#we're here you know? we're here. we exist. we'd like to read about people like us too. not every character needs to be abled

[silverandebony]

This makes me think of the multiple reviews I saw about a book that has a genderfluid protagonist. They were all some flavour of "but what *plot purpose* does it serve that the character is genderfluid???" as if... there had to be a specific reason... for the character to be genderfluid...

Personally speaking, my genderqueerness isn't there to serve a plot purpose; I just kind of exist, you know? I live here and I just happen to be genderqueer, and it was nice seeing a character who also happened to be genderqueer while they were doing everything they did. Their story was affected by their queerness, but they were queer for their own sake, not because it was demanded by the plot.

Some people happen to be queer; some people happen to be blind; sometimes the two categories overlap. It affects us and how we live our lives, but we're not that way to serve a plot point; we're that way because... fuck man we just are. shit happens. And it's nice getting to see similar experiences reflected in fiction, with characters who don't have to justify themselves before the plot for being different.

Is it bad practice to have a disabled character (or two) in our stories just for the sake of being inclusive? I wrote a blind character to fill in the role of mentor, but then I realise there'd be no difference plot-wise whether he is blind or not.

Honestly, this sounds fine to me. You don’t need to have a special reason that a character is blind. In fact, that idea might come from systemic ableism, such as the idea that disability is uncommon or that disabled people— and characters— must justify their existence.

Blindness doesn’t necessarily need to influence plot so much as character development.

Characters, like blind people in real life, are allowed to exist. You would be surprised how controversial a statement this can be in writing communities. The idea is less about having a reason for them to be blind and more that you portray how their blindness influences their life. Do they use a cane or a soft service animal? Which fits their lifestyle better and why? Do they know other blind people? What is their relationship like with their blindness? How has blindness influenced their relationships with family or friends? What about their work or hobbies? What habits have they developed due to blindness? What have they gained from their experience as a blind person?

Blind people are lucky if we get exactly one blind character in a story. Having more than one is a good thing.

[hg-aneh]

Hi,ik I've been asking questions frequently but I'mma do it again bc I'm that petty;

In the AziraCrow relationship/marriage/or whatever. Who do u think is the housewife/husband? 😀

if we're talking about traditional gender roles applied to marriage ((which i believe would NOT apply to them in canon as they're both nonbinary supernatural beings)), i have to preface this by saying that i rlly don't agree with them as a concept

[if ppl choose to engage in them and not judge others for not doing so then good for them (idgaf akfbsjf)]

i hate that they're still being imposed onto people and that they haven't been left in the past for some contexts

i also want to clarify that the following """analysis""" I'm going to make is all for the sake of poking fun at gender roles and satirizing their entire existence.

Having said that, these are my headcanons:

Aziraphale-housewife, Crowley-husband

Why? Simply because husbands are fucking useless and I like to bully Crowley cuz he stinks and he sucks c0ck and b4-

I'm just goofing around 😭

In my little bubble world, they'd be neither (or both if you wanna see it from that POV)

Let's start with this:

If we take the definition of a traditional husband, which is basically "i work and do nothing else cuz I'm a man and men have their mommies i mean wives do everything for them" and take the Work part away, which is what we'd do if we were to place the ineffables in the south downs aka their retirement shack, then you get a useless fuck

And in reality, they both do jackshit (that's the whole premise of s1) so????? does that mean they're both husbands???

For further insight let's try to affirm Aziraphale is the housewife.

Aziraphale bakes, so he's probably a decent cook too; that's "housewife" material. He also happens to be very pretty and plump and a blonde, which I've been told are pretty ladylike things to be (/sarcasm)

(There are no pretty male blondes in ba sing se good omens)

He dresses in light, dainty clothing and talks with an accent only girls and women talk with, as well as getting his nails done and using make up for his magic act, and he says "please" and "thank you", which are things only women do (I'M BEING SARCASTIC. I'M BEING VERY SARCASTIC. god i hate gender rolesAAAA)

Now this is where the comparisons end cuz let's face it, Aziraphale is a lazy fuck.

You KNOW the bookshop smells like mold and he just miracles it clean every now and then.

He'd rather sit his plump (pretty) blond ass on the couch and read the day away than actually get to doing the baking and cooking or caring for the kids (plants) if it's not a hobby activity

Now let's do the opposite and try to affirm Crowley as the housewife.

He's clean (does the cleaning), he's of service when needed, he organizes when he's stressed (read the book), he- he drives a car...

OH SHIT. MAN ACTIVITY!!!!!🤯🤯🤯 (we're still being sarcastic here, it's not over EFJSJF)

In all seriousness though, trying to fit these two into gender roles, even as a joke is kinda difficult even in headcanon-land ajbfsnf

At least that's my opinion

For every traditionally "feminine" thing you have one of them do, the other outdoes that by a mile. And vice versa with the traditionally "masculine" things, like "being useless" and "car" /sarcasm is back.

So which one would be which? I think they're both dumbasses who fight over who gets to do what in the household (neither of them wants to do anything except for cuddling) and come up with an agreement to divide each chore :)

y'know, like normal people in a functional marriage (my parents lol)

[whos-hotter-jjba]

Hey, I don’t know if you read the tags (I understand there’s a lot and you’re busy) so I’m sending through here.

I honestly feel like Over Heaven Novel Dio should’ve been considered in the prelims. If GUCCI Jolyne was considered for prelims, I think other non-canon should be as well. I genuinely believe it stood a chance in being considered since it is a well liked outfit even though it’s not commonly seen in fan art.

But, this is my main issue. The Shadow Dio pic chosen for the polls has like so little of his outfit visible, like really just his ass and a little lower lol. After all the bad outfits are out of the matches, he’s probably going to drop from the polls because Shadow Dio, in the pic you chose, really isn’t a full outfit, so why would it compete with full outfits? In fact I think he’s the only character that doesn’t have a top piece in the images you chose for the polls. I’m not complaining here, because I’m pretty sure I’m speaking for a lot of people here when I say he’s hot topless. However this isn’t a who’s the hotter character, it’s based off of the outfit.

In summary, if possible, I think Over Heaven Novel Dio’s outfit should be considered as I think it stands a better chance in the polls. If not, a better image of the Shadow Dio outfit would help (I know it’s probably hard to find an exact pic though because they are so many dang variants of shadow Dio in the manga lmao).

If you read this, I appreciate your time.

Including pic for reference.

Hey, sorry I've been ignoring this ask forever, there's been a lot going on, but I got other people complaining too so I wanted to address this.

This is exactly why I did the preliminary polls, and Dio had two of them. People voted for Shadow Dio, so that was the image I chose. I've redone other polls, but because they used images that weren't canon (Jobin and Daiya) or because I forgot outfit options (Koichi), but this isn't the case.

About Over Heaven Dio, I had no idea this novel existed, sorry. I thought you were talking in the tags about Heaven-Attained Dio from EoH, which would be non-canon and not drawn by Araki, but you're right. I considered Jolyne, Fly High with Gucci because it was drawn by Araki, and now I looked it up and Over Heaven was drawn by Araki too. But I fucked up and we're halfway through round 3 already, so I'd have to redo his prelim poll and, if the result changes, I'd have to redo 3 more polls to make it fair to every character involved.

I honestly don't think (personally) that the results will change. People picked Shadow Dio even though there were other outfits in which he was actually wearing more clothes, so I think Shadow Dio won through a combination of being iconic and horny. We can try, though, even though it's going to be a lot of work.

Remember that if Over Heaven Dio (or another outift in his prelim) wins over Shadow Dio, we'd have to redo his polls against Squalo, Reimi and Mountain Tim!

[windywallflower]

QUICK REMINDER

We're a small queer duo making comics and we have...???

THINGS YOU CAN READ FOR FREE????

AUGUSTINE

We've been telling folks this is kind of a Mad Max meets Greek Mythology, my brother said its more like a Disney's Hercules meets Borderlands-- all of these are absolutely wrong but we'd be lying if we weren't inspired by them all even just a little bit. Its queer, this group of misfits is a found family out in some junky little desert where the cash is literal liquid (water) and the people are rough around the edges. August and her team just want to be heroes but maybe pissing off rich people comes at a bit of a nasty price.

We're working on Chapter 2 right now and will be back to regular updates in August this year!! You have a whole honkin 75-page first chapter to read already!! HURRY!!

--

PAINT THE TOWN RED

You want vampires? You want werewolves? You want them to kiss? You want them to flirt? You want that gross gooey shit that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside? Look no further, we're throwing a layer of sapphic over all of these babes and ripping the drama rug out from under them-- okay I'm losing my train of thought here.

Winny's never known much about the supernatural side of Merlot aside from the fact that werewolves exist, so what does she do when she suddenly becomes one? Well she sets up a shelter with her best bud Odile (also turned werewolf) and takes in visitors during full moons. Except one night a vampire stops at their doorstep... what are they even supposed to do with that?

We've got 3 volumes up on our shop and are now uploading them on a schedule to make the story free to read online!! We're nice like that.

--

THE SANITY CIRCUS

Hey so, you totally know what its like when you're living your life absolutely normally, totally unbothered, just having an average time living and then suddenly your best friend is actually a monster and your whole life goes to shit and you meet a shifter who turns into a seagull and I guess he's you're new best friend now and--

No? Well you can definitely learn what that feels like reading through 700-800 pages of Sanity Circus up riGHT NOW--

I know... its on hiatus... its not been updating REGULARLY--if I catch you making my partner feel guilty about it I'm breaking through your screen and kicking your ass. It's not dead, the whole ending is planned. Its gonna be killer I promise.

Now go read for a bit!!

BUT WAIT BEFORE YOU GO--

THINGS WERE GONNA BLAB ABT ON PATREON--

(and reasons why you should pledge-- you're getting like a 3-for-1 deal here we have so much to unpack, this is barely the tip of the iceberg!!)

Hey you mighta seen some of this... looks familiar...?? You should pledge and find out a little bit more, help us out making them all so we don't have to worry & stress about bills! Gosh wouldn't that be something~!

(We also have a shop, though if subscriptions aren't your jam.

AND WE ALSO HAVE A NEWSLETTER we update once a month for folks who might not be able to spend money right now, you can be in the loop of everything we're working on and what's coming up~!)

[ko-existing]

i just wanna say that even though there’s been surging a lot of controversy around those debunked posts, i’m still very thankful that you did it.

i’ve seen a lot of confusing terms (for example the ‘subconscious’ thing) and it never made sense to me as i read those. like why is that even a topic? 😭 and i’m just so glad someone spoke on it, cause that’s something i was willing to ignore and just “follow blindly” no matter what (very naive of me, but still).

it’s nice to have someone give you that reality check that you shouldn’t just take anyone’s word for it.

people can be offended all they want, but they can’t deny that what you guys are doing is actually helpful. if you don’t like it then just don’t engage with it.

thank you! བདེན་བྱས་ཐོབ་པ། 🕉️

On our stories it was mentioned that those post were by different accounts and the "dissecting" of posts is something that's been done way before too, to point up the talk of "subconscious" and "ego" within the ''modern' version of "AV". Claiming it was done because of an "ego" that doesn't exist and jealousy at play for not having an account that is being idolized is truly an interesting statement that stems from the illusory idea of being in a tangible reality.

At "Absolute Zero" like realitywarpingg likes calling it, "who" is there to idolize and be idolized? " • "

We replied and dissected because we're talking to our-self, about our-self. There is no difference so why not keep things busy?

With the same argument of "everything is illusory so why are you even replying?" or "Your actions come from the 'ego' " you might as well ask us why we still eat and drink, go to the bathroom or why we still buy food instead of just stealing it🤣or why are Chen and I in a relationship? Why are some of us studying nursing or still engage with our "families and friends"?

We're running this account for seeming unrealized appearances of our-Self. We know there is no one separate here.

It was never a x vs. y thing, it's "One".

We've deleted 521(?) of previous posts/reposts on IG months ago because we wanted to reduce the amount of dms and questions we reicive. "People" tend to obsessively rely on mear words and seek something that's right there. If they want to put "others" and their words on the pedestal, so be it🪷

It was said that "it's illusory but i'm still going to add my 2 cents because it's entertaining". For a lack of better words, if any of us 4 were asleep, not realized, our account wouldn't be here nor would we live the 'life' we're seemingly living. We'd still be deep within the "illusion" ! 📿

Now, we have nothing to lose or gain, we already have everything we want. Social Media is just a little side thing we can stop at any time.

Having an account or not does not change anything in our experience. It's already complete, we're not here to learn anything anymore.

Being realized doesn't mean you have to sit in a cave and chant mantras. It means you can now do whatever you want to, "create" whatever you want to because you have realized it is nothing but SELF seemingly appearing as something. བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས།!🙏🏻🕉️

[nikitricky]

These are 50 triangles "learning" themselves to mimic this image of a hot dog.

If you clicked "Read more", then I assume you'd be interested to hear more about this. I'll try my best, sorry if it ends up a bit rambly. Here is how I did that.

Points in multiple dimensions and function optimization

This section roughly describes some stuff you need to know before all the other stuff.

Multiple dimensions - Wikipedia roughly defines dimensionality as "The minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it", meaning that for a 2-dimensional space, you need 2 numbers to specify the coordinates (x and y), but in a 3-dimensional space you need 3 numbers (x, y, and z). There are an infinite amount of dimensions (yes, even one million dimensional space exists)

Function optimization - Optimization functions try and optimize the inputs of a function to get a given output (usually the minimum, maximum, or some specific value).

How to train your triangles

Representing triangles as points - First, we need to convert our triangles to points. Here are the values that I use. (every value is normalized between 0 and 1) • 4 values for color (r, g, b, a) • 6 values for the position of each point on the triangle (x, y pair multiplied by 3 vertices) Each triangle needs 10 values, so for 10 triangles we'd need 100 values, so any image containing 10 triangles can be represented as a point in 100-dimensional space

Preparing for the optimization function - Now that we can create images using points in space, we need to tell the optimization function what to optimize. In this case - minimize the difference between 2 images (the source and the triangles). I'll be using RMSE

Training - We finally have all the things to start training. Optimization functions are a very interesting and hard field of CS (its most prominent use is in neural networks), so instead of writing my own, I'll use something from people who actually know what they're doing. I'm writing all of this code in Python, using ZOOpt. The function that ZOOpt is trying to optimize goes like so: • Generate an image from triangles using the input • Compare that image to the image we're trying to get • Return the difference

That's it! We restrict how long it takes by setting a limit on how many times can the optimizer call the function and run.

Thanks for reading. Sorry if it's a bit bad, writing isn't my forte. This was inspired by this.

You can find my (bad) code here:

https://gist.github.com/NikiTricky2/6f6e8c7c28bd5393c1c605879e2de5ff

Here is one more image for you getting so far

[pbpsbff]

happy 1 year of r&r :)

i know it's a lil cringe to like. celebrate the birthday of a series on ao3 but r&r is literally my child. my baby. i birthed this series. and you all signed up for this when u started reading my fics thank u

soooooooo thank u guys for all the support i've received over r&r i know it's hard to stay a consistent reader when my posting schedule is entirely non existent but i am so grateful for everyone who's stuck around this long and been with me for this journey (calling it a journey because a year ago i did not have any sort of overarching plot in mind and now we're 17? 18? fics deep and so many things have happened and i'm usually just as surprised as my readers) it's rlly u guys that have kept me going this long

ANYWAY. i rewrote this like 500 times cause i hate being like. overly sappy on this account because it's way funnier to act like a celebrity with a huge ego, but real talk i am so proud of everything i've done w this series & what it's become in the past year

i've been posting my writing online since i was like 10, so we're going on almost 9 years now and i don't think i've ever ever ever received as much support for something as i have for r&r and something about that is soooo special to me??? idk it's just so nice to see a completely self indulgent series become so loved by others, especially since the only other fics i had up before gmm&m were a little more on the "i'm gonna write what seems popular right now" side???

like shoutout to everyone who was here before/around when i started the series because my account was so empty like. 2 fics and one gets updated every 6 months. r&r pulled me out of the trench i fear. it also cured me of my very horrible disease that makes me delete all my fics after 9 months and then completely disappear from a fandom so everyone say thank you r&r

but yeah idk where i'm going with this i'm very grateful for r&r and all the friends i've made and people i've met through it because i was very lonely before i rejoined tumblr and r&r was like. 90% of the reason i made my account

AND SPEAKING OF FRIENDS. thank u to

@spidergrotto & @sapoteylx for being the first ppl i met on here to openly talk about and support r&r which i thought was so so cool even if you guys have become my haters in the past few months i've known you :/ thank u r&r nation u keep me humble and miserable (and i am very thankful for our friendship i think some aspects of r&r would be very different if we'd never met)

& ao3 user classactical because you've been here since like. a month or two into the series i think and i always always always look forward to your comments because i feel like if you comment, i did a good job on the fic LOL thank u for sticking around for so long, even if ao3 has been actively working against you for a whiiiiile

there's a lot more i want to say and a lot of people i want to mention but that would take a very long time and i always feel weird tagging a lot of people in posts so just know if u read r&r we are kissing rn. or high fiving idk whatever floats ur boat i guess

but yeah anyway tl:dr happy birthday r&r i'm very proud of this series & very thankful for everyone who has read any part of it ever u guys are so cool and hot and have amazing taste and i'm taking your kudos and bookmarks etc. as you swearing your allegiance to me and promising me your undying support no matter what (legally binding btw) thank u guys

[spopbang]

Questions and Clarifications

We're thrilled with how many people have expressed interest in this already and are gearing up for an amazing event!

Here's a quick round up of some of the questions we've gotten so far....

(that's how you should picture me answering all these questions)

Does it have to be a new fic or can you participate with an existing fic / new chapter of an old fic?

Must be a new fic written specifically for the bang.

Can it be an AU?

AUs are completely welcome. So long as the focus is on the SPOP characters, you can put them in whatever situations you wish!

Can it be a crossover?

While characters from other properties can cameo, the main focus of the story should be on the SPOP characters.

Can you post something from an existing AU of yours?

A new standalone fic in an existing AU of yours is fine! In other words, if someone could hop into your Bang fic without having read anything else of your AU and still follow it, that would work.

Can I write my own fic, but also sign up to illustrate someone else's?

Sure! Just let us know on your sign up form so we know what is going on.

What kind of draft is due on March 31st?

The objective of that check in is to show to the mods that your fic is close enough to finished that you are on track to post it on time. There may still be typos, it might still need a lot of editing, but it should be at least 75% complete.

This step is to ensure we're assigning artists to the fics that are nearly ready for the event and not giving someone a writing partner that has barely started.

What happens if I don't get my draft in on time?

While only writers who get their first draft in by the March 31st deadline are eligible for an artist partner, writers who complete their draft after that are still welcome to post their fic as part of the event and will still be listed alongside the other content. They just will not have the chance to be paired with an artist.

Are there any limitations on what fics can be about? i.e. does it have to center around certain ships or characters or prompts?

As long as the focus is on the SPOP characters, anything goes! The only thing to keep in mind is that artists get to choose with fics they illustrate. So the more appealing or interesting to draw your idea is, the more likely you are to attract an amazing artist.

Any restrictions on mature content?

Generally, it's open to whatever, but, for the comfort of everyone involved, we'd appreciate if it was nothing too... let's say controversial. If you're not sure, feel free to ask. Keep in mind, the previous answer about artists getting to choose applies here too.

Will you be sharing the Big Bang content on this Tumblr blog?

Yes! We plan to share links to all the fics as they are posted.

Can I participate without joining the Discord?

Unfortunately, no. This event is hosted by the SPOP Creative Flex and as such is run under the guidelines of that community. While Tippen is the head mod of this event, she is not on the mod team for the server itself so if you have questions or issues about the SPOP Creative Flex server specifically (including appealing a prior ban or other issue), you can contact the server mods through the email listed here.

What should I write? I can't pick!

That, I can't help you with. But I would say pick the idea that is begging to be written, particularly if it's large scale and exciting. It is called a BIG Bang after all! Think epically!

Any other questions? Our askbox is open!

[royallpetrichor]

Okay so I haven't posted in like 12 years and I know I'm like a week late, but what's everyone's thoughts on the live-action ATLA teaser? I'm genuinely very interested to know, because I certainly have thoughts, and I've definitely seen some polarised opinions. What do you like about it, and are you worried about anything?

Anyway, my long personal thoughts are below the keep reading line. I probably haven't said anything super new, or any hot takes but they're there.

First, what I loved about the teaser. It looked visually stunning! The shot composition all looked amazing (to someone who knows nothing about film), the visual tone was definitely there, and the set design was gorgeous! The entire time I was just going "oh my god, oh my god, oh my god" but in a good way. The characters especially look great. In particular, I loved Suki, Aang, and Zuko. I know some people were disappointed with how the characters looked, but I really think it's the best we could have gotten considering the wide disconnect between animation and live-action, and I think it's something people need to remember.

The acting obviously hasn't been shown very much, so it's still up in the air in that regard. I've been trying to convince myself I'm cautiously optimistic, but quite honestly I've gone straight to pure excitement, despite my worries.

We're also getting more flashbacks, as shown by the fact there's a scene of the Air Nomad genocide. More worldbuilding and backstory is definitely something I'm very happy about, so I'm excited to see where it goes. The thing that stumps me on it is whether they're going to do it well. In the film that shall not be named, Shyamalan put references to the original show everywhere, but he never took the time to understand why they worked. It was like he wanted us to say "Wow! They said the thing!!!!!" as if we'd clap at the screen without actually thinking about anything. I'm really, really hoping that's not the case here.

The tone is definitely something that people are concerned about, myself included. The teaser was very serious and dramatic. Of course, the show has those moments but it's overall very lighthearted. It's a show about friendship first and foremost, and those positive messages are highlighted throughout the series. I'm hoping this teaser is more Netflix saying "Look at these cool effects!" and less "This is the overall tone of the entire series!".

The humour also comes to play in this. ATLA has a lot of jokes. You know this, I know this, they work, I don't have to talk about it. I'm curious about the humor in the live-action series because a lot of the humour in ATLA works because the show is animated, and wouldn't work in the live-action setting. In the film that shall not be named, Shyamalan tried to take jokes from the show, but they just fell completely flat because it was the completely wrong genre and just created tonal dissonance.

The last big thing I'm worried about is the characters, particularly Katara and Zuko.

I'm worried about Katara, because film has had this tendency in the past (and I know this is probably outdated) to "tone down" a female character's more "unsavoury/unladylike" traits. This is a bad example but it's the best my brain can come up with, but Hermione in the HP films compared to the books. In the films she was smart, brave, never wrong, and never made fun of. In the books, she was smart, yes, but also naive, and really mean and judgy sometimes.

Katara is a strong female character because she's not perfect. She's hotheaded and can hold a mean grudge, but those make her who she is. Also, in the film that does not exist, other character's strong moments are inexplicably given to Katara to make her more "badass" without actually putting in the work for her.

I'm worried about Zuko for an entirely different reason. I'm scared they'll "tone back" his assholeness in the first season, and possibly even give us his backstory a lot sooner. I really don't want this, because the whole reason his redemption arc works is because he was a villain first. He did bad things, but he atoned for them. His backstory explains his actions but doesn't excuse them. If we're sympathetic to him too early, the payoff is going to feel a lot cheaper, and like he didn't actually work to make himself better because he was already there.

Okay wow that was a lot, but that sums up all of my thoughts/concerns/excitement for the show. I'm really stoked to see where they go with it, and even if it's a disaster I'll probably enjoy it anyway honestly.

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, Season 2, Episode 21- Lorelai's Graduation Day, Aka The Best Episode That Ever Episoded, My Heart Will Soon Be Asploded. Part 2

Read part 1 and all other commentary here

Yesterday I realized I've been doing these little insane ramblings of mine on Tumblr for over a year now! If it took me a year to watch two seasons, I guess I'll see ya'll in September 2024 for the conclusion of season 4. Anyway, Lorelai is about to have the Consequences Of Her Actions thrown in her face in just a moment, which is something I enjoy seeing.

Luke and Lorelai have to kiss and make up in this episode or the next, I would think? I don't remember any unresolved animosity between them going into the third season. But what do I know after not seeing this show for 3 years.

How's that "Trying to avoid someone in a small town" thing working out for you, dear?

Lorelai: "I guess it was inevitable we'd run into each other. It is a very tiny community." Ya think? Lor: How's the diner? Luke: It's still there. Except in your absence, an extra table opened up for somebody who will actually pay for their food. Lor: Hey Luke, do you think we could talk? Luke: No, I gotta go. Although I haven't watched Teach me Tonight in years, I can still go off of what other people have told me about what went down and Luke is pysssssed.

There has GOT to be some kind of Emmy award for fake food presentation. Rory has shown up on Gramma and Grammpa's door step wanting to talk about something. Seems as if she's going behind Lorelai's back to invite Emily and Richard to her graduation ceremony and she makes a pitch to them. Again, my memory is foggy but I do know they attend the ceremony, I think Emily arrives with a professional photographer? Which annoys Lorelai., and pleases me. Rory: As you know, Mom's been going to business school for three years. What??? Huh? 3 years? Someone please school me on whether this "Lorelai goes to night school" was actually mentioned any time before the last few episodes, or if this is just something that was made up in the name of TV Convenience.

Debatable. Later that day, back at the Gilmore abode... Lorelai mentions she is going to Hartford Community College. Did I google whether or not such a school exists? You bet your sweet bippy I did. The answer: there is no such place (although there are two community colleges in Hartford).

I'm at a payphone, trying to call home, all of my change I spent on you... Let's just enjoy little bit of Literati On The Phone apprecation.

ARGH! My little lovesick stepcousins!!! 💔🐶💔🐶

The next day at Chilton, Rory is so lovesick for her long distance stepcousin that her mind is completely lost in outerspace even while her local lover Paris Geller rambles on about authors and half eaten bananas. It matters not, but how did Rory ever get away with playing hooky?

NO NO NO NO. NO. WHAT? NO! WHY! NO!

Going years between viewings is a game of Memory Roulette for me and honestly that's what makes this fun. Like, what insipid detail will I remember at the same time that I'm forgetting something vitally important? More importantly, what horrible surprises have I let lapse in my memory? When should I be wary of Dean/ and or Crusty lurking around the corner? The answer is always. As you can see, you can never let your guard down and say "Huh, I haven't seen Dean and/ or Crusty in a while", because they can strike at any time.

Okay, okay, calm down Salty. The future is incredibly bleak on the Christopher front after this episode, but in this particular episode, he Lores his way through a 1 minute phone conversation and that's the end of him.

Look, Lore, I know we're often at odds with each other and normally I'd say something like "I hope you open the basket and a nest of angry hornets flies out at you", but this time LORE, I'm imploring you, do not open a box from Crusty Hayden.

Michel says he refused to touch the package which is good because you don’t want to get your fingerprints on it and become an accomplice in a CrustyCrime.

So, a bowling ball or a human head.

A BOMB? No, no, he's not that smart. All I know is it better not be a fucking engagement ring or something (a heavy one)

Other contents of the CrustyBasket: A youth hostel card, a disposable camera, a manual for job hunters, an application to join the Army (She really could use some humbling by a nasty drill seargant who doesn't put up with her crap, so I'd advise she keep that), a DVD of The Graduate. Okay, okay, I get his shtick here. Haha, Lorelai is an adult graduate so it'll be a hoot to give her stuff that's like, for a teenage graduate instead. So funny. (oh the irony that a high school graduation is something she barely scraped by on realizing for no other reason than you planting your Crusty Sperm in her).

However, based on Lore's reaction to the necklace, this thing is still emotionally weighty and she is not amused. To her shock and dismay, (He claims) it's even real pearl and not just something that dropped out of a gumball machine like the QuarterOnAString Dean gave to Rory.

THE NERVE. He can't come to the graduation because of reasons and we will take it and not question his motives, as this may be one of the last (nearly) Crusty free episodes in a while. Ugh. But with him and Dean both out of the picture for the rest of the episode, the Stepcousins can finally begin their big city adventure. Stay tuned for part 3!

[nerves-nebula]

"the actors don't like the ship it makes them uncomfortable!" yeah that does not and never has mattered. they're actors. they act as characters. they are not the characters themselves, they do not have a say in how you think of or portray the characters they act as. this is not real person fanfiction. Alex is just a homophobic creep.

anyway after talking to my friend i've decided to just tell you guys. the series i hate is The Mandela Catalogue. it's so shit. absolute garbage. Plays into every ableist trope in the book.

If you try to analyze the way characters are coded to be scary or creepy or "inhuman" it's 99% of the time just them being disabled or neurodivergent or some other marginalized identity.

the fascist undertones of the series are incredibly evident, from the stranger-danger propaganda being given at face value with no commentary on how fucked up it is to just say it's reasonable for you to shoot someone you think is an alternate/looks weird (are white people not aware of all the poc and disabled people who get shot and attacked cuz their existence is seen as threatening?)

the public announcement shit is literally fear mongering except it's in universe proven to be correct because the universe alex has created is an inherently fascist one where innocent white Christians and their innocent white children are under attack from Real Demons (where have i heard that one before)

the THINK principles are akin to a cults guideline. how is the scary thing here that there are weird looking people out there that will Say Scary Shit to you (the idea of an Unknowable Truth as it's alluded to in tmc is bullshit and one of the dumbest Monster powers I've ever heard of) instead of the fact that society is gonna collapse because this shit will make people paranoid as hell, and start shooting their neighbors. But no, that would make it a GOOD series with something INTERESTING to say.

OH and the fact that the enemies in the series are somehow supposed to Look Just Like You (they could be anyone!!) but also look biologically impossible (so many of the alternates + The intruder just look like disabled or disfigured people put through a scary filter)

and hey, while we're here, can we think of any other examples of tropes in media in which all of these apply to The Enemy?

looks very similar to REAL humans, so much so that they could fool you into thinking they ARE one! and yet are also somehow inherently biologically different in a way you are capable of figuring out just by looking at them.

has dark beady eyes and a hooked/big/prominent nose (thinking of the intruder specifically here)

Kidnaps your children for their own nefarious means (blood libel)

Kidnaps/corrupts your children by controlling the media/technology/TV screens.

Desire world domination/is part of some big conspiracy stretching far into the past

Guilty for the death (or in this instance possibly the replacement of) Jesus Christ

depicted as literal demons

Hint! it's antisemitism! it's always fucking antisemitism!!! Coming from a man who's main source of inspiration is his Christianity & mental health issues (though he doesn't seem to mind demonizing the symptoms of mental illnesses he hasn't had personal experience with) i'm not surprised! Though I am disappointed, because he supposedly wants to be a writer, and he doesn't seem very aware of any of the tropes he's propagating. like c'mon man, i thought you liked literature.

I could make another list exactly like that one but for ableism, but if i committed that hard then we'd be here all day.

Alex has even started using words like Degenerate/Degeneration in promotional material too (which if you know anything about fascist rhetoric is a bad sign) not to mention his weird behavior around queer headcanons/shipping and his tendency to mock people who read queer subtext into his work.

The only good things that come from the mandela catalogue are from the fandom but even the fandom can't stop talking about how SUBVERSIVE and UNIQUE it is when it's literally just regurgitated reactionary talking points. The fandom also loves reinforcing Alex's weird ass "no gay shipping" mandate.

like, he clearly doesn't mind the inclusion of romances. Adam had a girlfriend. what he says he minds is "sexualization" which just so happens to include every instance of two male characters looking at each other or holding hands (because being gay is inherently sexual to him, which is homophobic btw. not a "boundary")

i could write essays about how every little single aspect of this series is, thematically speaking, dogshit garbage which appeals to the majority and barely admits the rest of us exist (which i wouldnt even care about so much if people didn't act like this series was at all unique or subversive)

I've talked for fucking hours about how every time i think it can't get any worse it somehow does. i've barely touched on the ableism here, haven't even mentioned the racism OR how all the female characters are defined by their relations to the male characters.

ALL THIS. ALL THIS!!! And all you see about it is praise praise PRAISE. but guys. it's just BAD.

side note: if this post makes you feel the need to tell me why it's actually good: don't! i really dont care if you like it, good for you i guess. as far as i'm concerned the fans of it are the best part of the whole damn series (to be clear the fandom has its own problem but even then. it's generally fine) but it is NOT good source material.

[not-sure-what-im-feeling]

alright so I was just goofing around and then I thought "man I want to make a tumblr dash simulator" so now here's what I think tumblr would be like if it existed in the ivory isle.

SPOILERS FOR THE IVORY ISLE! (even unwritten chapters!)

local-gay34 Follow

hey guys, so an update on the crush situation: we're gonna move in together! we're moving across the isle, and we're gonna get jobs as some local officers! i can't wait!

local-gay34

he snuck a criminal into our house and has been housing a fucking harpy for i don't even know how long

local-gay34

APPARENTLY THEY WERE DATING???

5 notes

#guys i really don't know what i'm gonna do #axel speaks #the crush situation #gay #HIS BOYFRIEND IS A FUCKING CRIMINAL HARPY WTFFFF

flowerboy Follow

Hey guys! Reminder that my boyfriend (@notahuman) doesn't want to talk about his curse here, but we'd be happy to have a conversation with anyone who really wants to know in this cave over here! Don't worry, we won't hurt you!

notahuman Follow

Babe, I love you, but you need to stop threatening people

flowerboy

But I'm not threatening them! I'm just offering a chance to have a little chit-chat in a definitely not foreboding cave ;D

notahuman

:(

54 notes

#boyfriend shenanigans

birdboy Follow

Oh gods apparently I'm a "criminal" in all six kingdoms but I'm fine

23 notes

#also my boyfriend's best friend might be trying to kill me but we ignore that #actually no i'm on the run now #this kinda sucks and my boyfriend i think is in jail

andre-the-guy Follow

Hey y'all! so I just got out of jail, thanks to my lovely boyfriend! I'm gonna be leaving the kingdoms, so catch y'all later!

local-gay34 Follow

Andre no! Come back please!

andre-the-guy

Uh yeah no thanks. I love you but like. You tried to kill my boyfriend.

12 notes

#sorry tumblr i typically try to keep drama off here but oh my gods #axel btw you're gonna get blocked if you interact again #drama

rene's-corner Follow

Reminder that if you bring someone back against their will, that's not necromancy that's just being a prick. Real necromancers respect the dead.

104 notes

#necromancy #necromancy etiquette #totally legal tips #this has been a psa

dead-girl-walking Follow

Y'all ever just forget you can breathe?

Edit: Guys I am Actually Dead

Edit 2: I'm not kidding. This isn't a bit. I fucking died.

Edit 3: I will get my necromancer friend @rene’s-corner to verify to if I need to.

Edit 4: I'm not a ghost. Gods, just read my pinned post

10,978 notes

#lmao i just remembered i can do that #apparently people are freaked out when people don't breathe i guess #dead #percy's talking from beyond

[earhartsease]

are you guys bodily 61 or is that an alter age? /genq

I'm curious bc of the queer stuff

good question! this human body doing front-of-house management is 61 - as far as we're aware, nobody in this system is actually 61, but ages range from around 6 up to late 50s when it comes to the humans - and as for the beyond-humans, your guess is as good as ours (current rough count is 29 individual beings, plus the accompanying inner forest)

there are a bunch of animals (we didn't include all the pets of ours and others that we invited into the forest when they died, there's a good two dozen of them! - but two animal alters for sure), two forest gods (one young, one ancient) and, well - a forest that's part of a landmass that's presumably part of a planet ecosystem in some universe, since there are stars and sun and moon in/out there

but yes, we all inhabit this 61 year old body and are trying to look after it, it's a bit fucked so we're trying to be as kind to it as toxic social conditioning will let us, and that goes for all of us really - just trying to love and listen to each other and it seems to work pretty well ☀️🌿

as for the queer stuff, given the constraints of lack of language or a safe space in which to think about it as a kid (very abusive upbringing), we think if we'd had the language back then we'd have known we were agender by the time we were 5 or 6? we certainly knew something was off in a "not really digging the boy thing, not really yearning to be a girl either though exactly, is this all necessary?" way

and certainly by the time our tweens hit we'd have known we were trans if it had been safe to know that (we didn't and don't get gender as a thing but we knew unconsciously that our body would be happier looking female) - we read a load of sci-fi with trans and queer themes all through our teens and kept revisiting the trans parts and no knowing why, for example - and at 23 we first knew we wanted a physical transition but got slapped down about it before we could look more into it - so didn't do anything about that until we were 48 in the end

but we came out as bi when we were 21, which apparently was brave in the 80s, and we finally embraced queer as a label in 2010 (after embracing genderqueer), and were able to let go of old horrors around the word and see how positive it is for so many people - and we came out as ace about a decade ago but it would have really helped if we'd known that was an option like 50 years sooner

as for all of us in here, nobody really has genders, all the humans are they/them and nonbinary, some look more male and some more female and some more *shrug* and it all sort of works?

we weren't planning to go into this much detail, but since it feels valuable for younger queer folk to know that us oldsters exist too, we figured we'd tell it out more - one thing we'd like to end with is by saying once again: none of this is set in stone - we've come out over 10 times now in the process of figuring out who we are, and we're on our tenth legal name change - and this is either it now or it isn't :D

- Irian on behalf of the emerald forest ecosystem

[deathlygristly]

I like the spousal person so much!!!!

I don't know, just thinking about how I read things on here about masculinity and gender and stuff, and it's so different from anything I have ever experienced with any testosterone type person I know that I think I must be living in an entirely different culture from most people who post on here.

I was about to say a whole other universe, but no, I know the things they talk about exist in this universe. Just very far away from my life.

Anyway, here are some really cool things about the testosterone type person I have lived with for 21 years:

Park Hyung-sik is one of his favorite Korean actors. He calls him Min-min because of a scene in Strong Woman Do Bong-soon, one of his top three favorite kdramas. We're watching his currently airing show, Doctor Slump. The female lead said she must have lived her life wrong, and the spousal person said "You can't have lived your life wrong if you managed to pull a Min-min."

He's currently reading a book set in WWII Malaysia, about the change from British colonizers to Japanese colonizers, and he said that the Japanese colonizers were more brutal. I said "Yeah, online a lot of people seem to think that only Britain and the US are like that or have ever been like that." and he said "Yeah, like you say, it's a human thing and humans are gonna human."

When his previous car finally died I texted him in the morning from work and I said "You could get one from Carvana and we could go get it from the tower!" I didn't really mean it. I just drive by the Carvana tower frequently at work and so I joked about it. When I got off work that day he texted me the date and time we'd be going to the Carvana tower to pick up his new car.

He loves the cats just like I do, and if one sits in his lap he does his best to not move until he has to. He takes lots of pictures of them and puts them in the shared album.

At the Renaissance Festival there's a couple with a Chinese woman and a white dude who sell tea, and the woman recognizes him. Last year her husband tried to give him the beginner spiel and she interrupted like no, no, this guy knows his stuff, he's good.

He cried when we watched A Very Long Engagement.

Basically he's really cool and smart and fun and cute and I like him a lot always forever!

[pancakes-bookclub]

So, apparently, I have a new author on my top 10.

Ursa Dax.

I just finished reading Married to the Alien Cowboy, first book on the Cowboy Colony Mail Order Brides series, and it's pure gold.

(screenshot from Kindle because I'm lazy)

Spoilers and MDNI as it is an 18+ book

Story: a 7/10. First book in the series, so still figuring out a lot about setting and all that.

Would building: 8/10. It's set. There's more to the world than what we're seeing here, and it's mentioned. There's lore, there's social issues, there's political intrigue... I just love it.

Characters: I'd say a 6/10, but only because they're a bit isolated from contract with other people, so we mostly see the couple together.

Spice: 4/🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️. There's one scene, rather close to the end of the story, but it is well written and has character development.

So, what happens when you send girls who are used to high tech worlds to a penal agricultural colony in Fucksville, Nowhere as a "mail order bride" program?

This book. This is what happens. They're now married to overprotective space cowboys with anger issues.

Cherry? Our main girl? She's running away from a loan shark after hitting one of his goons with a cast iron pan (best self defense tool), and what better way than to join a mail order bride program, with all expenses paid?

So, she goes to marry Silar, but! She doesn't know that it's a penal colony! She thinks it's a normal agricultural colony for a culture that doesn't think highly of agriculture, and that's why they had to look for humans in a mail order bride program.

Also, prehensile tails. Those are... Fun! I've read about lizard tails, snake tails, wolf/lion tails... But prehensile is officially my favourite kind now. And not, like "fun times" fun. They're fully functional limbs! And they're treated as a natural part of their bodies by the story. There's not much thought put into it (by the characters). They just exist.

(it's a peeve of mine when the monster part of the relationship thinks too much about the non-human things about themselves, like tails, teeth, ears, fangs, claws... Unless their partners are touching with awe, I don't want them thinking about it in any way other than we'd think about normal things in our bodies.)

So, it's an overall 8/10 for me. I was laughing through most of it. Worth the read. Will read again. Book 2 is already out and book 3 comes out on November 30th. Can't wait for it!

[versilperihelion]

alright i don't tend to post stuff if it's not already part of an existing thread cause i don't believe people would care but i promised @demifiendcruithne i would write this up as a separate thing if anyone asked about it, and well @pteren did so here we are.

if you come across this and don't like math, this is your cue to move on to the next thing on your dash.

the context is that for pteren's month-long physical challenge i decided to also find some fun properties for each daily number of reps i do. and for 37 there were three such properties:

if you take any 3-digit number that is divisible by 37, and you shuffle its digits one space to the left (so e.g. 148 → 481), you'll get another number divisible by 37 (yes shuffling them to the right also works but it's the same as going left twice so it's just one of those cases that matters)

if you take any number divisible by 37 and insert into it a string of three of the same digit (so e.g. 148 → 147778, or 166648), you'll get another number divisible by 37

if you take any number divisible by 37, reverse it, and add a zero between every digit (so e.g. 148 → 80401 or 1147 → 7040101), you guessed it, you'll get another number divisible by 37

so i said there's already enough math i'm putting into the physical challenge thread so if anyone's interested in how to prove something like that, i'd put it into a separate post. so here we are. this is what i got myself into.

note: there will be quite a lot of images here. all of them, every single one, will have some math formulae and nothing else, cause it'll be much easier to read if that math will be neatly formatted and such using latex (the math kind, not the kinky kind) rather than somewhat put into plaintext of a text post. all those images will have added alt text but i have no idea how to best do image descriptions for that, so i'm kinda winging it. i know i said i doubt people would read this, but i'm still not gonna half-ass trying to maintain accessibility.

in fact there are enough images that i need to split it into the main post and a rb with the second half cause the limit is apparently 30. if for some unholy reason you came across this before i paste in and format the second half, and for some even more unholy reason you decide it's something you want to rb, please just wait until i add the second half. if there was a way to make a draft and an immediate rb of said draft, i would've done it.

also note: i'll be using the letter i as the index in a sequence. there will be no imaginary unit mentioned anywhere or needed for anything. there's no calculus either, the most complex arithmetic involved is knowing that if you multiply two powers of the same base, you get the sum of the exponents (2^5 x 2^2 = 32 x 4 = 128 = 2^7). and even better than that, basically every single number featured and labeled with a letter will be a positive whole number. we're not even going into fractions here.

also also note: i'm not gonna try to be 100% rigorous here. that's for academia, i was just bored with hellsite access.

so, given this includes some fuckery on the digits of a number, i think best to start by something we don't consciously think about too often: what does it mean for a number to look some way in base 10? let's take, say, number 1438:

1438 = 1 x 10^3 + 4 x 10^2 + 3 x 10^1 + 8 x 10^0

almost exactly the same way we'd pronounce this in english, it's one thousand (10 to the third power), four hundreds (10 to the second power), three tens (10 to the first power), and eight ones (10 to the zeroth power - anything other than 0 raised to 0th power gives 1. we are not getting into why not 0 here).

so in general we can write what this means, symbolically:

where x_0 is the ones digit, x_1 is the tens, and so on, which can also fancily be written using the sigma notation which if you have any programming experience, is basically just how in math you'd write a for loop: for i that goes from 0 to k (including k), where k is any natural number you feel like, add together the digit at the i-th position times 10 to the i-th power.

kinda seems like overcomplicating it, but this can be applied to any number base other than 10 (and the capital sigma notation helps avoid writing too much because laziness is the source of inventions).

many people will already have known all this, but it's still useful foundation to lay down before we start fiddling with the digits, so we are actually aware of what we're doing. now we can move on to the first thing to prove.

------

a) the first thing was that if we take a 3-digit number that is divisible by 37, such as 148 (it's 4 x 37), and we shuffle the digits one space to the left, wrapping back to the ones space, what we get is another number divisible by 37, such as 481 (it's 13 x 37. leet).

so let's write down some general number we're starting from.

i called this number a_s because it's the number we start with for proof a). subscript s for start, n for new.

x_2, x_1, and x_0 are just the digits in the hundreds, tens, and ones places. this starting number is a multiple of 37, so it's 37 times some natural number n. we don't really need to know or care what n is, only that it's a whole number. it's all whole number turtles all the way down.

how would we then write a_n, the new number we create from our shenanigans?

should make sense. we move the tens digit to hundreds, ones to tens, and hundreds to ones. cool. but how do we go about proving it's divisible by 37? we can't really reason much about what we have there so far, so we should try to rearrange it so we can find several parts in there that each is divisible by 37 - a multiple of some number plus another multiple of it gives you yet another multiple of that number, like 30+70=100, 30 is 6x5, 70 is 14x5, and 100 is (6+14) x 5, so 20x5. and same if we were to subtract them. so lets pull a fast one on that number and add and subtract the same thing to it.

(at this point i must also note that the interface for making a new post is incredibly stupid for short wide images where the cancel button is overlapping the button where you go to add image description. hellsite, pay your qa department more)

we added and subtracted 1000 times x_2 so we still have the same number. what was that for? if you look at the first three terms, they are in descending order in both which digit it is, and what power of 10 they're multiplied by, which looks just like our original number, but all times 10. meanwhile, the other two terms both have x_2 on them. so we can extract the common factors there.

in the parentheses of the first part we have that original number a_s, so this whole first half is divisible by 37, cause that was our premise. the other half is some single-digit number x_2, multiplied by 1000-1. so by 999. well, it just so happens that 999 is a multiple of 37, being 9x111, and 111 is 3x37. so we have

so here's the secret: this is not really a property of 37.

it's a property of 111. the reason it works for 37 is exactly because 111 is a multiple of 37, so when it works for 111, 37 just tags along for the ride. in fact you might note that it works the same for the other divisor of 111, 3. as you may know, a number is divisible by 3 if (when written in base-10) the sum of its digits is divisible by 3. when we shuffle the digits around, the sum doesn't change, so the new number is still divisible by 3.

and you can show the same way that the other two properties work for 3 just as well as they do for 37. if we reverse the digits and sprinkle some zeroes in, the sum stays the same, so new number is still a multiple of 3. if we insert three of the same digit somewhere in the middle, we're adding 3 times something into the sum, so the new sum is still divisible by 3. sneaky.

but let's show that the other two properties work for 37. spoiler alert: 111 is the key player in those as well.

------

b) if you take a multiple of 37, and insert a string of three of the same digit somewhere in the middle, the new number will also be a multiple of 37.

new year, new me, new starting number, just that it oddly looks exactly the same. except this time we are not restricted to just 3 digits of the starting number, so we need to consider any number of digits, so the laziness notation comes in

so how would we write the new number?

so i don't know if there is a proper notation but i went for square brackets here to mean "i'm not multiplying those together, those are just digits arranged from highest power to lowest". so we have the original digits going up from index 0 (right to left cause that's how we write numbers), and then three of this new digit y plopped in the middle, displacing the l-th digit and each next one up to index k three spaces to the left.

next we can write this as a sum as before, but because there's more terms it'll be useful to immediately split it into smaller, more manageable pieces.

because we added the three extra digits, everything to the left was effectively multiplied by a thousand, so the powers of ten there each grew by 3, while everything to the right is unchanged. so, as before, if we can show that each of these three pieces independently is divisible by 37, we'll have succeeded. and we'll start with the inserted part, b_insert, cause it's the simplest and i imagine some of yall already see where it's going.

that one was simple, it was straight out 111 times that digit y times some power of ten. so that's one place where 111 showed up. now, we can probably somehow get the original number somewhere out of the remaining two pieces to leave us with just one last bit to prove, if the previous proof is any indication. b_rest looks like it'd be useful but it's missing some terms, so let's look at b_front. there we'd have a neat match if not for all the powers of 10 being 3 bigger than the corresponding index. so, let's extract the common factor from all those.

now the stuff in parentheses is what we'd need to add to b_rest to complete the original number. it's just that there's a thousand of it, when we need just one. so let's separate one from the thousand and-

oh hey, and what we're left with is 999 times something, which we already know is a multiple of 37. let's call it 37 times m where m is stuff in brackets times the pieces of 999 after we pulled 37 out of it. cause we don't need to write it any more than that if we already know it's good. "i don't care" is a very powerful statement to use in math.

and now we can put those back together again.

and as a final cherry on top,

yay. so, just one left. should be smooth sailing, right?

yeah to be honest for this next one i needed some time to get one specific insight, and the road there lead through first proving something simpler, which is quite an effective problem solving approach. let's go through it and see.

------

c) if you take a number that's a multiple of 37, reverse the order of digits, and then put a zero between every two digits, you get another multiple of 37.

so a good place to start will be once again defining what we mean in math symbols, cause while we can put it into words and write an example, those math symbols have been quite useful in solving this.

nothing new here but this time i also wrote the sequence of digits cause it'll be useful in building up the new number. so we flip the order and then add zeros.

so reading this from the right, in the ones place we have x_k. then we skip tens. then in the hundreds we have x_k-1. we skip thousands, and in ten thousands we have x_k-2. that's 10^0, 10^2, 10^4, and so on that have a digit from the original sequence - the even powers of ten. the number of original digits didn't change, but we doubled each power of ten used, so the highest power should be 2k.

yeah it got a bit more complicated, with the indices all the other way, and the exponents doubled, nice mess we got ourselves into. if you can already see where the proof is going, that's great. quoting Grant Sanderson of youtube channel 3blue1brown, pause and ponder. if you don't, fret not, it took me a while too. so how about for now we ignore this bigger problem and solve a much simpler case.

------

d2) same as point c, but we're looking at two-digit starting numbers. there is no point d1, i gave it a 2 cause 2 digits.

there are only two numbers that are 2-digit and are multiples of 37 - 37 itself and 74, so we could just plop 703 and 407 into a calculator and see what they divide into, but we should do it in a general way like we did before. we're already deep into the math, might as well

so, we swap the digits, double the exponents, and add a 0 in the middle just for now to remember it was there.

last time we were in a situation like this (back in case a) we added and subtracted one of the digits times 1000. let's do it again.

looks familiar. let's extract 10^2 from the first two terms and -x_1 from the other two.

yep, that worked, and we got the original number and 111 in there. that's promising. let's try three digits.

------

d3) same as d2 but the starting number has 3 digits

okay, so last time, and back in case a, we were able to restore the original number in the correct ordering of digits by adding and subtracting one term, and we did that in d2 as well. here we'd need to add and subtract two terms each. you know, worth a shot.

so we can do that, and the stuff we subtract each can pair with one of the remaining terms. let's do the usual and see what we're left with

so we got two of those as freebies, what about the last one? 10^6 is one million, so the brackets equal 999,999. is this a multiple of 999? why yes, it is, and the comma used to bunch digits of large numbers into groups of three helps us notice. and, well, so does saying the number out loud. 999 thousand, 999.

alright, i think we're warmed up enough to get back to our general case

which as i mentioned before i need to split into a separate followup post. 2/10 literally unplayable. i know there is the option "post privately" and there is the queue and schedule, but i'm sure as hell not gonna experiment when if something goes wrong i need to either redo the whole thing or have to wait to add the second half or whatever, i just want to drop it and move on.