other hand why does Pigsy have a random game machine beside his shop? I know there are apartment buildings on top of said shop but in Season 2 he actively has authority to remove it.

-Secondly is MK currently on break at the moment or is he just, ‘slacking off’ judging by his clothes he should be currently working.

-Dragon Horse and Stone Monkey.

-Ah yes the underrated trio. Sandy, Mei and MK. Please tell me this group has a name.

-Bad time to call your daughter.

-The way Mei is so nervous to talk to her mother and the way she talks as if her mother doesn’t even give her enough time to explain, like I think Mei’s Mother is cutting her off at times here and it’s not really okay. It feels like Mei is talking to her boss than her Mom.

-Sandy for the win.

-The finishing move is a spin of the staff and a hit to the leg…wow MK.

-I really love how Sandy is just casually friends with these guys. Like these guys just met Sandy a few weeks ago and all of a sudden they said ‘Let’s be friends’

-Ok MK you should really get social cues…or at least let Mei get a word in-

-‘I always wanted to see Mei’s secret Dragon House full of secret Dragon stuff’ makes me wonder why no one believes in the Monkey King stories. Either that or why Mei isn’t being worshipped like a deity by now.

-Also MK, kinda creepy…but to be fair Mei put cameras on all of you…

-BRO THIS BULL CLONE HAS EVERYTHING ON HER?!

-Why does this Bull Clone pull out the same Two Pictures twice?

-Mei doesn’t smile in her photo, along with the rest of her family :(

-In fact she looks kinda restricted.

-Also Key detail, looks like Mei’s little green hair things are dyed!

-PIF confirms that Sha Wujing’s spear and Zhu Bajie’s rake are Celestial Weapons that later tie into Season 4

-We also have the Calabash, PIF’s fan, Wukong’s staff, Nezha’s spear and two of the Samadhi Fire Rings…though I think by this time of development this probably is Nezha’s little ring thingys in his shoes? Not really sure. The only one we don’t know about is the unidentified sword and the random rope.

-Also is she implying that her own fan is a powerful artifact? I guess that makes sense…?

-Why does PIF’s animation always stretch her or squish her I can’t take her seriously XD worse that it’s usually the face.

-Mei wanting to be a normal child is so sad. On the other hand why don’t we have more fanfics of Mei and her family dynamic? Come on people the angst is right there!

-When you think about it, the High-Tech security might’ve been the reason Mei became the ‘Tech Girl’ in the group. Since her family dabbles in High-Technology it’s only obvious she grew curious of that stuff.

-On the other note, what’s with Ancient families and suddenly getting a grasp at handling High-Technology? Like bro Red Son and Mei have so many parallels to each other it’s insane.

-MEI THIS IS WHY YOU DONT LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN.

-You know Red Son you might need to double down in calling Mei a peasant because uhh…wow, the place is huge.

-Mei’s room doesn’t have a door, which shows how shitty these people actually are.

-Also Mei has a lot of rock aesthetic posters, including one with a spider meaning Mei canonically had a rock phase. That or a goth phase so goth Mei is probably canon.

-Why I thought of rock is because of the two sets of guitars she has, one being an electric guitar.

-Mei also has a skateboard indicating she used to skate.

-She has an indoor TV with two game controllers (Why didn’t they just play in her bedroom?)

-And finally she has some things I think her parents would’ve given her such has the pony statue and the meditation carpet on the floor.

-Also apparently she plays the piano? Or is that even a piano?

-The legend of Mei’s sword is kinda cool actually.

-WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH IT?! HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO GETS TO WEILD IT THEN?!

-I have a feeling I know why no one has been able to hold that sword in like…ever (They all look so mean)

-‘You two boot up the old TV!’ What TV? There is literally no TV there? Is there a TV off-screen? Even so where would you put said TV? And again, why not your room?

-MK control your strength- how the hell does that even happen?

-Bull Clone literally just yeeted his hat at him.

-Said Bull Clone took the precious Dragon Sword despite the fact that he was struggling to get it off the statue

-Mei calls her Motorcycle like a horse, get it? Dragon Horse?

-Okay now I don’t blame MK I think that pinball machine is old. BECAUSE HOW DOES THAT JUST HAPPEN?!

-Mei this house should at LEAST take up a whole acre, HOW BIG IS YOUR HOUSE?!

-Mei fixing her bike is while she is chasing the Bull Clone is badass as hell. We do not talk about her enough.

-Pro tip: Never mess with Mei.

-This is why we need to give this family some doubt, okay if literally all her ancestors are dissing her and insulting her to her face because of the way she acts then maybe you shouldn’t turn a blind eye.

-‘You know what I am part of this family! I am Mei! Descendant of the Great Dragon of the West Sea, this is mine! And this is my House!” You go girl, show these guys a what you’re made of!

-A very good take on Mei accepting who she is despite her family’s expectations on her. She’s part of the family but she knows that she needs to stand up for herself. Good bravo.

-IS IT JUST ME OR IS THAT THING BIGGER THAN NORMAL?!

-I wonder what the parents’ reaction was, Holy cow this might’ve been QUITE the sight.

-Yep that Bull Clone is straight up dead.

-MK I think that machine is really just old.

-Lol, Sandy making sure MK doesn’t lose focus.

-‘Somebody forgot our luggage’ then she stares directly at the dad and said dad doesn’t give a damn.

-The fact that Mei has to apologize first before getting praised is messed up as hell. If someone is trying to steal a really powerful relic such as that, then obviously it’s gonna be chaos, but the fact she has to apologize first before they acknowledge she did something good is messed up.

-But to be fair I think they do love Mei, really, but the way they parent just icks me.

-And Mei’s mom sounds like she pulled that whole talk out from google.

-Mei’s dad sounds…familiar hold up-

-KNEW I HEARD THAT VOICE SOMEWHERE. (Also apparently Mei’s mom is the same VA as Mei, so Stephanie Steph is just talking to herself)

-Poor MK…

[nexoking68]

Prologue: Wishing Star

It was a sunset-lit evening off the coast of a beach town…

“Rob, stop!”, Naobi said while laughing. “Come on…It’ll be fun!” Robert said excitedly. They had both come home from their jobs, Med School and Farm work respectively, and were both enjoying the Friday night festivities they had planned for the night.

“Come on…not here…what if someone sees us?” Naobi said, her worry starting to boil over.

“Why not here? We've got this whole beach to ourselves! Robert exclaimed as they both had been looking forward to this day for months.

Naobi relented as she unpacked from the large backpack she was carrying, it was a tent, and a few other camping supplies. Robert also had a large backpack, containing supplies used mostly for food preparation, such as a pot and a portable campfire. They had been prepping to see a meteor shower that was about to happen a couple of minutes from then.

They retold some of the monotonous mishaps from their respective places of work as Robert made curry and rice.” After some waiting, the show was finally about to begin.

It was truly bedazzling. All the meteorites danced across the starry sky. “Wow, this is so amazing!,” Naobi exclaimed, “Especially that one!” Naobi points to a blue glowing meteorite that seems to be almost burning. “Yeah, it's really pretty! Almost like it's headed right towards us…” Robert replied, mildly concerned. “Yeah it's coming awfully close…”, Naobi said with a genuine sense of fear.

Naobi and Robert quickly ran toward the surrounding forest to avoid the blast of the free-falling meteorite. The burning meteorite reached the beach, and crashed violently into the water, causing tendrils of water to encircle the oval-shaped meteorite, elegantly illuminated by the full moon.

Naobi viewed this as an exploration opportunity and slowly stepped out of the forest to investigate this strange occurrence.

“Naobi! What are you doing!?” Robert whispered panickedly, scared that his wife was about to set off a possible nuclear bomb in the name of science. Though reluctantly, he eventually follows her.

When the water finally settled, a small crater of sorts in which blue crystal formations grew rapidly. Within the crater, there lay a large oval shaped stone with sharp crystal formations jutting out of the stone, with a star shape in the center, the same color as the surrounding crystal.

“Wha-what is that…It looks like an…egg…” Robert said in bewilderment.

Naobi came closer to this “egg” and went to touch it, “It feels…almost warm…like it's water flowing…I must study this!”

Robert questioned her sanity ever so slightly as he started panicking once again.

“Oh my God…this thing just came from the sky, sharp spikes coming out of it, you just said it feels water…and you want to take it home!?” Robert said, trying not to yell to his wife, “For all we know, we could hit a street crack and this thing just detonates!”

“Would you rather someone else find this supposed bomb?” Naobi said, subconsciously but fully ready to beg on her knees for this weird rock with a strange rhythm occurring within it.

“Hmmmm” Robert murmured, strained-like, knowing he's really got not much competition in this argument. “Come on…for me?” Naobi pleads, knowing she's got him hook-line and sinker.

“Fine…could you at least keep it in place with some towels under it,” Robert said, defeated.

Naobi immediately packed both of their bags and carried them to where they had parked their car, swaddling the stone-egg-geode thing and setting it ever so gently.

A few minutes later, they had returned home, Naobi cradling this unidentified object, the two had opened the door to find Lonnie, their 4 year old son, had gotten out of bed and had been fiddling with the remote, and somehow wound up on a very adult channel.

“Mommy, Daddy!” Lonnie exclaimed happily to his wide eyed parents.

“OKAY! Hey little buddy! Why don't we watch something else?” Robert negotiated with his sweet innocent son.

Naobi was still cringing at this crude content as Robert gave her the thumbs up that he would keep Lonnie distracted, while she walked out, stone oval in tow.

Naobi walked over to the garage, she opened the massive door to reveal her own personal lab, giant aquarium pictures and little picture frames of her family are scattered around. All the general lab equipment, microscopes, incubators, petri dishes, a centrifuge-her personal favorite, and action figures from when lonnie played in the lab a couple days ago.

“Ok strange object…”, Naobi sets it down on a table, puts on gloves and protective goggles, and whips out her trusty recorder and notebook, “Just what are you…”

Naobi performs her first test and first log…

Log Date #1 Time: 9:30 PM

Hello, This is Naobi Hutchinson reporting. Earlier this evening, during the meteor shower of May 14th, this strange, large, and relatively oval shaped stone, with sharp crystal protrusions piercing out from within its surface came into my possession. Judging by its faint glow, its approximately 67 degrees Fahrenheit temperature, and a beating rhythm from inside…I have reason to believe that this might be an egg of sorts! During this log I will be recording this egg's progress while I perform further tests.

Log Date #5 Time: 12:02 AM

Astounding! Brilliant! Absolutely Dazzling!

After spending just 1 hour within the incubator, I can feel the heartbeat within! The internal temperature shot up to 84 degrees fahrenheit, showing that this organism shows signs of life when warmed up! Whatever this organism is…it will make history…

Log Date #12 Time: 5:59 AM

A quite sad update…The egg suddenly stopped showing any signs of life…even despite my best efforts…or how many times I tried to resuscitate it…it seems to have died in the egg. I don’t know how this happened, the egg started burning brightly at a scorching 103 degrees fahrenheit, when all of a sudden the glow was confined to the star shaped gem in the middle…and then the heart beat stopped…I bet this was just a special effects thing…but why did it burn…This is Naobi Hutchinson…signing off…

Naobi fell asleep…dejected.

When the alarm clock struck 6:00 AM, the egg started glowing dimly again, cracks started forming around its surface, the pieces started breaking and chipping off. Suddenly it burst open to reveal a blue, large, two horned, and furry creature with the tail of a fish and the wings of a dragon…that crawled out of the broken shell and jumped down on all fours to the floor below as it scurried into the shadows…

When Naobi woke up again, the sun glaring in her eyes, she saw that her lab had been ravaged, but to her shock, the egg had hatched!

“YES! I knew it!” She exclaimed, but she quickly came to her senses to realize that the animal that caused the damage to her lab was likely what came out of the egg, and even more frighteningly, the claw marks and bites looked massive and were covered by that same crystal protruding out of the egg.

“Oh no…”.

She then heard a rummaging sound coming from a far corner of her disheveled lab, the creature that hatched from the egg was in her mini fridge. The creature was huge, its cruel tail flipping around, as it devoured her snacks.

Naobis fear instincts kicked in as she realized that this specimen was a lot larger than what she previously thought, given the size of the egg, and judging from how this thing was eating…she figured it was a matter of time before it developed a taste for her. She cautiously walked backwards to retrieve her ol’ reliable: Her baseball bat named Lord Anders the 2nd.

“Come on! Get out of there! You wouldn’t believe how much all that stuff cost!” Naobi said, confused as to whether or not she was scared of this large animal, or angry that her snack stash had been thoroughly raided.

Either way, she got what she had wanted, the monster’s attention, Naobi was sweating as she took a breath and held Anders in a batter's position. The creature started crawling slowly towards her…its claws seeming to make a grating sound, as its tail is up and waving back and forth. Naobi growled as if to intimidate this creature as she thought the creature was doing to her. The creature widened its eyes and its tail started wagging even faster as it started crawling even faster towards her. As the creature emerged from the shadows and Naobi was about to swing Anders across this monster's head…she came to find out that this creature…was actually a small, blue, furry, draconic alien.

I decided I should post this to tumblr, I wrote this a while back and I just recently unearthed it!

Tell me what you think!

Robert is a heavy set botanist with a beard, has Autism, has a slight southern accent, and he’s a hugger, Caucasian

Naomi is an ADHD Queen, she’s a doctor, and she’s also been in the local newspaper for her works in the STEM field, African American

[archiveoftheodd]

Happy Found Fiction Friday!

Go read Birdwatching Notebook Found on Colorado Trailhead by Gabrielle Bleu on our website.

Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Colorado Springs, January 12, 2019 Steller’s Jay (1) *Black-capped Chickadees (heard chicka-dee-dee-dee calls x 12 discreet times) (saw 15 or 20) *House Finch (8) (5 males; red heads) *Unidentified call (x 1 times) (shrill) *Rock Doves hanging out on red stone formations (maybe 2 dozen?) *Swallows flitting out of the little holes and pockmarks in the stone (20 or 30) Notes: Not sure what kind of swallows I saw. Barn, maybe?

[markonpark]

Peak Posers: Vintage snapshot photo of three women posed atop an unidentified rock formation. https://markonpark.etsy.com/listing/1549286070

[mariacallous]

An explosive device reportedly detonated in the entrance of a Moscow apartment complex on Monday morning, injuring multiple people and killing the head of a Russian paramilitary unit. The incident echoes the December death of Russian chemical weapons chief Igor Kirillov, who was killed by an explosive device attached to a scooter. Here’s what we know about the apparent assassination.

An explosion rocked a high-end Moscow apartment complex on the morning of February 3. According to the Telegram channel Baza, which has ties to Russian law enforcement, an improvised explosive device detonated in the building’s entrance. State media outlet RIA Novosti described the blast as being caused by an “unidentified explosive device.”

The explosion reportedly killed at least one person and injured multiple others. The Telegram channels VChK-OGPU and 112, citing a doorman’s account, reported that the blast occurred as a resident entered the complex with security guards. The doorman claimed to have previously “seen this person on TV.”

The newspaper Kommersant, which also published the doorman’s claims, identified the individual as Armen Sarkisyan, head of the Boxing Federation of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” and founder of the Russian military’s Arbat Battalion. Kommersant and the state news agency TASS, as well as the Telegram channels Baza and Mash, later reported that Sarkisyan died from his injuries.

The latest reports indicate that four other people were injured in the blast. The Moscow Health Department described their condition as severe. Mash identified three of the injured as Sergey Shkryabatovsky, Darya Karseladze, and Oleg Kaspirovich.

The Russian Investigative Committee announced that a criminal case has been opened in connection with the explosion. According to Kommersant, authorities are investigating it as a case of murder or attempted murder of two or more persons.

In December 2024, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) announced it had launched a criminal case against Sarkisyan, identifying him as a criminal authority with close ties to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. The agency alleged that after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Russian military tasked Sarkisyan with forming the Arbat Battalion, which included “repeat offenders convicted of serious crimes.” According to the SBU, the battalion initially operated near the Ukrainian city of Toretsk before being moved to Russia’s embattled Kursk region. Sarkisyan was accused of voluntarily participating in illegal armed formations and assisting an aggressor state.

[the-real-satan-the-devil-of-hell]

I want you to remember this you souless heathen. Knowledge is endless, right.

Do we know if we run on or require electricity for our human body to run (as in electricity itself to charge us)?. As far as we know, no. Is there a cure for cancer, as of right now? No.

Now. There is a reason for this part here below.

You were born,out of your mother womb into this... Shitty gods' or big bang creation of earth. You weren't created like we create ai in the sense of knowing every little detail (the ins and outs), starting from scratch etc. we don't know how much storage a human has or equals too.

You little puny human, grew up. You evolved, you learned things. Like draw, science, maths etc. What is required for you to function? How much food do you need? How long can you survive?

Puny humans are efficient(keyword here). You were born very efficient.

Take your eyes. Let's say it takes a picture of what you see. What file format?. Let say raw. It captures every detail that is visible ax1at that position. File size is less than a byte. That kind of efficient.

A smartphone or camera can take a raw image (dng, nef etc). It's owns way of capturing (different lens, bayer pattern etc). That raw image, at the moment, contain large amounts of potentially redundant data. Size between 10 mb to 30+ mb for a single raw image. It's not as efficient as the way humans process it.

Now. I want stupid ai to generate a realistic image of 1971 Dodge Challenger.

First I going to create the ai. I have train the ai on data in order to create the prompt. It require data such as millions of images of 1971 Dodge Challenger. Remember how the image was take, what it contains and size of those images. And, if I want to generate random (like from different angles), take from different sides/angles.

The details of the images is not as full as the eyes see an actual 1971 Dodge Challenger.

The amount of data(size) is huge. The file formats are not efficient to where like 1kb contain the entire information of a 1971 Dodge Challenger car as like real scale model. More than millions of petrabytes of data stored on like a server. All just for ai to output with just a mediocre image of just 1971 Dodge Challenger. That's it.

Face swap. Put perfect scrumptious Chris Pratt face over mother's dog disgusting Eloné Muskay's face. The current hardware such rtx 4090 and i9 14th gen. About 1-2 weeks of training to then use that data to start outputting a 5 second video. And it's mediocre and not good enough for me to want to use the ai.

I'll do it myself as I have the necessary tools, eyes, brain etc. to do it and I am efficient at it as well as efficient at using my body's resources. I can cut out frame by frame, I can use little amounts of images etc. all by hand. It may take a while but the results are much better.

Heck, if there is a new unidentified object/thing and not much in our current huge ever growing collection knowledge of information can help us identify it, how the fuck is ai going to identify it. What?, then name the fat bug-like monster with juicy ass, "glorksi cockupiss" or this rock-mermaid-like "titty titty clang clang". Let me real here.

it's to much data, size, storage, hardware, hardware upgrade etc. and I mean way to much. It's not even possible for the hardware requirements yet, to output any prompt, for even one person, that would be worth using/pleasing/realistic.

Now imagine a million prompts per hour. The amount of storage. It's beyond yottabytes of training data. Constantly upgrading storage for more space every second. You would have to build a robot that would run so fast. Faster than flash. Faster than saving Barry's mom before Barry (aka flash).

Huge hardware servers. Extreme amount of cost every second that they would have to shut the ai down and bankrupting the company.

You humans are efficient. You guys take your time. There is a reason things are still around like Tumblr. There is enough time for advancement in storage and hardware etc. , for the companies to upgrade and keep up with us (our posting, our work etc.)

Ai is useless ass shit that is so inefficient.

AI hasn't improved in 18 months. It's likely that this is it. There is currently no evidence the capabilities of ChatGPT will ever improve. It's time for AI companies to put up or shut up.

I'm just re-iterating this excellent post from Ed Zitron, but it's not left my head since I read it and I want to share it. I'm also taking some talking points from Ed's other posts. So basically:

We keep hearing AI is going to get better and better, but these promises seem to be coming from a mix of companies engaging in wild speculation and lying.

Chatgpt, the industry leading large language model, has not materially improved in 18 months. For something that claims to be getting exponentially better, it sure is the same shit.

Hallucinations appear to be an inherent aspect of the technology. Since it's based on statistics and ai doesn't know anything, it can never know what is true. How could I possibly trust it to get any real work done if I can't rely on it's output? If I have to fact check everything it says I might as well do the work myself.

For "real" ai that does know what is true to exist, it would require us to discover new concepts in psychology, math, and computing, which open ai is not working on, and seemingly no other ai companies are either.

Open ai has already seemingly slurped up all the data from the open web already. Chatgpt 5 would take 5x more training data than chatgpt 4 to train. Where is this data coming from, exactly?

Since improvement appears to have ground to a halt, what if this is it? What if Chatgpt 4 is as good as LLMs can ever be? What use is it?

As Jim Covello, a leading semiconductor analyst at Goldman Sachs said (on page 10, and that's big finance so you know they only care about money): if tech companies are spending a trillion dollars to build up the infrastructure to support ai, what trillion dollar problem is it meant to solve? AI companies have a unique talent for burning venture capital and it's unclear if Open AI will be able to survive more than a few years unless everyone suddenly adopts it all at once. (Hey, didn't crypto and the metaverse also require spontaneous mass adoption to make sense?)

There is no problem that current ai is a solution to. Consumer tech is basically solved, normal people don't need more tech than a laptop and a smartphone. Big tech have run out of innovations, and they are desperately looking for the next thing to sell. It happened with the metaverse and it's happening again.

In summary:

Ai hasn't materially improved since the launch of Chatgpt4, which wasn't that big of an upgrade to 3.

There is currently no technological roadmap for ai to become better than it is. (As Jim Covello said on the Goldman Sachs report, the evolution of smartphones was openly planned years ahead of time.) The current problems are inherent to the current technology and nobody has indicated there is any way to solve them in the pipeline. We have likely reached the limits of what LLMs can do, and they still can't do much.

Don't believe AI companies when they say things are going to improve from where they are now before they provide evidence. It's time for the AI shills to put up, or shut up.

[bigfootbeat]

1985 North Carolina Bigfoot Sighting

On June 15, 1985, a 12-year-old boy was exploring a secluded mountain route in Franklin, North Carolina, when he came upon an unidentified bipedal creature in what would turn out to be a life-altering event. The young witness was living with his family at their cabin near the Cullasaja Gorge on Walnut Creek Road, which is close to the boundary of the Nantahala National Forest. Jeff Carpenter, a BFRO researcher, looked into the witness's account and found that the encounter happened on a clear summer day at around 2:00 PM. The creature was squatting by a creek crossing, presumably scavenging in the water, when the child, who was wearing a safety whistle as requested by his parents, walked along an old logging road. The witness described a brown-haired, roughly seven-foot-tall figure with noticeably lengthy limbs and broad shoulders. The child was especially surprised by the creature's apparent absence of a neck. The witness, frozen in terror for a few moments, finally hurried down the mountain, whistling frantically as the creature rose and turned its head toward him. It was theorized this was a Bigfoot. The witness was adamant that the creature was neither a bear nor any other known local fauna, despite his family's efforts to persuade him that he had seen something else. Steep terrain, mountain streams, caves, and rock formations define the area, which is well-known for its varied wildlife, which includes deer, turkey, wild boar, and crayfish. Despite not conducting any additional investigation at the time of the incident, the witness's recollection of the incident has remained unclouded for years.

Source: https://bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=44354

[gossip-witch]

There’s something so exclusive about parties in the city during the summer. So intimate — with no unwanted guests. Well, or at least, almost no unwanted guests. And before social climbers and Elite-wannabes feel alluded, I’m talking about the paparazzi. Not that we don’t like to have our pictures taken, but it’s become increasingly obvious just how jobless and bored they are because they’ve been hounding the few people in town worth talking about — and even some unworthy ones like the Oliviers.

But summer and the beach go hand in hand, and I could never completely forsake the shore unlike that heartthrob actor D. Did you know he abandoned a lavish spread in the Hamptons (yes, he’s staying Stateside lately) to spend a steaming-hot summer in sticky London. Now that’s dedication.

Needless to say, across the pond we do things a bit differently. Admit it or not, here we like the whole royalty thing — especially a certain heir to the throne and his intellectual and super classy younger sister or most importantly, that French Empress we all know and adore. But I digress. Now that Wimbledon is over, I’m thinking of leaving town — no more of this popping back and forth on charter jets and helicopters. I know I said that things don’t get cooking in Capri for a while and I usually wait until August to hunker down for the season, but I’ve been getting reports about some intriguing activity out on the island. I might have to check it out myself. It’s so hard to be me: how can I be in two places — or three or four or five — at once?

But while I’ve got your attention, let’s check in on a few of our favorite people.…

A new couple?

There has been some speculation that the relationship between those two totally platonic “friends” is not just a school besties situation anymore. How shall we put it? Apparently, there’s romance involved. What’s the evidence, you might ask? My loyal sources report our Golden Boy and his darling “friend” D have been caught wearing matching, unidentified designer rings — details are scarce but we totally saw T flaunting what seems to be an alliance ring at the Royal Box in Wimbledon. And though many of D’s delusional fans don’t seem to be willing to give their blessings to the couple yet, we’re all here for it. Can’t you just picture them, cuddling on the sofa, trading their Gucci and Chanel, and just being absolutely adorbs?

And speaking of Wimbledon 

Is our favorite chanteur finally playing the Princess’ husband-to-be part? If we go by his most recent public appearance, we’d dare to say ouais! Our darling superstar was spotted at the Royal Box in Wimbledon catching the men’s finals. Yours truly and her private circle are still debating whether he was invited by HRH The Prince of Wales himself or if our PR Queen J just pulled some strings, but it was a start! Little M still has a lot to learn — he looked like a new money kid on his first day at Eton, dressed in an ugly Ralph Lauren suit and that lost expression — but we’ll forgive him just this once. Here are a few tips, M. Whoever respects themselves would never lounge at the Ralph Lauren private suite. And next time you try the GRWM format, skip the trad-wife-style voice-over, yours and Little T’s fans will thank you for it. 

L’été exotique

Last but not least, our dearest Empress and her hubby S are nowhere to be found. Rumor has it they’ve been holing up in a super exclusive and exotic private island that not even their closest friends M and J know the location of. It’s frankly a shame. We’d do nearly anything to see our Empress rock her summer wardrobe. 

But don’t think I’ll give up so easily.  I’m going to stay on the case and get some answers. It is, after all, my summer job, and I’m the hardest worker I know. 

Someone’s got to do it.

You know you love me,

XOXO,

— GOSSIP WITCH

[xasha777]

In the heart of the Bismarck Range, a remote and forbidding mountain range known for its rugged terrain and impenetrable forests, a team of scientists from Trinity College Dublin embarked on an unprecedented expedition. Led by Dr. Elena Kavanagh, a renowned xenobiologist, the team sought to uncover the secrets of a newly discovered cave system that emitted strange, unidentifiable signals.

The team consisted of experts from various fields: Dr. Liam O'Sullivan, a geologist; Dr. Aisling Murphy, an astrobiologist; and Dr. Conor Fitzpatrick, an engineer specializing in advanced robotics. Alongside them were a group of highly sophisticated androids, designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the Bismarck Range and assist in their research.

After weeks of grueling travel, the team finally reached the cave's entrance. As they ventured deeper into the darkness, they relied on the androids' advanced sensors to guide them. The walls of the cave were lined with an unknown, bioluminescent fungus that bathed the cavern in an eerie green glow. The further they went, the stronger the signals became, until they stumbled upon a massive underground chamber.

In the center of the chamber stood an ancient, alien monolith, covered in intricate carvings and pulsating with a faint, otherworldly light. As Dr. Kavanagh approached the monolith, she felt a strange, almost magnetic pull towards it. The androids' sensors began to pick up unprecedented readings, indicating the presence of a powerful, non-terrestrial energy source.

Suddenly, the monolith began to emit a low, resonant hum. The air grew thick with a palpable sense of dread as the ground beneath them started to tremble. From the shadows emerged a creature unlike anything they had ever seen. It was monstrous, with a twisted, sinewy body, glowing yellow eyes, and a maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. Its movements were swift and unnatural, as if it existed just outside the boundaries of their reality.

The creature let out a deafening roar, and the team quickly realized they were facing an entity of immense power and malevolence. The androids immediately formed a defensive perimeter, their advanced weaponry trained on the beast. Dr. Kavanagh and her team scrambled to find a way to contain the creature, using every resource at their disposal.

Dr. O'Sullivan's geological expertise allowed him to identify a series of unstable rock formations that could potentially trap the creature. With the androids providing cover, Dr. Fitzpatrick and Dr. Murphy worked together to rig a series of explosive charges. As the creature lunged towards them, the team detonated the explosives, causing a massive cave-in that sealed the monster within the chamber.

Breathless and shaken, the team regrouped at the cave's entrance. The monolith's energy readings had ceased, and the signals they had been tracking were no longer detectable. Dr. Kavanagh knew that they had only just begun to scratch the surface of the mysteries hidden within the Bismarck Range.

Returning to Trinity College Dublin, the team shared their findings with the scientific community. Their discovery of the alien monolith and the horrifying creature became the subject of intense study and debate. The expedition raised more questions than answers, challenging humanity's understanding of life, the universe, and the potential threats lurking in the uncharted corners of our world.

As Dr. Kavanagh stood before a packed lecture hall, she concluded her presentation with a solemn warning: "The Bismarck Range holds secrets that defy our comprehension. We must proceed with caution, for we have seen firsthand the horrors that await those who dare to delve too deeply into the unknown."

[lsd-lovelysweetdream]

a dream from april 2023 - sea serpent

I am standing under a broad leafy tree, like an oak or maple tree with bright green leaves. It is a sunny day, and I am in a nice suburban neighborhood. The tree is wide but low, the lowest branches only a few inches above eye level. I am standing in a crowd comprised of young people. One of them is a specific guy I was friends with as a child. I have a book in my hands, an antique hardcover with age-yellowed pages. It has architectural sketches of classic-style stone buildings, like you might see in a Victorian English city or historic New England town. I look up at the architecture around me. It is modern. The buildings incorporate glass and steel and some unidentifiable laminate or something. I remark to my friend how ugly I find modern architecture in comparison to classical stone buildings. I, him, and a few others break away from the crowd and go walking. There is a church nearby, and we are heading toward it. It is old and made of brick, and more appealing to my taste in architecture. It is a very strange church - just a single circular tower, very tall. With the tower still a long ways off, we are walking down a long steady decline in the asphalt road which is bordered tightly on either side by high, very very high brick walls. Against the wall on the right leans a ladder. I start to ascend the ladder, and the others climb with me. The wall is wide and high, inset with uniform rows of identical windows all the way across and all the way up. It looks like the side of a hotel or apartment building. There are also mossy rock outcroppings intersecting the wall, as if the building were built around them, without regard for these extremely craggy and uneven geological formations. The rock formations remind me of Scottish Highlands. I climb off the ladder and onto one of these rock forms. Then I climb in through the nearest window. Inside is a hallway. A row of outward-looking windows makes up one wall, and a series of doors to individual rooms make up the other. There is another hallway that runs away perpendicular to this one, forming a T shape. The other people have climbed in through the window and now stand with me in the hallway. There are several aquariums in the hallway. The smallest one, a rectangular prism, taller than it is wide, is fitted to a stand that brings its base to about waist height. The tank stands at the convex corner where one hallways runs away from the other. There are a few plants and small tropical fish inside the tank. Around the outside of the small aquarium is a planter growing decorative plants. At the corner opposite there are large windows through which I can see the interior of a darkened room. Inside I can dimly view another glass aquarium, much larger. There are bigger fish inside. Between the two corners, taking up a large area of the floor at the entrance to the second hallway, is a third, even larger, free-standing glass aquarium with schools of fish inside. There is another component to it, at its rear side - a wide, low, glass-walled pool. The water's surface is open to the air. At the bottom of the pool is a layer of light-colored sand, which can be seen in cross section through the glass walls. The water is only a little over a foot deep. In this pool lives an aquatic serpent. It is about eight feet long, with skin that looks smooth like the skin of a stingray. The serpent is very friendly. It lifts its head under the palm of my hand like a dog that wants to be petted. Its skin is smooth when you run your hand down its length, but rough and will graze your skin if rubbed the other way. It hurts a little, but it is hard to only pet the serpent the right way when it keeps moving around playfully. It has splotchy black, white, and yellow coloration, a snake-like head, and a long, featureless body. I think there was a sign saying not to pet the serpent, but it seemed to like being petted very much.

I dream about aquariums or strange aquatic creatures more often than I dream about anything else.

[spacenutspod]

From ancient cannibalism to stars made of dark matter, 2023 delivered several scientific claims that could shake up their fields — if they shape up to be true. Spark of life Early life on Earth may have gotten a boost from giant volcanic eruptions. A new look at debris from 10 eruptions millions of years ago suggests they contained a lot of nitrate that formed in the atmosphere (SN: 6/3/23, p. 7). The eruptions could have triggered fierce lightning that ripped apart molecular nitrogen, freeing nitrogen atoms to bond with other elements and form molecules useful to life — including nitrate. The same process may have happened billions of years ago, some scientists say, producing ingredients for early life. Scientists will need to account for the different chemical makeup of primordial Earth’s atmosphere to bolster that claim. Butchered bone Purported tool marks on a 1.45-million-year-old fossilized leg offer the oldest evidence of cannibalism among humans’ ancient relatives, researchers contend (SN: 8/12/23, p. 10). The marks on the bone, found in Kenya, could have been made by some unidentified hominid using a stone tool to carve muscle away from the shin of another hominid. But a few bone nicks do not cannibal table scraps make, some paleoanthropologists say. A roughly 1.45-million-year-old hominid leg fossil bears what some scientists say are stone-tool incisions, shown in a magnified view (right). The claim that this evidence points to hominids butchering one another is controversial.JENNIFER CLARK Overgrown galaxies A handful of galaxies from the very early universe are up to 100 times as massive as expected, data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope suggest (SN: 3/25/23, p. 14). The hefty galaxies not only challenge the idea that matter clumped together slowly over the universe’s lifetime, but also hint at some unknown way to fast-track galaxy formation. But the galaxies’ weights and distances must be confirmed with more detailed analyses of their light before astronomers rewrite cosmic history. These images from the James Webb Space Telescope zoom in on six bright, red, extremely distant galaxies that appear to be too massive to exist.I. LABBÉ/SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, CSA, ESA, NASA.  IMAGE PROCESSING: G. BRAMMER/NIELS BOHR INSTITUTE’S COSMIC DAWN CENTER/UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN Thymus rethink The thymus may not be inconsequential for adult health after all (SN: 8/26/23, p. 7). This immune system organ between the lungs is most active in childhood and withers with age, so it is often considered expendable in adulthood. In a study of more than 2,000 adults who had chest surgery, however, researchers reported that removing the thymus gland was associated with higher rates of death and of cancer within the next few years. Why thymus removal might be harmful remains unclear. The thymus (orange in this illustration) is an immune system organ that sits between the lungs, right in front of and above the heart. This gland might be more important for adult health than previously thought.JANULLA/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS Dead and buried? Honoring the dead may not be unique to big-brained hominids like Homo sapiens and Neandertals. Homo naledi, which lived around the same time as early H. sapiens but had an orange-sized brain, intentionally buried bodies in an underground South African cave, a group of researchers claims (SN: 7/1/23, p. 6). Other experts remain unconvinced, though. The supposedly buried bodies, which predate the earliest evidence of H. sapiens and Neandertal burials by 160,000 years, could have fallen through cave shafts or been washed by water into natural depressions in cave floors, skeptics say.  A proposed grave including the remains of an adult Homo naledi is shown in this reconstruction.L. Berger et al/bioRxiv.org 2023 Rocked to the core Separate studies both based on earthquake data are shaking up geologists’ concept of Earth’s heart. The solid inner core not only rotates but also appears to switch the direction of rotation relative to the mantle and crust every few decades (SN: 2/25/23, p. 7). The inner core may also have a secret chamber (SN: 4/8/23, p. 17). Other data, however, hint that the inner core reverses every few years or does not rotate at all. And the supposed discovery of the innermost core hinges on a type of seismic wave that bounces around Earth’s interior, becoming weaker and more difficult to detect with every bounce. Thankfully, whatever is going on down there does not seem to endanger life on the surface. Powerful earthquakes, such as one that occurred in 2018 in Alaska, can send seismic waves reverberating through Earth’s center (illustrated). Such waves reveal an innermost layer to the inner core, researchers say.DREW WHITEHOUSE, SON PHẠM AND HRVOJE TKALČIĆ Dark matter stars The James Webb Space Telescope may have spotted stars made of dark matter — the unidentified stuff that makes up most matter in the cosmos (SN: 8/26/23, p. 8). So-called dark stars are so far hypothetical, but JWST observed three objects giving off the kind of light expected from such stars. If they exist, dark stars could shed new light on star formation and the nature of dark matter. However, the pinpricks of light in JWST’s field of view could also come from normal stars, so astronomers will need more detailed data to tease out the objects’ true nature.  Three pinpricks of light in James Webb telescope images (one shown with a white arrow) give off the kind of light that dark matter stars — if they exist — are expected to emit.NASA, ESA, CSA, JADES COLLABORATION

[themousefromfantasyland]

The Creatures of Yuletide: The Giant Grýla and her dysfunctional Yule Family

Some days ago, I talked with @ariel-seagull-wings about how Ded Moroz, Grandfather Frost, and his granddaughter Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, were probably the only holiday figures that were related. I WAS WRONG.

Iceland produced a family so colorful and dysfunctional that it’s a crime there are still no sitcoms based around them. Some members of this family are already famous, others not so much and will have a spotlight today. @thealmightyemprex, my dear, I think you are going to like this family.

Today, we are talking about the giants Grýla and Leppalúði, their yule children, and their giant pet.

Grýla is a giantess said to live in a cave in Dimmuborgir, an area of various volcanic caves and rock formations located in the Myvatn area of north Iceland. Others believe she and her family simply live in an unidentified mountainous area.

Always hungry, she senses the smell of naughty children all year, and during Christmastime, she leaves her cave and comes to cities and towns to haunt them. She collects children in an enormous sack, then brings them back to her cave. There she will cook them in a pot and turn them into a giant stew that will sustain her until the next winter.

Surprisingly, Grýla has been married THREE times, having KILLED her first and second husbands, and EATEN the first. Her third and current husband is the giant Leppalúði. Grýla is often shown beating and berating her husband that is described as being lazy, staying behind in their cave, while Grýla searches for food.

The relationship between Gryla and Leppaludi echoes many villainous couples in sagas and legends from Iceland that were composed of a cruel and bloodthirsty woman with a pathetic, spineless husband.

The threat of Grýla was a means to scare children and put them in line, since winters in Iceland were incredibly dangerous, and there was a lot of work that needed to get done before the darkest months set in, requiring effort from all members of the family. It was also a way of protecting children from wandering alone at night, as many disobedient children who went out in the dark and snow never returned home.

Grýla is originally mentioned in the 13th-century compilation of Norse mythology, Prose Edda but no specific connection to Christmas is mentioned until the 17th century.

In the thirteenth century, she was described as having fifteen tails. In the seventh century, she had a hundred bags tied to each tail, with each bag containing twenty naughty children for her pot.

The Yule Lads, are the mischievous offspring between Grýla and Leppalúði. They arrive one by one over the final nights leading up to Christmas, pulling pranks on the humans they find. Originally they were described as being far meaner and more evil, being as monstrous and deformed as their parents, representing the dangers and nuisances of Winter. But by the 18th century, a royal decree about religious practice and domestic discipline banned parents from disciplining their children by scaring them with horror stories of monsters, like Grýla and her family.

By the end of the 19th Century, wealthy merchants began hosting public Christmas tree balls, turning the Yule Lads into friendly old men who brought treats. These versions of the characters first appeared in towns and villages, while their original counterparts survived longer in the countryside. But by the 1930s their transformation had been completed as they begin making regular visits to schools and making appearances on the radio to tell children stories and sing Christmas songs. Today they are gift-bringers like Santa, leaving small gifts in shoes that children place on window sills, but if the child has been disobedient, they leave a rotten potato in the shoe instead.

Originally the personalities and number of Yule Lads varied greatly, but thanks to a poem from 1932 by Jóhannes úr Kötlum in the children’s book Christmas is Coming (Jólin koma), still very popular and recited in many Icelandic homes and schools in December, established what is now considered the canonical 13 Yule Lads and their names and personalities.

Here’s the poem, translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson:

Let me tell the story of the lads of few charms, who once upon a time used to visit our farms.

Thirteen altogether, these gents in their prime didn´t want to irk people all at one time.

They came from the mountains, as many of you know, in a long single file to the farmsteads below.

Creeping up, all stealth, they unlocked the door. The kitchen and the pantry they came looking for.

Grýla was their mother – she gave them ogre milk – and the father Leppalúdi; a loathsome ilk.

They hid where they could, with a cunning look or sneer, ready with their pranks when people weren´t near.

They were called the Yuletide lads – at Yuletide they were due – and always came one by one, not ever two by two.

And even when they were seen, they weren´t loath to roam and play their tricks – disturbing the peace of the home.

The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod. He came stiff as wood, to pray upon the farmer´s sheep as far as he could. He wished to suck the ewes, but it was no accident he couldn´t; he had stiff knees – not to convenient.

The second was Gully Gawk, gray his head and mien. He snuck into the cow barn from his craggy ravine. Hiding in the stalls, he would steal the milk, while the milkmaid gave the cowherd a meaningful smile.

Stubby was the third called, a stunted little man, who watched for every chance to whisk off a pan. And scurrying away with it, he scraped off the bits that stuck to the bottom and brims – his favorites.

The fourth was Spoon Licker; like spindle he was thin. He felt himself in clover when the cook wasn´t in. Then stepping up, he grappled the stirring spoon with glee, holding it with both hands for it was slippery.

Pot Scraper, the fifth one, was a funny sort of chap. When kids were given scrapings, he´d come to the door and tap. And they would rush to see if there really was a guest. Then he hurried to the pot and had a scrapingfest.

Bowl Licker, the sixth one, was shockingly ill bred. From underneath the bedsteads he stuck his ugly head. And when the bowls were left to be licked by dog or cat, he snatched them for himself – he was sure good at that!

The seventh was Door Slammer, a sorry, vulgar chap: When people in the twilight would take a little nap, he was happy as a lark with the havoc he could wreak, slamming doors and hearing the hinges on them sqeak

Skyr Gobbler, the eighth, was an awful stupid bloke. He lambasted the skyr tub till the lid on it broke. Then he stood there gobbling – his greed was well known – until, about to burst, he would bleat, howl and groan.

The ninth was Sausage Swiper, a shifty pilferer. He climbed up to the rafters and raided food from there. Sitting on a crossbeam in soot and in smoke, he fed himself on sausage fit for gentlefolk.

The tenth was Window Peeper, a weird little twit, who stepped up to the window and stole a peek through it. And whatever was inside to which his eye was drawn, he most likely attempted to take later on.

Eleventh was Door Sniffer, a doltish lad and gross. He never got a cold, yet had a huge, sensitive nose. He caught the scent of lace bread while leagues away still and ran toward it weightless as wind over dale and hill

Meat Hook, the twelfth one, his talent would display as soon as he arrived on Saint Thorlak´s Day. He snagged himself a morsel of meet of any sort, although his hook at times was a tiny bit short.

The thirteenth was Candle Beggar – ´twas cold, I believe, if he was not the last of the lot on Christmas Eve. He trailed after the little ones who, like happy sprites, ran about the farm with their fine tallow lights.

On Christmas night itself – so a wise man writes – the lads were all restraint and just stared at the lights.

Then one by one they trotted off into the frost and snow. On Twelfth Night the last of the lads used to go. Their footprints in the highlands are effaced now for long, the memories have all turned to image and song

Okay, we have the abusive mother, we have the lazy father, we have the troublemaking sons, but we still haven’t talked about the pet. You know what I’m talking about. I think he’s probably the most famous one in this post, at least outside Iceland. Yes, the Yule Cat is their family cat.

The Yule Cat, Jólakötturinn, is a monstrous giant cat that devours innocent souls that have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve.

Jóhannes úr Kötlum also wrote about the cat. Here’s the poem, translated by Vignir Jónsson:

You all know the Yule Cat and that Cat was huge indeed.

People didn't know where he came from or where he went.

He opened his glaring eyes wide, the two of them glowing bright. It took a really brave man to look straight into them.

His whiskers, sharp as bristles, his back arched up high. And the claws of his hairy paws were a terrible sight.

He gave a wave of his strong tail, he jumped and he clawed and he hissed. Sometimes up in the valley, sometimes down by the shore.

He roamed at large, hungry and evil in the freezing Yule snow. In every home people shuddered at his name.

If one heard a pitiful "meow" something evil would happen soon. Everybody knew he hunted men but didn't care for mice.

He picked on the very poor that no new garments got for Yule - who toiled and lived in dire need.

From them he took in one fell swoop their whole Yule dinner always eating it himself if he possibly could.

Hence it was that the women at their spinning wheels sat spinning a colorful thread for a frock or a little sock. Because you mustn't let the Cat get hold of the little children. They had to get something new to wear from the grownups each year.

And when the lights came on, on Yule Eve and the Cat peered in, the little children stood rosy and proud all dressed up in their new clothes.

Some had gotten an apron and some had gotten shoes or something that was needed - That was all it took. For all who got something new to wear stayed out of that pussy-cat's grasp he then gave an awful hiss but went on his way.

Whether he still exists I do not know. But his visit would be in vain if next time everybody got something new to wear.

Now you might be thinking of helping were help is needed most. Perhaps you'll find some children that have nothing at all.

Perhaps searching for those that live in a lightless world will give you a happy day and a Merry, Merry Yule.

Of all the members of the family, the Yule Cat is the most recent one, with written accounts only as recently as the 19th century. The story was likely created by farmers to ensure their workers finished their weaving, knitting, and sewing by the dead of winter. The reward for those who took part in the work was a new piece of clothing. Those who were lazy received nothing. The Yule Cat was used as an incentive to get people to work harder.

Resuming, we have an abusive mother that haunts and eats naughty children, a spineless father who stays at home all day doing nothing, thirteen rebellious children who seem to have been hanging out too much with Santa, and a giant cat that eats people. I would give anything to see how their Christmas dinners are like.

[markonpark]

Peak Posers: Vintage snapshot photo of three women posed atop an unidentified rock formation. https://markonpark.etsy.com/listing/1549286070

[fruitymocha]

The Sky Project: Background

A Human Experiment Genshin AU

Warnings: human experimentation (obviously), bad conditions

A/N: for those who asked for the experiment au on my poll, here’s this little thing I wrote for it in the format of someone telling you a rumor. not sure if I want this to be a series or just a bunch of random scenarios/imagines with established continuity and/or timeline, but here, have a little teaser with background info :)

—-

Teyvat Laboratory.

A place that looks nice on the outside, but hides many secrets on the inside.

Or so the rumors say.

Would you like to hear what they say about Teyvat’s top secret laboratory?

Supposedly, there are 9 special rooms.

Those special rooms are for the special kids with supernatural abilities. They have recreational activities and opportunities to socialize with the other lab kids in there, but supposedly they don’t spend that much time in there.

You don’t believe in supernatural abilities? Well, maybe if someone triple dog dared you to sneak in and you saw it for yourself, then you’d change your mind.

But anyways, let me continue.

Kids with the power to control fire go to the Flame Room. A room with red as its color scheme, and fireproof walls.

Kids with the power to control earth go to the Stone Room. That room has gold as its color, as well as a rock wall and stone paths.

Kids with the power to control plants go to the Flower Room. It has green as its color and a few potted plants under a small sky light.

Kids with the power to control wind go to the Breeze Room. It has teal as the main color, and high quality vents that let outside wind in.

Kids with the power to control water go to the Raindrop Room. It has dark blue all around, and a mini fountain and waterfall curtain

Kids with the power to control ice go to the Snowflake Room. It has a pale blue motif as well as a constant cold temperature and automated sprinklers.

Kids with the power to control electricity go to the Thunder Room. It has purple everywhere and electric gadgets, wires, rods, and conductors.

Kids with unidentified, uncategorized, or versatile abilities go to the Star Room. Rumor has it, only five kids have ever been in there. And that room is just white.

As for the kids who have some behavioral issues, they go to the Butterfly Room. That room is bitterly cold, and hostile to any newcomer. There is nothing to do in that room, so those who enter often mess with each other to fill the hole of boredom. There’s always one senior member in there though. They always listen to him.

There’s also the Light Room, so that certain kids get enough sunlight.

But this place is meant to observe and experiment on their abilities first and foremost.

Your guess as to why is as good as mine.

How would I know all this?

It’s like I said.

They’re just silly rumors.

Right?