#yamagata university

[guy60660]

Peru's Nazca Lines | Yamagata University | Reuters

[madlab]

Frontiers of Engineering (FoE) Japan 2024.

[fatehbaz]

Headline, image, and caption above published by: Reuters in Lima. “More than 100 new designs discovered in Peru’s ancient Nazca plain.” The Guardian. 19 December 2022.

---

As Vice reports:

The Nazca Desert in Peru is decorated with hundreds of mysterious figures, called geoglyphs, that were etched into the soil by the Indigenous peoples who lived in this area between 2,500 and 1,500 years ago. The ancient drawings, collectively known as the Nazca Lines, cover an estimated 170 square miles of this arid terrain. Many of the figures are visible only from an aerial viewpoint [...]. Now, an international team of researchers from Japan and Peru have discovered 168 previously unknown geoglyphs in this Peruvian desert, including depictions of humans, birds, orcas, cats, snakes, and camel relatives, according to a statement from Yamagata University released on Friday [9 December 2022]. The figures date back nearly 2,000 years, according to preliminary research, and were identified with the help of high-resolution aerial images captured by drones during field surveys from June 2019 to February 2020. Many of the newly discovered geoglyphs are relatively small, measuring only ten to 20 feet across, which kept them hidden from past searches. [...] Researchers led by Masato Sakai, an archaeologist and anthropologist at Yamagata University, made the discovery in collaboration with Jorge Olano, a Peruvian archaeologist based at Panthéon-Sorbonne University.

Text as published by: Becky Ferreira. “Scientists Found 168 More Ancient Figures Etched Into the Peruvian Desert.” Vice. 14 December 2022.

---

Photos below -- of some of the newly documented glyphs -- by Yamagata University. Captions as published by: Aspen Pflughoeft. “Watchful cat, slithering snake among 2,000-year-old drawings found in Peru. Take a look.” Miami Herald. 14 December 2022.

[hyperallergic]

Archaeologists discovered 168 geoglyphs near the arid Nazca plain in Southern Peru. The new findings, which encompass images of humans, birds, snakes, cats, and killer whales, date between 100 BCE and 300 CE, when the pre-Incan Nazca civilization lived in the region. The discovery adds to nearly 1,000 straight lines and hundreds of figurative drawings that have so far been identified as part of the vast Nazca lines.

Professor Masato Sakai of Yamagata University in Japan and Peruvian archaeologist Jorge Olano led the recent survey. The team used aerial photographs, some captured by drones, to decipher the figures. Most of the newly discovered figures are relatively small — less than 32 feet wide — and many were drawn on hillsides.

Elaine Velie reports.

[rayslittlekitten]

You Won't Let Me

“Toff Girl” (aka “Damsel” Universe) Masterlist

A/N: I had a good chunk of this chapter written out even way before the last chapter was started. I got a little stuck on this but I think I finally got this to where I want it to be. I am sorry (not sorry) for all the angst in this. "You Won't Let Me" by Rachael Yamagata was the driving force behind this. "Under the Table" by BANKS was an inspiration as well (YT link for both below). Those are both beautiful songs and recommend checking them out if you're not familiar.

Rating: T/M (no smut, but some mentions of D/s dynamic/elements)

Word Count:  1,378

Pairing: Raymond Smith x F!reader

Plot: Things don't go as expected when you thought you had it all figured out.

Contains: lots of hurt and angst, some mentions of D/s dynamics/elements, bratting, possible death threats?

Ray is sitting at the bar of Princess Victoria enjoying his afternoon tea while reading the paper. The pub isn't open for a few more hours for evening service. The quietness is interrupted when he hears the front door open.

"Sorry, we're not open--" Ray stops mid-sentence when he sees your reflection in the mirror behind the bar.

As you strut towards him, he spins around on his stool and is met with your lips crushing his. You grab his face and dig your fingers into his beard. You practically melt into him. Getting caught off guard, Ray allows it for a moment until he puts his hands on your waist and gently pushes you off as he stands up.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” Ray asks.

"We had a problem you couldn’t solve and I just did that for you. For us.”

“What are you talking about?” Ray tilts his head, confused at what you’re referring to.

“Fletcher! He’s never going to blackmail us - I mean you and Mickey - ever again,” you tell him, unable to contain your excitement. “We can be together again!”

Ray quickly looks around the pub and the street right outside before locking the front door and pulling you into the dining area in the back where he and Mickey usually conduct their business for more privacy.

“What did you do?” Ray turns to face you with knitted brows.

“Let’s just say you and Mickey are not the only ones in London who have power and resources," you answer smugly with a smirk.

“For fuck’s sake!” He huffs and shakes his head. “That was my problem alone. Not yours to fix and I had fixed it!”

“God damn it, Ray!” You chuckle and shake your head. “I thought you would be happy about this.” 

Your chin starts to tremble and you put your hand over your frowning mouth.

“I’m so sorry,” Ray breathes out as he helplessly watches you cry yet again. 

You shove him, slap his chest and then start pounding on it. Why do you torture yourself like this? You must truly be a masochist.

“No, you’re not! Just tell me Fletcher wasn’t the problem. If you didn't want to be with me anymore, just tell me instead of fabricating this stupid elaborate excuse,” you shout.

“It wasn’t an excuse–” Ray starts.

“Then why can’t we be together? I handled the only thing that was keeping us apart!”

“Fletcher is a greedy, sneaky cunt and will find any and every opportunity to milk as much money as he can from anyone. You should have talked to me about this before impulsively doing that,” he scoffs.

“Like how you talked to me about ending our relationship before deciding that for us?” you jab back. “Well I did what I thought was best for us.”

“Would you stop being a spoiled brat for one fucking moment? So what if you’re filthy rich? Money can’t solve every problem!” Ray steps in and gets right into your face. 

You stare at him and step in closer to him, your noses practically touching.

"Yes, I am a filthy rich spoiled brat and I would pay Fletcher off each and every time to keep his bloody mouth shut for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes for me to get what I want. What are you going to do about it, huh?" One of your eyebrows lifts slightly.

Ray glares at you.

“I already did what was best for everyone and there’s nothing more I need to do. If you want to continue to throw money away at Fletcher, that has nothing to do with me,” Ray shakes his head and crosses his arms.

You suddenly slap him hard across the face, nearly knocking his glasses off. He looks back at you in shock. 

“What do you think you are doing?” He takes a small step back and adjusts his glasses.

“Being. A. Filthy. Rich. Spoiled. Brat.” You punctuate each word with a poke to his chest, making his eyes twitch.

“Stop it!” Ray snarls. 

“Make me!” You challenge as you take another step closer to him and try to slap him again but he catches your wrist.

Ray’s eyes go dark for a moment, focused on the satin collar around your neck hiding slightly under your jacket collar, after hearing the sweet jingle of the bell. His favorite.

You stare back at him, anticipating his next move. His eyes move back to yours and his face softens. He then intakes a quiet sharp breath when you kneel down in front of him.

“Get up,” he commands.

“Make me!” You repeat.

“This isn’t a game!”

“No, it’s not,” you agree, shaking your head.

“Michael is going to be here any minute,” he spits, glancing at his watch.

“I don’t care! Tell me you don’t want this, that you don’t love me anymore and you’ll never hear from me or see me ever again,” you tell him.

Ray adjusts his glasses as he continues to stare down at you, exasperated.

“You need to leave,” he says while glancing at his watch.

“Tell me you don’t love me,” you demand again.

“It’s… it’s complicated,” he answers, his eyes twitching again.

“No, it’s not. It’s either you love me or you don’t.”

“Be a good girl for me and get up,” he tries again, changing tactics.

“No! Not until you-”

“The only reason we’re in this situation is because I love you!” he finally says. “We shouldn’t have even started seeing each other in the first place and I can only blame myself for allowing it to happen knowing what the risks were.”

“I don’t care about the risks,” you tell him. “It’s worth it.”

“I care about the risks. This isn’t just about you and me,” he starts. “There are a lot of people - innocent people - who can get hurt including your family if the wrong people find out about us.”

“I’ll behave,” you plead as you crawl over to him and rub your face against his thigh. “I’ll be a good kitten. I promise–” 

“Stop begging like a desperate fucking dog!” Ray snarls in disgust. “It’s pathetic!” he grabs your arm and yanks you up to your feet.

Normally, his degradation would turn you on, but his intentions behind his words feel far from playful and for once, it absolutely crushes you. Is that how he truly feels? Has he always felt this way?

“It’s over! You have to accept it!” he shouts.

“Am I interrupting something?”

Ray frantically takes a step back from you, creating distance and turning around to find Mickey walking in.

“H-hi, boss! Not at all!” he quickly spits out, feeling embarrassed. 

“Uh, Miss–” Ray glances over at you and does a double take when he sees the hurt in your damp eyes. It wasn’t the same sadness he saw earlier when he shot down your idea, not even when he broke up with you. He didn’t just break your heart just now. He also broke your spirit.

His face falls, regretting his choice of words in the heat of the moment.

“I was just leaving,” you finish his lingering sentence, before rushing out the pub without saying goodbye.

For a moment, Ray reaches out for you when you walk pass him, but he restrains himself at the last moment. He didn’t want to leave things between you like this. He watches you as you make your way through the pub until you’re out of sight.

“Ray, I thought I told you to handle that,” Mickey says as he pulls out a chair and settles in.

“I thought I did,” Ray replies. “But I don’t think there will be any more problems.”

“Well, there better not be or I may have to handle this one myself,” Mickey tells him. 

“Boss…you don’t mean–” Ray’s eyes start twitching.

“Ray, I’m not in the business of killing people,” Mickey cuts him off. “That is only reserved as a last resort for people really deserving of it.”

Ray lets out a breath of relief.

“But if I have to handle it myself, she’s going to wish she was dead. Do you understand?” 

“Yes, boss,” Ray nods.

“Good. Now, where are we with the Sheffields?”

[thatshowthingstarted]

168 New Geoglyphs Discovered in Peru !

Archaeologists discovered 168 geoglyphs near the arid Nazca plain in Southern Peru. The new findings, which encompass images of humans, birds, snakes, cats, and killer whales, date between 100 BCE and 300 CE, when the pre-Incan Nazca civilization lived in the region. The discovery adds to nearly 1,000 straight lines and hundreds of figurative drawings that have so far been identified as part of the vast Nazca lines.

The Nazca people created the works by removing the earth’s top layer of black stone to reveal the white sand below, and although the exact function of the lines is unknown, they are thought to have served a ritualistic purpose in relation to astrology.

Professor Masato Sakai of Yamagata Unviversity in Japan and Peruvian archaeologist Jorge Olano led the recent survey The team used aerial photographs, some captured by drones, to decipher the figures. Most of the newly discovered figures are relatively small — less than 32 feet wide — and many were drawn on hillsides.

Yamagata University began surveying the Nazca lines in 2004. The university last announced new findings in 2019, and so far, Yamagata University has identified a total of 358 previously unknown geoglyphs.

The 290-square-mile protected region that contains most of the Nazca lines is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of the works remain in good condition, although the 1937 construction of the Pan-American highway cut through some, and the ancient lines have sustained isolated damage in the past decade. In 2014, Greenpeace activists staged a protest that damaged the geoglyphs, and in 2018, a truck driver drove through the area and cut through three of the drawings. Sakai warned that mining initiatives could threaten the Nazca lines, and the university stated that it plans to use artificial intelligence to establish the lines’ distribution patterns, which will be used to further conservation efforts.

Words by Elaine Velie / Courtesy of Hyperallergic

[d3d9]

Official Akira Pre-movie Timeline

Character childhoods, historical events etc.

hiiii Akira tumblr, I haven't been around here much but here's a translation I did. I've never seen this full timeline translated anywhere, so maybe it'll be of interest !😳

(I did a condensed version on Twitter a while ago, but I figure it's easier to follow in its original format .)

(Long post under the cut)

Source is the book Poster & Graphic Akira released in 1988. Also a special thank you to my old friend Shina-san for the photos from the book, I don't yet own a copy myself !!

1970

Nezu's birth - Born in Chiba as the third son of farmers.

1976

Colonel's birth - Has an older sister and an older brother. His father served in the Japan Defense Agency, JGSDF major.

1977

Nezu age 7 - Started elementary school.

1982

Nezu age 12 - Started middle school. Excellent grades.

1985

Nezu age 15 - Started high school.

1988

Nezu age 18 - Started law school. The disaster of Akira’s awakening occurred. In the chaos of the next 3 years, he studied life as a black marketeer. During that time he became acquainted with the people of this underworld.

Colonel age 12 - His father died to Akira’s first awakening. (He was on a special mission, suspected to be related to the Akira Project). After the world war (which ended after 3 weeks), until he was 15 he spent the next years of chaos with his mother and siblings. These events would profoundly shape his later development. (Until 1991, Japan lacked a governing body and was controlled by the US)

1992

Colonel age 16 - Started night school. Studied while working.

1993

Colonel age 17 - Having regained autonomy, Japan emulates the US and establishes an American-style military.

1994

Nezu age 24 - As university resumed operation, he returned to school.

1995

Nezu age 25 - Graduated. Passed the bar exam, and became a lawyer.

1996

Colonel age 20 - Graduated night school. Enrolled in the newly established military academy (National Defense Academy).

1999

Colonel age 23 - Graduated military academy with excellent grades. Admitted to Officer Candidate School on recommendation.

2000

Nezu age 30 - From around this time he begins to appear in politics.

Colonel age 24 - Graduates from Officer Candidate School. Enlists in the Army as a First Lieutenant.

2001

Colonel age 25 - Studies abroad at the US Department of Defense.

2002

Nezu age 32 - Hears about Miyako-sama, and becomes a devoted believer.

Colonel age 26 - Returns to Japan. Establishes the Army Special Forces. Becomes its commander. Promoted to Major.  Dispatched in the Soviet-DPRK War, which had been ongoing since 1996. He is awarded a decoration for his service.  

2003

Colonel age 27 - Through matchmaking by his superior officer, he gets married.

Kei - Born in April. Her father, born 1967 (age 36), is a teacher. She has an older brother. They're 14 years apart.

2004

Kaneda - born in September (at this time, schools would have September enrollment and August graduation). His father born 1977 (age 27). His mother born 1978 (age 26).

Yamagata - born in November. His father is a Yakuza.

Colonel age 28 - By creating a new unification of land, sea, and air defense systems, he successfully allows Japan to gain independence from the US protective defense system.

2005

Nezu age 35 - He trains diligently under Miyako, and establishes himself. From around this time he separates under a new sect of Miyako's religion, and starts a political organization, becoming its president. Behind the scenes he is backing anti-government activists at the same time.

Kai - Born in January. His father works in the construction industry. He is blessed with a good home environment.

Tetsuo - Born in July. His father born 1980 (age 25). His mother born 1981 (age 24). In 1984, as part of the Akira Project, experiments were conducted on children around the age of 10, and genetic manipulation was (secretly) performed on newly born children. The effects of this skipped a generation and manifested in Tetsuo… and are gradually beginning to show in other children.(His grandfather was a genetic engineer. He participated in the Project. He died during Akira's awakening in 1988)

Colonel age 29 - He and his wife separate. They have no children.

2006

Yamagata age 2 - His father is arrested. He will serve 25 years. His mother makes a living as a hostess.

2008

Kaneda age 4 - His little brother is born. His parents open a laundry service. His little brother is born with a disability, and goes between home and treatment centers since the time he's 2 years old.

Yamagata age 4 - His mother gets a boyfriend. A little brother is born.

Kei age 5 - Her father dies. (Illness)

Tetsuo age 3 - His father (a graduate student), who's been sickly since birth, develops pneumonia from the common cold, and dies. His parents were never officially married, so as his father's child born out of wedlock, he's poorly received by his mother's side of the family.

Colonel age 32 - He is appointed commander of the nation's top secret 'Akira Plan' as Colonel. (The 'Akira Plan' began 3 years after Akira's awakening in 1988, when the US began investigating, and in 1996 it was turned over to the Japanese government. Since then, despite organization of records and repeated experiments, there hasn't been much progress. This may be why the US let go of it….) The heads of government began to feel threatened by the Colonel's excessively growing power, so even though it was a top national secret, they appointed him to this do-nothing position to force him to withdraw from the front lines, as a means of dismissal. …As for why the Colonel resigned himself to this sinecure, perhaps it's because he was seeking answers about his father's death, or trying to fulfill his father's dying wish, or maybe he himself saw potential in this investigation…. There are various possibilities, but one can only speculate.

2009

Yamagata age 5 - His mother gets another boyfriend. A little sister is born.

Kei age 6 - Starts elementary school. Her older brother is 21. He's already a student activist while also supporting the family.

Tetsuo age 4 - His mother remarries. Tetsuo is adopted by another family. But he can't get used to his new home and is gradually shunned as a gloomy child.

2010

Kaneda age 6 - Starts elementary school. Due to the fatigue of nursing his younger brother, his father collapses.

Yamagata age 6 - Starts elementary school. Another little brother is born.

2011

Kai age 7 - Starts private elementary school. Gets excellent grades.

Tetsuo age 6 - Starts elementary school. At this time he starts repeatedly running away from home.

2012

Kaneda age 8 - Changes schools due to his little brother changing treatment centers. His mother runs off. They live off of government assistance. His father shows a distinct turn towards alcoholism. 

2013

Kaneda age 9 - His father is deemed unfit to take care of the children, so Kaneda is sent to an orphanage. His little brother is kept at a hospital. Half a year later, Tetsuo comes to the orphanage.

Tetsuo age 8 - His parents try to return him, but his birth mother won't accept him, so he's sent to an orphanage. He then meets Kaneda.

2014

Kei age 11 - Starts middle school.

2015

Kaneda age 11 - Graduates from the orphanage and goes to a boarding middle school. He's separated from Tetsuo.

Yamagata age 11 - Starts middle school. His mother continues to have children, both boys and girls. She also keeps changing boyfriends.

Kei age 12 - Her older brother is arrested as a suspect in a major incident. (Something like the Mikawashima train crash). There are rumors that it was a US plot against the organization her older brother was connected to. Following this, Kei's family was supported by donations from her brother's group, organized by her brother's junior, Ryusaku.

2016

Kaneda age 12 - His defiant attitude stands out in school.

Yamagata age 12 - Caught by the police for shoplifting. He was stealing sweets for his little siblings.

Kai age 12 - Goes to the same private academy for middle school.

Tetsuo age 11 - He's adopted again by another family. He then starts middle school.

2017

Nezu age 46 - He may be doing it to spread the religion's ideals, or he may be using the religion for his own desires, or perhaps both….?

Kaneda age 13 - A complete juvenile delinquent. His grades are above average.

Yamagata age 13 - His mother joins a new religion. He leaves home.

Kei age 14 - Her older brother dies in prison. The authorities claim it was a suicide, but it's suspected that he was tortured. Kei leaves home and asks Ryusaku if she can become an activist too.

Tetsuo age 12 - Becomes truant. Frequently runs away from home.

Colonel age 41

2018

Kaneda age 14 - Expelled after a brush with the law. Starts at vocational school.

Yamagata age 14 - Starts at vocational school.

Kai age 13 - His father runs away from home. They find him. His father confesses: "I'm gay, and have been deceiving our family this whole time…." 

Kei age 15

Tetsuo age 13 - Due to misconduct with an elementary school student, he gets in trouble with the police. From this point forward he stops going to school.

2019

Kaneda age 15 - Forms a motorcycle team at the vocational school.

Tetsuo enrolls.

Kai age 14 - As junior representative, he reads an essay titled 'Is Life A Joke' to the graduating seniors, and is suspended. One week later, he turns in his notice to withdraw, and enrolls in vocational school himself.

Tetsuo age 14 - His parents convince him to go to vocational school. He reunites with Kaneda, and is admitted. There, he joins the motorcycle team.

[vicholas]

ok so basically billy knew that kevin goodman (age four) would die by a stray bullet during the jfk assassination, which is bad because kevin must survive so he can make funny drawings in the future. so billy contacts lee harvey oswald and tells him that if he follows his orders he will become a hero who will save mankind, which is technically true because billy's definition of "saving mankind" is "saving the life of a 4 years old who can draw really good". billy tells lee harvey oswald that his mission is to protect kevin, making him believe he means kevin yamagata and not kevin goodman. lee and kevin yamagata meet and decide work together, convinced that what they have to do to protect mankind is to protect jfk. this is all part of billy's plan because he knew that they would fail at protecting jfk but by being close to the place of the jfk assassination, kevin yamagata would be there to save young kevin goodman from being shoot. billy orchestrated this so it would be yamagata and not lee who saved kevin goodman because this way it would kickstart the mentor-student relation between both kevins which would push young kevin into making funny drawings. and also, billy called jackie (not jfk's wife. other jackie) into meeting lee harvey oswald so she could then meet kevin yamagata. this was so she and kevin could travel together and retrieve the secret billy ninja scroll in japan. since jackie was a the place of the events during the jfk assassination she was very close to being blamed for the assassination, so billy's plan is to have lee harvey oswald become close to jackie and then sacrifice himself in order to save her. lee plays the same role in billy's plans to save jackie and kurusu's plans to assassinate jfk: A pawn who is lead to believe that he would become a hero, which is true in the sense that he was a key piece to make both things happen, but his role was nothing more than a sacrifice for the more "important" pieces to survive (the kevins+jackie and the guys who actually killed jfk), which goes back to the speech about "simpletons" featured in the in-universe billy comic from chapter one. it could not be more simple.

[corvid-language-library]

Future Plans

This is mostly me thinking aloud (or rather, writing shit down), so feel free to ignore (it's gonna get long).

Basically, I'm trying to decide what to do in regards to staying in Japan/moving on.

I love living here. I love my job. After a year of doing it, I've learned from my mistakes and I feel like I've become a much better teacher. With the new school year I've implemented some changes in my approach that I know are going to have positive outcomes, and I want to see it through. I want to keep working with these kids, I want to help them grow.

But... I have reasons for wanting to go back to the UK (never thought I'd say that):

Top of the list is my nan having quite severe dementia. That in itself doesn't affect me greatly as I've not seen her for years and was never close to her. However, I know my mum is struggling to look after her. She frequently drives 3 hours to see her, then spends a week caring for her, and while she tries to put a humorous spin on the stories she tells me I can tell it's hard for her. I want to be there for her, maybe even go with her to help look after my nan just to take the burden off of her.

Related to that... I worry that my mum will develop dementia later on and I'll regret not spending the years we could've had together with her. She's the only family member I'm close to really and honestly, I miss her.

Also family-related... I'm missing my niece growing up. I'm not a part of her life at all and that makes me sad.

I'm still considering studying Education Psychology in the city where my brother lives. It would be expensive and I'd need to rely on my dad's money, which I don't really want to do, but it would set me up nicely to either go into research or then apply to do a teaching Masters degree in Norway (plus I'd get to actually be a part of my niece's life for a bit).

I miss having a fucking oven oh my god I want to bake so fucking badly you have no idea.

At the moment I intend to see my contract out for at least the rest of this year. After that, I'm not 100%. I might continue another year and stay until my visa expires (depends on the situation with my nan I guess).

Another plan would be:

Go back to the UK either when my contract reaches its end at the end of January or when my visa expires at the start of January

Come March, apply to university in Norway

Move to Norway the following summer if I get accepted

I'm also considering transfering away from Yamagata if I decide to stay on for a third year, but I'm in two minds. As mentioned above, I want to continue working with these kids and see through what I've started. I also love Yamagata and my team are great and I'm finally making friends! But I also want to explore more of Japan. It's so expensive to travel here from Europe and I doubt I'd be coming back anytime soon, but it's difficult to get to different areas of Japan from Yamagata. If I were in, say, Osaka, it would be much easier for me to go to new places.

Other options:

Just stay in Yamagata and get my visa renewed and settle down properly

Go do TEFL in a different country that's slightly closer to home (maybe Spain or France)

So yeah, those are some thoughts I'm having. I don't really know what to do at the moment and most people just politely listen and then say "well, it's down to you really" and that doesn't help lmao. Thankfully I've got quite a while to decide anyway.

[shamandrummer]

168 New Nazca Geoglyphs Discovered

More than 100 new designs discovered in and around Peru's Nazca plain and surrounding areas could bring new information to light about the ancient artworks that have intrigued scientists and visitors for decades. Following two years of field surveys with aerial photos and drones, Peruvian and Japanese researches from Yamagata University reported the discovery of 168 new designs at the Unesco World Heritage site on Peru's southern Pacific coast.

The geoglyphs, huge figures carved into the South American desert, date back more than 2,000 years and depict living creatures, stylized plants and imaginary beings, as well as geometric figures several kilometres long. Jorge Olano, head archaeologist for the Nazca Lines research program, said the newly discovered figures averaged between 2 and 6 meters (6.56 to 19.7ft) in length.

The purpose of the Nazca Lines, which could only be seen from the air, remains a mystery. These new findings, however, are smaller and can be seen from the ground. The figures, iconic vestiges of Peru's rich history, are about a three-hour drive from the capital, Lima. Researchers had already discovered 190 figures in the area since 2004. But the vastness of the terrain they cover has complicated efforts to study and conserve the heritage site.

Yamagata University said the research will be used in artificial intelligence-based surveys to help inform the lines' preservation. Studies from the university in collaboration with Peru's government have helped delineate and protect the area, which is facing threats from urban and economic developments. Some geoglyphs are in danger of being destroyed due to the recent expansion of mining-related workshops in the archaeological park.

Anthropologists, ethnologists, and archaeologists have studied the ancient Nazca culture to try to determine the purpose of the lines and figures. One hypothesis is that the Nazca people created them to be seen by deities in the sky. Another theory is related to astronomy and cosmology, as has been common in monuments of other ancient cultures: the lines were intended to act as a kind of observatory, to point to the places on the distant horizon where the sun and other celestial bodies rose or set at the solstices.

Other theories were that the geometric lines could indicate water flow or irrigation schemes, or be a part of rituals to "summon" water. The spiders, birds, and plants may be fertility symbols. It also has been theorized that the lines could act as an astronomical calendar, as proved by the presence of radial centers aligned along the directions of winter solstice and equinox sunset. Researchers believe that the geoglyphs were the venues of events linked to the agriculture calendar. These also served to strengthen social cohesion among various groups of pilgrims, sharing common ancestors and religious beliefs.

[dato-georgia-caucasus]

Rice bread is a type of bread that is made from rice flour rather than wheat flour. Being gluten free, it will not cause adverse reactions for people with gluten intolerance.

The Vietnamese banh mi (baguette) is traditionally made with a mixture of wheat and rice flour, or sometimes exclusively the latter, resulting in an airy, crispy texture.

Sierra Leonean and Liberian rice bread is traditionally made with rice flour, mashed ripe plantains, butter, eggs, baking soda, sugar, salt, water, and grated ginger.

In 2001, a study group at Yamagata University's Department of Engineering used foam molding technology to produce bread made from 100% rice flour.

[preysresolve]

preysresolve: an independent multimuse for characters from sekisei inko, primarily focused on tsukuyo yamagata. headcanon-heavy/canon-divergent, and uses a tokyo revengers main verse, meaning threads & interactions take place in the same universe as the tokyo revengers manga. if you're interested, please consider living a like or reblog, and thank you!

[konohamaru-sensei]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @foolishk. I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH.

hq au cuties.

The usual jingle sounded over the speakers in the train car and Hajime steadied his nervous hands by taking out his phone from his pocket as he left the car. It was about a ten minute walk from Tenno-Ji station to the studio in Harajuku, and he would suffer the entire way if he couldn’t keep his mind busy somehow.

In his bag the bottle of wine he had brought was clinging with every step. It had taken him ages to pick out, mostly because he didn’t know what Kaiya liked or if it even was appropriate to bring anything for the occasion. Sure, she had said that they could celebrate the final product they had worked on together, but maybe she had just meant it metaphorically.

Unfortunately for him, his phone screen didn’t show anything that he hadn’t already seen when he woke up. There were about twenty messages of support from Tooru, mostly emojis. It was about 2 a.m in Buenos Aires right now, but that didn’t seem to deter his best friend from texting. 

Hajime already regretted that he had talked to Tooru about this in the first place, given his track record with lovers, he probably wasn’t the best guy to chat up about advice. But he hadn’t wanted to go to anyone else with this specific matter that made him so very insecure.

Still, he couldn’t help himself. He opened the LINE-chat with Tooru and looked at the last batch of the spam he had sent overnight. “Tell me everything when you are done ^_^ “ and “I will stay up and wait for your report ><” and “Of course she likes you too, who wouldn`t?!!” 

Yeah well, Hajime thought in a reply he would never send, Tooru hadn’t liked him, no matter how long they had stayed by each other’s side. Not that this mattered now, their friendship was still solid and with Tooru time zones away in Argentina, Hajime at least had the opportunity to move on to someone new.

He found the studio in a backstreet of the busy clothing streets of Harajuku, the outside sign was as colourful and weird as it had been the first time he had come here. It felt ages ago by now, though it was only about half a year, when he first stood here and stared at the entryway of this old 60ies style building. Hajime didn’t know then who that person was he was about to meet and frankly, he had only limited interest in that project the marketing department had thrown together and involved him in. All he knew was that the artist’s name was Uchiha Kaiya and that this was her colourful but weird studio.

“We will make it a contest,” the marketing lady Yamagata-san had said with the widest grin she could muster without looking like a mannequin. “Several artists can submit concepts for an advertising campaign involving our national volleyball team. The winning artist will be then contracted to design the full campaign and we will distribute it nationally.”

 Hajime had nodded, but wondered why he was being told this. “Sounds solid.” Surely, there was a catch, otherwise they weren’t telling him about this.

“We thought you might be the advisor to the winner.” Ah, he thought, there was the catch. Yamagata-san read his face. “Not all the time, of course, Iwaizumi-san, just at the beginning. Once the campaign is sort of set, we from marketing can take over. It’s just important that all the players are well represented and nobody knows them better than you.”  

As much as he might have wanted to, there was no arguing with this point. And, since his players were currently mostly engaged in their own clubs all over the world, he couldn’t even excuse himself from the responsibility by saying he had training to attend to. 

So he found himself staring at the oddly coloured sign of the contest’s winner, Uchiha Kaiya, who had a degree from prestigious Tokyo University, but had not done any bigger projects after that. Not that Hajime blamed her for that; making money with art was notoriously hard.

His first impression of the young woman that appeared in front of him was that she looked cute, but Kaiya was much more than just a pretty face. Not only was she clearly talented at her work, she was also passionate and cooperative, smart and funny and above all, she loved the sport of Volleyball, though she had barely played it herself when she was younger.

By the time the three sessions that he had been obliged to tag along had passed, Hajime found himself going back anyways, no matter how often Yamagata-san told him he didn’t need to. He faked interest in the campaign, used an excuse or two to say that it was just for the sake of his players portrayal, but in reality he just went back to see Kaiya again.

Turned out, she had grown up in Tokyo and had never left the city. “I can’t really see myself in the countryside,” she had said and smiled. “But I’m sure it can be nice.”

“I certainly miss going everywhere by bike,” he had replied. “I know I could technically do that here in Tokyo too, but it seems so very dangerous. Also, the noise here is something one needs to get used to.” She laughed at his remark and he felt like he had done something right. 

Kaiya told him how she used to sneak into the Volleyball practice of her high school team to observe the boys playing, sometimes the girl team too, but mostly the boys. Hajime, as main scout and head coach of Japan’s national team, had obviously heard about Nekoma High school and their premier boys team, though he had never personally played against them in their prime. 

“Ask  her out,” Tooru had said right away when Hajime had mentioned Kaiya the first time. 

Back then he had replied a lazy: “It’s not like that” even though it maybe was exactly like that.

Eventually though, when the design for the posters and the train banners were slowly nearing its completion and Hajime was often just sitting with Kaiya for hours talking about everything but the campaign, he had to allow himself to admit that he might have a little crush again. THen it took him another week or so to fight his own insecurity. Just because he had a crush that led nowhere in his teenage years, didn’t mean this one needed to lead nowhere too. 

He just needed to follow Tooru’s advice and ask her out. “I will see her on Sunday morning for the last time to clear up the very last questions,” he had told his old friend. “I will ask her out then.”

 “You can do it, Iwa-chan,” Tooru had sung over the phone line. “I will send you support when the time comes.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Hajime had assured, but of course Tooru did whatever Tooru wanted and sent 20 texts anyway.

He took three steps at a time to make it up to the studio entrance door, which once again had the wildly coloured sign of her name next to it. If all went well he would probably return to this place another time after he left it today, but if not… No, he wasn’t even going to think about that, it would just make him nervous again.

At first he didn’t see her at all when he entered her studio, but then he spotted her legs crossed behind a big canvas. “Iwaizumi-san” Kaiya said with a smile when she noticed him. “Nice to see you!” There was a bit of red paint on her nose and Hajime actively suppressed the urge to wipe it away from her.

“I see you are working hard,” he smiled, avoiding as always to address her by her name. He had somehow gotten used to calling her Kaiya in his mind, though she had never offered her first name to him. It was too embarrassing to admit that he already felt so familiar with her, that he wasn’t using her last name as she was using for him, so he just avoided using a name in general.

She was painting a giant canvas of a sunrise and when he looked over it with awe, she explained: “Client wants it for their living room, but I’m not happy with it yet, I think I will start over.”

“I think it looks phenomenal,” he said and meant it.

 His compliment made her laugh a little shyly. She put the brush down and stretched a little, then she said: “Should we look at the final product one last time?” He nodded and offered his hand to help her get up from the floor. 

Not that there was anything new to look at really, they had gone over the design so many times that there was nothing to discuss. Still, Hajime had come round every week to “see if there were any changes”, just to have an excuse to see Kaiya again. He had wondered why she hadn’t pointed out this fact a long time ago and secretly hoped that maybe, maybe, she had also scheduled more meetings with him, because she liked hanging out.

They walked over to the posters on a big pile on her work desk. With the Olympics over it was never a bad idea to keep interest in your sport high, especially in a country like Japan so dominated by Football and Softball, so they had decided to make the ad campaign very flashy. Several players were on each poster and when Hajme had to think back at the struggle it was to get all of them for individual photo sessions and on top of that, for each of them to look good, he almost got a headache.

“I wish we had gotten a picture of him where he doesn’t frown,” Hajime said for what felt like the third time, picking up one of the posters that showed Wakatoshi and his ever so stern stare into the camera. “But every picture with him smiling somehow ended up scarier.”

Kaiya took the poster out of his hand and looked at it thoroughly again, as if she hadn’t looked at it about a hundred times before. “I tried to make the lighting different so he looks a little more friendly,” she explained something she had said before. “Unfortunately it seems like a lost cause. Ushijima-san looks best when he just looks relaxed.”

“If that is what you can call “relaxed”, then yes,” he laughed. 

“Is there anything else that you notice?” She asked and put the poster down. “You better not, because I don’t want to start over now.” She laughed, but he knew she was being serious. Last time, after all, he had told her that it was exactly right the way it was.

He lifted his hands in defence: “I don’t-  I don’t have anything, I swear. I just thought we could celebrate the successful work together.” He pointed at his bag. “I brought some wine, mostly because I couldn’t decide what champagne to buy..” And also, though he couldn’t say that out loud, because he felt like champagne was much too fancy and felt like he was asking her for marriage, when he was just trying to ask her out.

She watched him take the bottle out. “I don’t think I have glasses for that…” she said and put a finger to her cheek. “I don’t think I have any glasses here.”

“Damn,” Hajime let out. “I totally forgot that is necessary.”

“We could always just go into town and have something there,” Kaiya put her head to the side. “It is lunch time soon anyway.”

He almost dropped the bottle he had been holding. The entire week he’d been at the end of his nerves for this day, planning to ask her out for dinner or a movie or karaoke or anything she liked doing, and here she was, just casually inviting him out for lunch, ruining his plan completely.

Well, even if they went out for lunch he would have to ask her to see her again after that, so he guessed not everything was ruined.

“Sure, if you feel like it.” He smiled. “My treat.”

Kaiya lightly moved over her nose. “Huh?” she made and then looked at her finger and blushed instantly. “D-did I have paint on my face the entire time?”

Her embarrassment was so cute that he bit his lower lip not to let out a big, long drawn “awww”. Instead he rather felt like sparing her. “I didn’t even notice,” he lied.

She looked at him as if she knew he was lying, but quickly wiped the paint off her face behind a flat hand so he couldn’t see.

“You can lead the way, then,” he said, walking to the door to open it to her and when she moved past him his heart skipped a beat.

On the way down the stairs he quickly typed into his phone: Go to sleep. But then added a quick: :) 

[ancientstuff]

So many more teoglyphs! Nazca is such an amazing place.

[bpod-bpod]

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Spider silk is renowned for its strength, but there are thousands of species of spider. Now researchers are investigating the diversity of silks from spiders around the world, such as the salty ant spider (Myrmarachne formicaria) found jumping around Japan (top, second from left) or Hasselt's spiny spider (Macracantha hasselti) found in India (middle, second from left). So far, the team have sequenced genetic information from over 1000 species, and studied the biomechanical properties of silk from over 400 of these. Drawing links between these data – between genes and traits, genotypes and phenotypes – the team find genetic clues to making different types of silk protein or spidroin. But charting the evolution of the toughest silks is only one ambition of the silkome project – researchers want to use their data to guide the design of new 'renewable, biodegradable, and sustainable' biomaterials, perhaps for use in medical procedures or biomedical engineering.

Written by John Ankers

Image from work by Kazuharu Arakawa and Nobuaki Kono, and colleagues, from the Spider Silkome Database

Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Tsuruoka, Yamagata; Biomacromolecules Research Team, RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Wako, Saitama, Japan and others

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Research published in Science Advances, October 2022

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