#ga's ultimate ULTIMATE power couple

[drnikolatesla]

The Evolution of the Tesla Coil

Nikola Tesla invented the Tesla coil as part of his exploration into lighting, wireless power transmission, and radiofrequency experiments. He developed the coil to produce high-voltage, low current, high-frequency electricity. The Tesla coil consists of primary and secondary coils that are inductively coupled, and the circuit is designed to resonate at a specific frequency. This resonance enhances the efficiency of energy transfer between the coils, enabling the generation of high-voltage, high-frequency alternating current.

His first Tesla coil was a bipolar coil created around 1891, and was demonstrated before scientific institutes from 1891-1893. His patents reveal that they were essentially intended for light production using both high frequency and high voltage at the same time. He also mentions in his patents how he discovered that a single wire could be used to light a light bulb. Generally, light bulbs require two wires to operate – one for the positive (live or hot) and one for the negative (neutral). He also discarded wires completely lighting bulbs wirelessly. Tesla improved upon the bipolar coil over many years using them for gas engine ignition, wireless, ozone production, and to create undamped waves.

In 1893, Tesla developed the bifilar spiral coil, which is a type of coil wound with two parallel wires, known as bifilar winding. The wires are wound side by side in a spiral pattern, maintaining close proximity throughout the coil. It was built in an attempt to avoid the employment of condensers, which are expensive and difficult to maintain. The coils themselves were meant to accomplish the same ultimate object as the condensers.

In 1894, Tesla evolved his coil into a conical coil. A conical coil refers to a coil or winding in the shape of a cone. These coils were sometimes employed in his wireless power transmission experiments and other electrical investigations. The shape of the coil can influence its inductance, capacitance, and resonance properties, impacting its performance in different applications. This coil allowed Tesla to reach tensions of 1 million volts.

In 1897, Tesla developed the flat spiral coil, similar to his bifilar coil. This type of coil forms a flat, spiral pattern. The specific shape and dimensions of the coil can influence its inductance and other electrical properties. The main reason Tesla started using flat spiral coils was because they were relatively safe, since the highest potential terminal is at the center, and also because they better suppressed the sparks, which were essentially losses in the circuit, allowing him to achieve higher voltages:

Another version of his coils was his Helical coil. A helical coil is a coil wound in the shape of a helix or spiral. The helical coil configuration is characterized by the wires being wound around a cylindrical form in a continuous spiral pattern. Tesla utilized helical coils throughout the late 1890s and in his Colorado Springs Experiments. The coils were used in his wireless transmission experiments, and he employed helical resonators to investigate the behavior of electromagnetic waves. The helical shape offers specific electrical properties and can influence the resonance and performance of the coil in certain applications.

Finally, the Tesla coil would eventually evolve into his Magnifying Transmitter. Tesla designed it as part of his wireless power transmission experiments. The magnifying transmitter was intended to efficiently transmit electrical energy over long distances without the need for wires. The system involved a large coil, often called the magnifying transmitter coil, which could produce high-frequency, high-voltage electrical currents. Tesla believed that this technology could revolutionize global communication and provide a means for delivering electrical power wirelessly by using the earth itself as a conductor.

The magnifying transmitter would become his Wardenclyffe Tower. Unfortunately, Tesla ended up lacking the investments and funds to finish his work in its entirety. Some say he failed because his idea didn’t work, but that’s not true at all because his Colorado experiments proved that they did. In his head, the transmission of energy was a matter of engineering. If he had a machine that could send energy 20 miles, then he could build a machine that could send energy a thousand miles. As long as he understands the motive power, he could build a machine that will do all that he requires of it. He simply underestimated the cost of his system. His failures to finish his work would leave him with the public persona as being the mad scientist who had unrealistic ideas for the future.

Ultimately, Tesla would not realize his dream of providing humankind with cheap, unlimited energy in his lifetime; however, his legacy forever lives on through the incredibly impactful experiments, and the evolution of the Tesla Coil.

“Technical invention is akin to architecture and the experts must in time come to the same conclusions I have reached long ago. Sooner or later my power system will have to be adopted in its entirety and so far as I am concerned it is as good as done. If I were ever assailed by doubt of ultimate success I would dismiss it by remembering the words of that great philosopher, Lord Kelvin, who after witnessing some of my experiments said to me with tears in his eyes: ‘I am sure you will do it.’”--Nikola Tesla

#nikola tesla #science #history #electricity #invention #wireless #energy #power #Tesla coil #quotes #ahead of his time #ahead of our time

[pendwelling]

Is it confirmed yet or foreshadowed that they ( Jesse, Sadie, and Christelle) will be a couple?

CedYesChris have actually been foreshadowed to be building up to the very relationship TWSB has been implying they'd become since the beginning, ever since the first mention that Riester royalty had to take up both a political companion that is tied to them by matrimony, and a religious companion that is tied together by soul through a covenant. Later on, it is very apparent that the roles will be taken by Ham Ga-in Christelle and Jung Yeseo in particular! (And not even in the way you'd initially expect!)

More elaboration and spoilers below (with novel support and chapter citation lolol):

This is all viewed in a primarily objective light where I interpret what we are given. While I love my shipping, I do believe, in the context of the novel, that there is no romantic basis for their relationship at all as of yet (800+) nor do I believe that there will explicitly ever be, but to deny that there isn't any sort or form of love would be lying. CedYedChris have a complex relationship: friends that are more than just friends but not at all lovers, one that cannot be fully described with words—forged through trials and pain and reverence and companionship, making for a unique relationship of understanding and solace. This sort of queerplatonic relationship is actually very fittingly in line with the power system and world-building of the novel, simply by virtue of the covenant system between Holy Knights and Priests, and the acts of special partnerships that tie individuals by souls.

I find it very funny actually when people say they cannot see Cédric and Ga-in getting together because of how different they are (and how much they seem to repulse each other lmao) but the more you read and understand about their relationship, the more you realize that after all these hundreds of chapters, there is no one that would who could fit the role of "Crown Prince's political companion" more than Ga-in herself—not even as a romantic partner, but as a mere companion.

There have been attempts at Cédric having to find a potential consort candidate, and Cédric himself has mentioned that whoever is INEVITABLY picked he will agree with unconditionally as it is his duty as Crown Prince to marry someone later on to help support his reign (251-4). But ultimately all of his friends agree that his happiness is something that is also very important, especially when it comes to marrying someone for the rest of his life. He might say he doesn't care, but once Yeseo starts expressing concern and dissatisfaction with him getting marriage proposals to nobles Cédric wouldn't be able to fully get along with outside of a political union, he starts expressing relief and hints of aversion to the idea of an arranged marriage that he has no say in (254). And we, as readers, know that Cédric is not the type of person who could easily open up to people, and while he is not the type to be discourteous to anyone who would become his future spouse, it's clear that for the type of person he is, a marriage with someone who he is only connected to due to duty pales in comparison to the trust he has with a comrade who has been by his side since the beginning, who knows him better than any random noble who wouldn't understand a fraction of his soul (and potentially might not ever, as the circumstances under which Cédric has ever emotionally opened up were never something that he chose to do on a whim, and probably never would have talked about, had it not been for specific circumstances [like in 602]). In all those rare and explosive instances when he went through periods of turmoil, he was lucky enough to have people by his side who understood and could sympathize/empathize with his very unique pain.

Cédric and Ga-in are very different, but funnily enough two out of three of the only people who can understand each other the best in this life and universe, as they have many life experiences and traumas and history that no outsider will be able to understand, and (HUGE SPOILERS CHAPTER 640) after the group travels 20 years in the future, it is even canon and /very/ heavily implied that the two of them are married! (Though there are mysteries about Yeseo's whereabouts and roles in this future.) BUT!

It is actually very vague on whether or not this is romantic (and doesn't even necessarily seem to be) but in my interpretation of their special relationship and based on the novel itself, I truly believe this is a very understandable partnership between two people who have gone through so much and have come out of it as partners that the other can trust, and who they know they can depend on and have emotionally opened themselves up to.

It doesn't have to be romantic. It doesn't even need to, for such a marriage to work, and if there is a hint of romantic love in it, we cannot see it nor will we know for sure, but I believe that it doesn't actually matter. CedYesChris is very queerplatonic and if you've read that far, you understand that by that point, they've all become companions that know each other from every inch of their souls. All of them consider each other as their Moon, Sun, and Earth, and have said (particularly Ga-in to Yeseo, and Ga-in speaking on behalf of her and Cédric about him) to be unable to live without each other (657, 805), and it is a sentiment echoed almost within them all. Cédric Riester, by simple virtue of being the future Riester Emperor, will inevitably have to marry, and what better partner than Ham Ga-in, who has distinguished herself with notable achievements in the Empire, and is an important friend to the Crown Prince?

And of course, their relationship with Yeseo is also something that I believe brings them together all the more. They are their partner's other partner—they are each others' partner. They are all pretty much in a Holy Knight/Priest partnership and Yeseo is the only one alive that can support the two of them with the ether they'd need, and not exhaust himself in the process (like Priest Sand). They are all soothed by each other's souls, and before you say Cédric and Ga-in physically repulsed each other, in Chapter 651 we get a confirmation that the two of them have formed a bond and tie between each other's souls following the events of Chapter 301 when they fought in the temple during Cédric's ether runaway/turmoil. Accidentally, during that fight that ended up with Cédric nearly unconsciously killing Ga-in in his grief, they managed to have a small part of each other's etheric plate chipped into the other, meaning (particularly in Ga-in's case) that she can now stabilize herself from a runaway with the help of Cédric's opposite attribute ether to calm the fury of her water (651). They have somewhat of a quasi-telepathic relationship, though they typically cannot hear much of anything but as their souls are tied in a unique way, they can feel in some abstract instinctual sense when something is going on with the other's soul/ether, even if not within the same vicinity (727).

As for Yeseo being Cédric/CedChris's religious companion, it has actually been confirmed by Yeseo himself that he would have agreed to pledge a covenant with Cédric and tie their souls together, and yet hasn't and is putting off/has refused the proposal (of ch330 and onward implictly) because Yeseo is VERY intimately aware of the fact that he is not from this world and will, ultimately, have to return home in the end due to his love for his siblings, and acknowledges that he would not wish upon Cédric the pain of being separated from the soul one would tie themselves with upon forming a covenant (736). For reference, even Empress Frédérique and Aurélie cannot separate for too long without Fred feeling immense amounts of pain, discomfort, and irritation, only managing to cope by surrounding herself with piles ether stones filled with her soul companion's ether, (510, and some other chapters but i cant remember them all rn wkfjdk).

In Jibril's words, a religious companion is someone that would be able to provide support and mental fortitude to their partner, which is something that Yeseo considers about Jibril's own aspects who he hopes would support his cousin in the future (a future without him in it). Yeseo is very concerned about Cédric's circle of support and always has his well-being in mind, and this not only stems from his wanting to be a good friend, but also because of his regret and hesitation in accepting Cédric's covenant proposal due to his impermance in the universe. He explicitly says that he does not wish to hurt Cédric! The bigger the distance, the more painful it is for the companion—so how painful would being separated by different worlds, be?

Both Cédric and Yeseo want to be each other's companion and fuse their souls together (Cédric more so than Yeseo—this guy would really accept no one else). The only thing preventing that is Yeseo's fear and concern for Cédric. I don't have much to say about this than I do about Cédric and Ga-in's future political companionship, because CedChris is just a bit harder to understand for TWSB readers if they haven't gotten far enough into the novel yet. In contrast, Cédric and Yeseo’s religious companionship has been made most probable from the very start of the novel, and yet funnily enough, the difficulty and probability of the formation of the Political and Religious partnerships have been flipped 😂 It is easier to see Cédric and Ga-in becoming political companions (and is, as of Chapter 805 and ongoing, most canonically supported to be something that is in place 20 years in the future), as opposed to Yeseo accepting Cédric's covenant proposal haha.

But I firmly believe, at the end of the day, that the three of them will become companions. Not necessarily in a romantic sense (no matter how much I enjoy my shipping) but also not in a standard platonic sense, either. Yeseo views Ga-in as his continent and earth, and regards Cédric as a precious being equivalent to the sun. Ga-in speaks for both herself and Cédric when she says they cannot live without him, and she loves Yeseo so dearly and his well-being is her priority, and acknowledges Cédric as someone she respects and can rely on, and who shares similar pains with her. Cédric treats Yeseo with so much reverence and desire, and Ga-in with mutual understanding, and both are the only people whom he can be fully emotionally vulnerable with. They have a very special and unique relationship and I don't know how exactly it will play out in the end, but I sincerely believe that there is NO ONE in that universe that could understand their pains and souls and mere entirety, than they do for each other.

CedYesChris are soulmates! Whether it is made by their own hands or written in the stars. I believe wholeheartedly that Sookym has written and built up their relationship splendidly and so naturally.

#asks #twsb asks #twsb spoilers #twsb #twsb analysis #is this an analysys? idk #twsb meta #cedjesschris #cedyeschris #CYC mean the absolute WORLD to me ok 😭 #I could go on forever talking about their relationship but i think i wrote enough wUFBDKDMJK

[linddzz]

Why Are People Happy (or like, at least Not Freaking Out) About the USA Midterm Results?

(or in my case exhaling a held breath as I slightly lift my finger off the "oh fuck me and my spouse should worry for our future survival if we stay in the country" button for now)

So for newer voters there is the very valid question: why the hell are people acting like this is a victory for progressives/Democrats when they'll likely lose the House and barely hold on to the Senate?

Short Answer: because by historical pattern and all the usual indicators, anyone who even slightly caucused with Dems should have been trounced, and the fact that they weren't trounced has the far hardline right shaking.

To borrow from a great Reddit comment I saw; the GOP is freaking out because this was like a pro boxer went up against a sick six year old, and the boxer may have scored higher in the end but the six year old beat the shit out of them in the process.

For decades the pattern has been that the president's party loses at LEAST 20-40 seats in the midterms. Add in that Republicans tend to turn out more for midterms, gerrymandering, and the fact that in the past swing voters are swayed by inflation and gas prices and...it should have been so much worse. With how everything was stacked up this ended up being a historic turnout for an incumbent executive branch, the career politicians pay attention to shit like that.

And yeah with how things are, "holy shit it could have been so much worse" is worth something.

So I'm not like, popping bottles and cheering, but this to me is a great example of Voting as Harm Reduction in Action.

Voting did not Fix It. It can't. Voting will not stop fascism, strike that expectation from your mind and also really see that that is not what voting's role is in an action plan. Voting is the Minimum. Meaning if you can't do anything else you vote, but you don't rely on voting and expect it alone to fix problems.

(long post with more of a breakdown below. Tho this isn't a breakdown where I pulled sources and exact numbers. It's more of a General Take Away.)

The ultimate proof that this wasn't great for the far right is the fact that they're very openly freaking out. Go to the far right outlets and they are losing it. It has been loudly shown that they can't assume they can point to inflation and get away with OPEN pushes for total take over.

On one hand, we very VERY likely gained a couple more years to fight (either to stop a fascist take over or to at least set things up to save more lives, or to even reduce the power hold a fascist take over could keep.) On the other hand, people like Nick Fuentes are now openly saying "we are the minority and these results show why we need a dictatorship." Whether it's a good thing they're saying the quiet part even louder or not remains to be seen.

(My optimistic take is it may be a good thing, as it's way harder for moderates to accuse progressives of hysterics when the wackos won't stop saying the quiet part out loud and are in fact saying it louder. I kind of WANT the wackos to be louder and louder, there's now good evidence that freaks voters out.)

The More Definitive Good:

-The GOP majority is not NEARLY what they were wanting, and a lot of their moderates are spooked. The status quo holders are seeing that hardline regressive politics like the overturn of Roe is BAD for them, and they can't rely on "but the gas prices." The GOP generally falls in line together yes, but remember how much they struggled to pass big change legislation when Trump was president? They're gonna have even more inter-party tensions now as the hardline right gets frustrated that they can't impeach Biden every week and the status quo moderates get more hesitant to back up policies that they KNOW won't be popular with their constituents. They will not be able to coast whatever they want through. Even if they end up flipping the House AND Senate it will not be with big enough majorities to do whatever they want.

-Listen if nothing else, if you're a petty bitch like me who enjoys a nice dish of shadenfreude, its probably gonna be very funny watching McCarthy struggle to keep his party on track if they retake the House.

-Cannot possibly stress enough that the fact that it's STILL not 100% certain the GOP will flip the house is buck fucking wild.

-GenZ turnout is giving me hope that the Youths are properly viewing voting as a minimal first step in an action plan and not as a "if it doesn't fix it why bother?" scenario. If voting is all you can do, do that so you can help give people who are fighting better ground to work on and more time. Stay involved in local elections especially!

-For me at least, this has let me take my mental finger off the PANIC AND FLEE NOW button so I can focus slightly less on survival for immediate family and more on helping others.

-Speaking of, LOOK UP HOW TO HELP YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. The Indian Child Welfare Act is on the line at the supreme court. Look it up, look up how you can help.

Best Case Scenario Outcomes/Dreams

-Trump vs DeSantis actually does turn into a GOP civil war. Will this fight be good in the long run? I don't know but I know that at this moment it's very fun watching them claw at each other. Thoughts and prayers towards an ongoing GOP civil war. The established GOP wants Trump gone and see this midterm as proof he's bad for elections, but he's not going to go easy. I'm gonna be like Cersei Lannister looking out my window sipping wine watching them fight.

-GOP realizes "being seen as the social regression party is bad for us" and they stop being obstructionists. Best case here is they open up to climate legislation. That or they buckle down harder and piss everyone off more. Either way is likely to work out for progressives. Ultimate Dream is a GOP civil war and party shakeout leading to a conservative party with like, disagreements on tax policy and regulations being the biggest thing to worry about in the future.

-Bigger Dream; this is a death knell for the rise of Christo-Fascism. They overshot their reach with the Roe overturn and the power hold the hard right Christian block has on the conservative party goes downhill from here. This is more of a dream and not a realistic expectation though.

-I don't hold as much hope here but there's a CHANCE that this also signaled to Democrats that they can be more pushy and not suffer for it. Biden is a political beast and I wouldn't be surprised if his more openly progressive (by his standards) moves recently were to test how voters would respond to it. If Dems payed attention (big if) they got the message that people want more action.

-Trump probably lost the political backup he hoped for if he gets indicted. There's a GOOD chance that the establishment GOP won't stop the legal freight train about to hit him even if they get both House and Senate. I think it's silly to say "it's over for Trump!" but it's fair to say his tower is less protected than he likely hoped. It's likely the establishment is less afraid of his power than they were even after 2020.

-can you imagine if he made a third party and wrecked the GOP voting base? Like to charge reblog to cast.

-If nothing else; between Alex Jones, Elon flailing like an idiot and maybe taking down Twitter, and far right pundits screaming in confusion, there is entertainment to be had.

Now What:

-The fight is not over. It will never be over. The hill to fight up is less steep than expected now, but it's still there.

-We will likely not see much passed before 2024. This midterm was less about getting progressive platforms pushed and more about making it harder for regressive policies to pass. It'll be frustrating but with how things were stacked that's the best we could've hoped for.

-The GOP have gerrymandering and can win that way (it's likely how they end up winning the House) BUT more people are aware of it now and districts that should have been EASY wins were closer than the GOP would like. They're likely to try to gerrymander harder, it's now our job to be very very loud about that. Push for districting reform.

-The conservative voting bloc is ALSO sick of the two options. Peeking around in r/conservative revealed a surprising amount of support for rank choice voting. This is an area to plug your nose and work with people towards a common goal. Rank choice is at the moment, the most realistic strategy for breaking up the two party system.

-Hard to swallow pill: the majority of this country is moderate. It sucks. But it is. You cannot depend on the dream of a socialist revolution. Lying down and accepting that as a reason to give up is also not an option.

-Expanding on that; this midterm may be a sign that the moderates are more politically aware than they used to be, and that they're more persuadable towards progressive policy than I had expected. Try to keep that up, because it makes it harder for the hardline right to try to push their shit quietly.

-There will almost certainly not be a time where progressives can relax and say they fixed it.

-Celebrating "holy shit that could have been so much worse" can't be a sign that It's Fixed. I also don't think people view it that way. My big hope is that younger progressives have realized that they can't go "the system is fucked beyond repair so why bother."

-Celebrating increments and enjoying some shadenfreude can be good for your mental health. Shitting on people for celebrating "oh good I don't need to flee the country asap" doesn't really help anyone.

-There was a ZERO chance this midterm would have given total big majorities to progressives. If you are set on only celebrating Perfect Wins you're going to have a BAD TIME and will burn out fast.

-Fight for an ideal you don't expect to reach. Take every half step you can, push for bigger leaps. Do not give ground for the sake of not reaching the goal.

-If DeSantis is smart he will moderate his "anti woke" openly social-regression talk. Don't let him get away with remaking his image as "the nice safe moderate compared to Trump." Pull out the petty shit he did with Disney, point out every way he is JUST as low and mean.

-GenZ: the far right is now terrified of you. Good. Keep em scared.

#politics #usa politics #midterms 2022 #added a working readmore

[tyrantisterror]

I'm creating a fantasy world of my own, and sometimes I have a hard time deciding between making fantasy creatures based on real biology or straight up fantasy. I love speculative biology and the art of making mythological beings (semi)plausible; dragons that evolved from pterodactyls/maniraptorans, giant rhino unicorns and insectoid fairies but also mountain-sized dragons with fire-breath that live for thousands of years.

Do you also deal with this dilemma, and do you have any solutions for it?

In the Victorian era, there were two incredibly prominent science fiction authors with utterly opposing views on how to go about writing science fiction: Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells. Verne did so much research trying to make every speculative element of his science fiction as plausible as he could, and poured that into his writing so people could see for themselves how his fantastical submarines and flying machines could possibly work if we advanced our technology a bit more. Wells, on the other hand, thought up whatever he felt his story needed, created handwavey explanations for things he/then current science could explain ("this machine flies by a special rock that defies gravity" or "their aliens with millions of years of technological advancement we haven't had yet, of course their stuff is advanced"), and only explained the "how" of his creations when it mattered for the story - i.e. we don't know what powers the martian heat ray, but we know what the martian heat ray does to the atmosphere and the things it hits when it turns on.

The funny thing is that both approaches, as opposite as they are, proved to be 1. compelling to audiences and 2. pretty much equally accurate at predicting the future. Yes, H.G. Wells' "I'm gonna make up some bullshit because it sounds cool and not bother worrying about if it's plausible approach" resulted in some scarily accurate predictions - his martian heat ray is to this day one of the most accurate descriptions of how a laser works in all of fiction, and the poison gas his martians used predicted the creation of mustard gas in WWI by a couple decades. Verne and Wells are still remembered fondly - and have their works adapted time and again - today, even though they're stuffy Victorian authors from over a century ago.

I bring this up because this "dilemma" is only such if you feel one of these choices is objectively superior to the other, which is itself a fallacy. You can be Verne or you can be Wells or you can vacillate between them according to your own whims - it doesn't matter because in the end, both approaches work just as well as each other despite being opposites. Verne's approach worked for his writing because that approach was what gave him passion for his work, and passion is what makes a work of writing last. Wells's approach worked for the same reason. And, ultimately, neither man was the paragon of their path - sometimes Wells did get into the details more than he usually did, and sometimes Verne bent his rules and let some weird bullshit happen in his stories just because.

They followed their desires and passions as artists, and wrote what inspired them the way it inspired them regardless of what peers in their fields might argue is the "right" or "wrong" way to do it. That, ultimately, is the secret to making a story that matters. An audience can always tell when you're writing in shackles, and a story that's written according to the author's muse will always read better than one that was written in chains.

[pokelolmc]

The Ultimate Enemy is a Disappointment (and How I'd Fix It) (Part 1)

A couple years back, I started analysing a list of DP episodes I thought had missed potential--and my analysis on TUE got SO big I made it its own thing. I rewrote it to death and could never settle on something concise enough, so I abandoned it. But I'm BACK baby. I can't remember where it is now, but I came across a poll on whether Reign Storm or TUE is the better special and the discourse reignited my passion for this analysis, and gave me motivation to trim off some of the fat.

Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day I do like this episode--or at least its ideas. I really liked the episode the less I thought about it, but now I see issue after issue in its execution. Hence, the "disappointment": it could've been great, but it missed the mark. This won't just be a one-sided roast of TUE, though. I have a ton of cool ideas for how to rewrite plot holes or fill in the gaps. The best roasts are constructive! (Though I would be rewriting it in a more mature fashion compared to canon's writing--keep that in mind).

Part 2 is now up: you can find it here.

So here we go: Part 1--the general plot contrivances/contradictions unrelated to Dan's character or the time travel system.

The episode introduced taking off the Time Medallions as a way to immediately return to one’s native time period, but then forgot this late into the second act.

Technically this plot hole involves time travel devices, but I'm counting it as a plot hole by character decisions.

The episode gives no explicit rules on lag time between removing the medallion and returning home, but it takes only one to two seconds to return Skulktech to the future after they dropped theirs, and it had to have been instant for Sam and Tucker to return to the past in time to escape rubble falling from FentonWorks (which was only roughly two to three stories high, not counting the Ops Centre).

Danny should’ve been sent back almost instantly when Dan took his medallion off—which would’ve completely defeated the purpose of Dan’s attempt to trap Danny there in the first place.

If they wanted to keep the plot point, they could’ve just had Dan grab the medallion and turn it intangible while it’s still around Danny’s neck…and that’s assuming that making it intangible while Danny’s still tangible doesn’t count as “removal”. That’s it. He never needed to remove it to begin with.

2. The Nasty Sauce explosion just…sucks. In my opinion, it’s too silly for the tone the episode’s trying to go for (and as a cause of major character death), and it wrecks the worldbuilding.

I tried to put it in way more verbose ways in my previous drafts, but I found another post somewhere on tumblr that did what I couldn’t—say it in three words:

“It’s just stupid.”

Assuming that semi-realistic laws exist in-place in the Danny Phantom universe (so it’s BASICALLY similar to ours) the Nasty Burger shouldn’t have been able to stay in business without a LOT of red tape, cover-ups and NDA’s. They had an explosive substance on premises, being taken care of by unqualified, minimum-wage part-timers instead of trained chemical safety specialists. Forget handling it, they shouldn’t have even had it in the first place! If they got it by going UNDER the law and covering everything up, then one of their employees shouldn’t have been able to just CONFESS to it at a public school assembly.

It also sounds ridiculous that a “certain combination of secret herbs and spices” could catastrophically combust in the first place. They could’ve made the explosion ghost-powered/altered; they could’ve made it not the sauce itself, but a pressure issue with its containment vats; they could’ve made it a gas leak or malfunction of cooking equipment starting a fire, or something. They could’ve made the explosion a Fenton invention at their home (where the whole family had reason to be at once, and Mr Lancer could hold the parent-teacher conference there like in Teacher of the Year). They've used more serious threats of explosion in previous episodes (like the Ecto-Filtrator in Million Dollar Ghost).

And instead they decided “Yep! This commonly sold and digested sauce is a dangerous explosive, and even a small handout serving is enough to blow clean through a wall when it’s heated up!” This is how we're going to kill all of the main characters' loved ones to send him on a villain arc!

Like what?

Nowhere else after TUE did the show acknowledge the Nasty Sauce in worldbuilding. There were no consequences of its risk being publicly revealed, nor did it ever pose a hazard again. It’s understandable, given the show’s episodic nature. Bu at least in The Ultimate Enemy itself, they should've thought about how it affected most of the previous episodes.

During his fight with Boxed Lunch, one of Danny's ectoblasts to a sauce packet demolishes an entire section of wall in the Nasty Burger. So how hadn’t any ghost fights ignited any Nasty Sauce before—or damaged the main vat, god forbid—and caused an explosion already?

If the sauce was always a part of the Nasty Burger’s recipe, then the entire restaurant was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off since season one, and nothing short of a miracle could explain why it hadn’t happened before.

3. This episode committed character assassination of Mr Lancer, for the sake of setting up stakes in the plot. And contradicted his personality changes in previous episodes (such as “Teacher of the Year”).

Mr Lancer, in my opinion, is the character done the single dirtiest in the episode. It warps his entire character around the plot, and turns him into a contrived mouthpiece for how important the CAT is. It leaves him even more malicious and mean-spirited than his behaviour in the first episode of the entire show—leaving him even worse than he started.

He didn’t have much character development, but there were some more positive changes happening in his personality as later episodes occurred. He started out as a selfish, corrupt authority figure (think Mystery Meat, Fright Night and other S1 episodes where he deliberately lets the jocks off the hook for their behaviour), but unwittingly acts in favour of the main characters in “Fanning the Flames”—although ineffective and easily taken down by Ember.

By the time of “Teacher of the Year”, we finally got a glimpse into his (albeit scant) ideology as a teacher around helping his students succeed, and his concern for Danny’s failing grades.

It even revealed his personal interest in Doomed, which gave him more in common with Danny and Tucker and humanised him in way a few other episodes hadn’t. Season two even demonstrated his (albeit brief) willingness to stand up and defend his students from a ghost attack in “Memory Blank”. Lancer, for a brief period of time, became more than just his job, book title swears and his frustration with rebellious students.  

We're talking about the teacher who, in the early 2000s, kept a picture of himself crossdressing at school to convince his students to try their best with a "story about his sister".

The Ultimate Enemy, however, took Mr Lancer’s humanity towards the students—particularly Danny—and flipped it all on its head. It turned him into an elitist, mean-spirited asshole who verbally attacked his students (past and present) based on their performances on this single. Fucking. Test.

They made Mr. “there is no cheat code in school, or in life” Lancer into a cruel enforcer of the hamfisted and childish importance of the CAT. Actual “get rich vs dead-end, minimum-wage job” propaganda.

(Teacher of the Year)

And... one season later:

(that sure sounds like a cheat code in life to me)

To add insult to injury, TUE used Lancer’s death as the butt of a joke directly after spending the majority treating him like a total asshole—following up character assassination with literal assassination , and excluding him from the rest of the explosion victims in their memorial.

It feels to me, that it'd make more sense for Mr Lancer to be sceptical of the importance of the CAT based on TOTY. Replace him in the assembly with Principal Ishiyama or something. A stickler-for-the-rules school administrator looking to boost the school's image by pressuring kids on a standardised test? That ABSOLUTELY makes sense.

Mr Lancer could still be seen as a threat (or someone Danny can't reach out to for help), but in the department of simply being an authority figure Danny's used to dodging around with his ghost activities. Someone who'd still enforce consequences for Danny getting caught cheating. Someone who'd get his parents involved. He's the closest thing Danny could have to any level of support at Casper High, and Danny could think he's even lost THAT.

4. The way Danny got the CAT answers was contrived, and broke the previously established rules of ghost intangibility.

To cut a long story short, Boxed Lunch’s fight with Danny shouldn’t have gotten the test answers stuck to Danny’s back. Danny immediately turned intangible in anticipation of the explosion, and was thrown outside the Nasty Burger and through Mr. Lancer’s briefcase before turning tangible again.

That didn’t make sense; the series previously established that ghosts (in this case, halfas) were physically unaffected by explosions when intangible. “Million-Dollar Ghost” even demonstrated it when Vlad escaped his castle’s explosion in the same manner, and was left completely unmoved from his position at ground zero. The sauce packet explosion shouldn’t have even moved Danny out of place, let alone flung him out of the building (especially not compared to Vlad and an Ecto-filtrator explosion).

On top of that, the test answers couldn’t have gotten stuck to his back while he passed through the suitcase, as Danny was intangible and the answers sheet was solid. Even if it were possible for already intangible ghosts to grab onto tangible objects and bring them into intangibility, that’d certainly require conscious intention that Danny didn’t have in the episode.  The test answers got stuck to his back by sheer accident on his part. Bringing other objects into tangibility always previously involved a tangible ghost grabbing hold of other tangible people/objects and consciously willing them intangible together. Ergo, he should’ve simply passed through the suitcase and its contents all at once—go to the other side, pass go, do not collect CAT cheat sheet.

The solution for this one is pretty simple—just remove the scene entirely. Not only does it break the lore, but it’s entirely pointless and redundant (more on that later when I talk about Clockwork—giving Danny the answers was his idea, and it was a terrible one). Instead, it would’ve been much more compelling if Danny stole the answers on purpose with his ghost powers—being put under so much pressure to succeed that he felt like he had to forgo his morals and use his powers to cheat.

#danny phantom #the ultimate enemy #danny fenton #dp rewrite #tue analysis #10 dp episodes with missed potential

[17-noodlebird]

World One = The Amazing Digital Circus Grounds

🎪🤡🤹🎡🎩🎢🎠🎈🪀

~~~~

Jewel: Crystal

Power: Energy

Color: Silver

Theme: The Circus & Childhood Wonder

~~~~

Objective:

Get to the first location of the road trip without experiencing too much road rage.

~~~~

Chapter I: The Amazing Digital Road Trip Begins!

~~~~

The first episode — or chapter — pays homage to the Unikitty episode “Roadtrip Ruckus”, Teen Titan Go’s “Road Trip”, and the basic comedic road trip tropes we see in movies.

The episode begins with the Amazing Digital Circus members, or as I'll be calling them from here on out, Team Circus, taking a 15-hour drive to their very first destination, after packing their belongings and installing the first jewel into the secret door, after a brief discussion of what they'll be doing during the trip. Just as they depart The Grounds, all eight members of Team Circus receive a notification for their first objective on their communicator bracelets. Poor Caine thought it'd be a piece of cake…

At first, it's about what you'd expect it to be; road trip games (Jax’s favorite being punch buggy, giving him the perfect opportunity to pick on Gangle), some funny stories to share, Kinger talking about how the Bee Movie is such an underrated classic of the 2000’s, Ragatha reading a book in the car (and ultimately getting carsick as a result), and of course, road trip songs. The diplomats from the other dimension are acting as the surrogate audience, helping them out along the way via their Velcro communicator bracelets that Team Circus is also wearing on their wrists.

Unfortunately, things start to get out of hand really quickly, as Caine soon begins to develop road rage as a result of the antics of the other six members, something that has never happened before. Eventually, the Magical Digital Van gets a flat tire, so they have to stop at a gas station for repairs. While at the gas station, Jax and Pomni bond for a bit as they laugh at off-brand snacks, Ragatha and Gangle try to have a heart-to-heart with one another, Kinger and Zooble fix the van while discovering the mechanic is a shady scammer, and Caine is just freaking out over his newfound emotions as Bubble tries to calm him down.

Afterwards, when the Van is seemingly fixed after Kinger, Zooble, and the mechanic make a compromise, Team Circus causes even more of a ruckus, much to Caine's annoyance and Bubble's concern, all before the Van breaks down in the middle of the road (as well as earning a second flat tire), and Caine is not happy about this, throwing in some colorful (albeit censored with old timey car noises) vocabulary all the while. As the other members try to figure out what the heck just happened, Zooble reveals that they and Kinger had a bit of a squabble with the mechanic, making them immediately come to the conclusion that they have both been tricked by the con artist of a mechanic, who removed some of the parts of the engine to sell on eBay. “Thanks a lot, you two.” were the words said by Jax, as the others watched the mechanic scammer drive off with the missing parts, hollering back, “Yeah, thanks a lot, you two! Hahahahahahaaaa!!!!”

Uh oh.

This was all within Caine's earshot, who now wants payback. A car chase ensues, all to the tune of Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Free Bird”, as Caine tries to catch the fake mechanic and retrieve back the stolen parts for the engine, Zooble and Kinger having looks of guilt all the while. After Team Circus catches up to the fake mechanic (the Van falling apart by the seams from exhaustion in the process), Caine demands that he give back the parts. Naturally, a heated argument ensues, until Pomni discovers that they weren't the only victims of stolen car parts. This is where she puts two and two together and informs the rest of Team Circus of her findings.

It turns out that when The Magical Digital Van got a flat tire as result of a rusty nail being placed in the middle of the road, conveniently a couple of yards from the mechanic shop and local gas station, something the fake mechanic did on purpose. And he had been doing this to the other vehicles too; apparently, this was all part of a conniving scheme to sell used car parts on the black market to unsuspecting customers in order to gain some money.

As the fake mechanic attempts to run away, knowing damn well he had been caught, Ragatha apprehends him and forces him to give them back the stolen car parts, as well as the ones stolen prior to the encounter. He complies, defeated.

Pomni is congratulated by the diplomats and Team Circus for her cleverness, while the fake mechanic fixes The Magical Digital Van for real as he replaces both flattened tires and puts back the stolen parts. Some NPC police officers arrest the fake mechanic shortly after, with Pomni having called the authorities in the meantime.

Of course, Zooble and Kinger aren't let off the hook completely; Caine scolds the both of them for not being street smart about the matter (tho Bubble asks him to go easy on them this time, as no one could have foreseen this outcome). So all's well that ends well, and after several more hours of casual hijinks, they finally reach their first destination. The episode ends here.

~~~~

Current Status:

0 Jewels have been collected

26 remain

🎪🤡🤹🎡🎩🎢🎠🎈🪀

~~~~

• OG Cast:

Lizzie Freeman as Pomni

Amanda Hufford as Ragatha

Michael Kovach as Jax

Sean Chiplock as Kinger

Marissa Lenti as Gangle

Ashley Nichols as Zooble

Gooseworx as Bubble

Alex Rochon as Caine

~~~~

• Audience Surrogate Cast/Diplomats

Hynden Walch as Valerie

Susan Egan as Pamela

Amy Winfrey as Garcia

Mandy Moore as Lulu

Nevaeh Hamilton (me) as Bethany

~~~~

• Background Diplomats

Andrea Libman as Winona

Cristina Vee as Patricia

E.G. Daily as Rionna

Stephanie Sheh as Olivia

Debi Derryberry as Yolanda

Cree Summer as Gemma

Ashleigh Ball as Cécelia

Erica Luttrell as Belle

Ashly Burch as Imera

Kimberly Brooks as Bailey

~~~~

• Episode’s Antagonists

Danny DeVito as Otto Partz the Fake Mechanic

~~~~

• Secondary Characters Introduced

Edward Bosco as Gene Virgo the Convenience Store Owner

~~~~

#the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadc caine #tadc pomni #tadc jax #tadc au #tadc ragatha #tadc bubble #tadc gangle #tadc kinger #tadc zooble #tadc road trip #tadrt au #the amazing digital road trip

[ginoeh]

Destruction!Hob for the wip game, please

@tj-dragonblade asked for the same. So here you go - I'm so late to answer this, I sorryyyyyy TT

I don’t really have any scenes or snipets yet - it's just 3k of story layout and plot points. I remade that into a kind of extended summary for easier consumption... XD

***

The 20th century slogs through artillerie fire, bloody trenches, mustard gas and mass murder and Hob is getting the feeling that, while humans were always wont to find new and exciting ways to destroy each other to gain some ephemeral profit, something isn't quite right with the world. Hasn't been for a long while now if he's being honest.

Something is missing and it's not only the fact that Hob and so many others haven't been able to dream for decades now. Cut off from hope and respite, violence and hatred loom closer to the surface.

The destruction humanity wreaths on not only each other but the world at large seems wanton, unchecked and manic - a wildly swinging pendulum approaching the ultimate catastrophe.

When he starts looking into the fate of the world, he encounters a maze with too many paths to tread. There, he meets his d/Destiny. Now he only needs to find out about his F/fate.

This is the story in which Hob needs to find a damn true crossroad where someone was once hanged in the effing 21st century English countryside bc he needs answers damnit and they aren’t cheap.

And if anyone were to ask Hob, master of change and yet still keeper of memories past, then D/destruction - the liminal space between the old and the new, the shatterpoint between what was and what will be but never ever both or the bridge between states - can just as well fuck off. Because it’s bridges and slow change and diplomacy and compromise that the world needs. There’ve been enough either-or situations going around the past couple centuries. Humans have never been just one thing, after all. There’s always been good and bad, mind and matter, old and new. He’s kind of the perfect embodiment of it, isn't he? Human and immortal, loving life and able to sense death, constantly changing and at the core always the same. Duality at its finest. And if he has sometimes embodied double standards and duplicity - well, those are very human concepts as well, right?

(Here is Hob, a gem in the rough, who needs to be cut to shape to let his facets shine. There are Death and Destruction, both powers without compromise. And there is Dream, possibility and hope and could-be's that may not take shape. To make a jewel one needs to cut the gem out of the stone. But to see its different facets, one only needs to turn it differently into the light.)

Yes, I'm on my ‘change is necessary' bs again XD

#hob gadling #destruction of the endless #destiny of the endless #dream of the endless #death of the endless #the sandman fanfiction #ginoeh writes

[tomorrowusa]

Ukraine is hitting Russia where it hurts – in its fossil fuel industry.

Ukrainian drones have attacked several oil refineries in Russia, hundreds of kilometres from the frontline in regions including Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad. The continuing attacks are part of a strategy to hurt Russia’s economy. The Ryazan oil refinery, Rosneft’s biggest refinery, was set ablaze, a regional governor said on Wednesday. It shut down two damaged primary oil refining units. Rosneft did not comment. The plant handles about 5.8% of Russia’s total refined crude, according to industry sources. A fire broke out at Norsi, Russia’s fourth-largest refinery, after a Ukrainian drone attack, Russian officials said on Tuesday. Its main crude distillation unit was damaged, which means that at least half of the refinery’s production is halted, according to industry sources. Norsi handles nearly 6% of Russia’s total refined crude. Before the latest drone attack, one of its two catalytic crackers had already been put out of action. The governor of the Leningrad region, Alexander Drozdenko, said a Ukrainian drone targeted the Kirishi refinery. It is one of the top two refineries in Russia, handling 6.4% of Russia’s capacity, according to industry sources. And the Novoshakhtinsk export oil refinery in Russia’s southern Rostov region had to suspend operations on Wednesday after a drone attack.

Russia's economy is about the same size as that of Italy which has maybe 40% as many people as Russia. And much of that economy is centered on fossil fuels. Putin and his oligarch buddies skim off graft to enrich themselves; those superyachts, palaces, and prime real estate properties abroad are all ultimately paid for by countries which import Russian oil and gas. Meanwhile, Russians outside the big cities live in poverty; imagine a 1920s standard of living but with censored internet and state TV.

Ukraine is doing the climate a big favor by indirectly encouraging importers of Russian fossil fuels to look for cleaner replacements.

Some other bits of good news for Ukraine...

EU agrees to €5 billion boost in Ukraine military aid

European Union member states agreed Wednesday to provide Ukraine with an additional  €5 billion ($5.5 billion) in military aid. Belgium, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, said ambassadors from the bloc's 27 nations had agreed "in principle" on the plan to support arms supplies to Kyiv in 2024.  The contribution of €5 billion will go on EU-managed fund called the European Peace Facility. The fund operates as a giant cashback scheme, giving EU members refunds for sending munitions to other countries. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it a "powerful and timely demonstration of European unity."

White House announces $300 million military aid package for Ukraine

With new aid for Ukraine stalled in Congress since December, the White House on Tuesday announced it had cobbled together another $300 million in military assistance to use as a stopgap measure. "The package includes munitions and rounds to help Ukraine hold the line against Russia's brutal attacks for the next couple of weeks,” President Joe Biden said in a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the White House, adding, "we must act before it literally is too late.” National security adviser Jake Sullivan detailed the package at White House briefing, saying that the aid comes as Ukraine "does not have enough ammunition to fire back." "So today, on behalf of President Biden, I'm announcing an emergency package of security assistance of $300 million worth of weapons and equipment to address some of Ukraine's pressing needs," Sullivan said.

French National Assembly approves bilateral security agreement with Ukraine

The 10-year security pact with Ukraine includes commitments by Paris to deliver more arms, train soldiers and send up to 3 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in military aid to Ukraine in 2024. Macron has also adopted a tougher stance towards Russia, urging Ukraine's allies to urgently do more. He also did not rule out the presence of Western troops in Ukraine which has created a backlash among some Ukrainian officials had told Reuters they were worried that a vote not overwhelmingly in favour of Kyiv would be negative symbolically and could hurt President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to ramp up his country's support in the coming months.

AOC says Democrats must take advantage of ‘razor-thin’ House margin after Ken Buck steps down

In an unexpected Tuesday evening announcement, Mr Buck — a Republican from Colorado — said he would leave Congress next Friday, rather than retiring at the end of his term as originally planned. Afterwards, Republicans will hold just 218 seats out of 435 in the House, leaving Democrats one step closer to clinching the majority. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York and member of the progressive Squad, told The Independent her party must take advantage of Mr Buck’s early departure. Ms Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats “have to make sure that that we see that do the best we can to navigate how razor-thin the situation is.”

That last item is rather interesting. Ken Buck, a never-Trump Republican, is stepping down early. His seat in a deep red district will be vacant until late June when a special election is likely to take place. His departure will leave the House GOP (for now) with 218 seats – the bare minimum for a majority. This will make it easier for Democrats to persuade several remaining anti-Putin Republicans to defy Speaker "MAGA Mike" Johnson's wishes and support President Biden's aid package for Ukraine.

#invasion of ukraine #fossil fuels #oil refineries #russia #drone strikes #rosneft #european union #aid to ukraine #us security assistance to ukraine #france #assemblée nationale #ken buck #co-04 #us house of representatives #“maga mike” johnson #republicans #ukraine aid now #vladimir putin #russia's war of aggression #роснефть #россия #бпла #владимир путин #добей путина #руки прочь от украины! #геть з україни #деокупація #йдемо на ви #слава україні! #героям слава!

[thewertsearch]

GA: Im Not Surprised To See You Endorse His Paranoia Without Hesitation [...] GA: These Events Are Inevitable And Regardless Of Whatever Emotional Entanglements Obfuscate Their Significance They Will Ultimately Serve An Important Purpose [...] GA: And Karkats Notion Of A Curse Is Inseparable From His Perception Of Events As Intrinsically Negative And As Tailored To His Personal Dissatisfaction

Sure, Karkat’s taking it a little personally, but let’s give him a little credit here. When he complains about how badly things are going, he’s correct. The literal apocalypse is at his door, his whole species is going extinct, and he and the other survivors are watching their parents die before their eyes, before being spirited away to an uncertain fate. And this is all, apparently, business as usual, as far as fate is concerned. 

Sorry, Paradox Space, but I have to second-guess you, here. Why, exactly, are the lusi dying? Why does everyone keep dying in alt-timelines? Why is Sburb designed to destroy civilizations?  These events are ‘inevitable’, alright, but why? Why are these specific, tragic events inevitable, and not others? 

Sure, maybe these things are needed to fulfil time loops, way down the line. But that just pushes the question down the stream, doesn’t it? Why do we have the time loops we have, and why do they all seem to suck so bad?

This is all to say - whatever important purpose GA seems to have heard about, it’s going to be a pretty hard sell. 

GA: And Your Bad Luck Is The Same Way GA: I Believe Anyway [...] GA: What Would Happen If You Just Cleaned Up A Bit GA: Dont You Think You Would Step On A Few Less Hard Triangles

Good advice for the real world - but in Homestuck, as always, things aren’t so simple. Whitetext was quick to take credit for Vriska’s bad luck earlier on, after all.

Plus, in the real world, ‘luck’ is when random events fall in one’s favor. The Homestuck universe might not even have random events, so luck might work very differently there. We just don’t know yet. 

AG: Meddler. Why you so meddley, Miss Meddlesome McFussyfangs???????? GA: Because Youre Dangerous [...] GA: And Dangerous People Can Be Really Important GA: Maybe Even The Most Important Sometimes

Vriska will be a key player in the session. She’s got powerful psychic abilities, she’s full of drive, and she even has experience with optimizing game systems. 

There are dozens of ways I could imagine her putting her psionics to constructive use, but the question isn’t whether she could do so - it’s whether she would. Maybe losing Spidermom will help her to grow beyond the life she’s been forced to live... or maybe she’ll start maiming players that don't try hard enough.

Aw, fuck. It’s going to be both, isn’t it? 

GA: But It Just Means Theres Got To Be Someone Around To Keep An Eye On Them GA: And If Not Me Then Who

Why just you, GA? It feels suboptimal to assign only one troll to Vriska Duty. That’s a lot of pressure for GA alone, especially given she’s going to have her own Quest to contend with. 

It really feels like keeping Vriska reined in should be a team effort - I’d pick Terezi, Aradia and GA. Admittedly, I doubt Aradia would be up for it, but we should definitely figure something out, so GA isn’t stuck doing this on her own. 

AG: Or you know, if you're so h8gh 8nd might8 an8 th8nk you're so gr8at, m8y88 you c8uld oh I d8n't kn8w........ AG: TRY AND ST8P ME FROM DO8NG B8D THINGS???????? GA: That Wouldnt Work GA: If I Tried To Stop You You Would Regard Me As An Enemy

We’re finally seeing those extra 8s, so it seems Vriska is genuinely bothered about this. I have a couple guesses for what’s going on here. 

Vriska wants to be seen as a real threat. GA isn’t trying to stop her, so she feels like she’s being underestimated. 

Vriska is desperate for someone to rein her in, because, on some level, she recognizes that her behavior is wrong, dangerous, or destructive.

Vriska sees GA as a threat. She’s only pretending to be agitated, and wants to provoke GA into dealing with her alone, so that she can take her out of the picture. 

Option 1 feels too simple, and Option 3 doesn’t feel like Vriska’s style. She seems to wear her emotions on her sleeve, and I don’t know if she could fake a reaction like this. 

Does Vriska actually want to be stopped? That might explain why she’s so intent on making an enemy out of everyone she talks to.

AG: 8ut I'm starting to think you are full of shit, and I am quite sure she will 8e QU8TE FIN8! GA: Youre Right Anything Can Happen I Guess GA: But Just So You Know Im Sorry For Your Loss In Advance

Damn, dude. 

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA] arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling grimAuxiliatrix [GA] AG: Aaaaaaaah! AG: Man, why d8dn't I just get th8 last w8rd and sign off real qu8ck like I usu8lly do????????

Unsurprisingly, social interactions are just another thing Vriska has to ‘win’.

#2204 #homestuck liveblog #full liveblog #act 5 #s15

[what-do-1000-swords-look-like]

"Alright, I'll stop trying to protect you and you stop trying to undermine me."

"Father couldn't protect me and neither can you, so stop trying."

Jon still protected Sansa to the end (killing Dany being the final part of that) but he only inserted himself when he felt it was necessary (which let's face it, he had been doing that all along, he was protective of Sansa like we saw in 7x02 but he wasn't suffocatingly or irrationally so):

"I'm not trying to undermine you."

When Sansa was questioning Jon in 7x01, it wasn't to undermine him but to make him think, to be "smarter" than Ned and Robb. But we do see her changing her approach (when speaking to Jon) and we never see her question his decisions again publicly:

Only Dany's:

And while some might point to Sansa's telling Jon's secret as possibly undermining him, they would be incorrect. Because the show purposely chose to frame that decision making within this scene:

And more specifically, this dialogue:

"You're afraid of her." "I don't want Jon to go down there. The men in my family don't do well in the Capitol." "No, but as your brother once told me, he's not a Stark."

"Her people love her, you've seen that. You've seen how they fight for her. She wants to make the world a better place. I believe in her."

And then it hits her (which Sophie brilliantly showcases in this scene with her microexpressions, right down to the way she parts her lips):

A way to keep Jon safe, a way to ensure he stays in the Pack, while also breaking him out of the tyrant's death grip.

"Tyrion. What if there's someone else? Someone better?"

Because ultimately, not only did Jon and Sansa learn to "trust each other" as asked back in 6x10 (and what was required for the development of their relationship to work together) but also Jon never undermines Sansa publicly (what he says to Dany is to actually protect Sansa) and Sansa also tries to protect Jon in the best way she knows how.

They trusted each other, did as the other asked, and even were doing the complete opposite (Jon - not undermining; Sansa - protecting) the whole time. Relationship development. All while having the most constructive and well-planned parallels.

This would have been the power couple, I'm telling you. Even though we all saw the subtle undercurrent of romance between these two, it's such a crying shame that they didn't confirm it further on screen, explicitly for the GA. Because in comparison to Jonerys aka the power couple the show was trying to sell to get ratings, this was the real power couple all along.

#the missed potential for greatness! #jonsa #jon x sansa #jonsaposts #metaposts #jonsa meta #got #gotposts #game of thrones #Youtube

[autisticempathydaemon]

What song are you fixated on at the moment? - A Nonsense Christmas by Sabrina Carpenter, it fits the season, its playful, and I love all the innuendos in it

What is your Enneagram type? - 4/4w3

Do you love gargantuan Youtube video essays? - I prefer mid-size ones like an hour or less and usually about true crime, natural disasters, climbing/diving expeditions gone wrong, etc.

Tell me about your childhood imaginary friend. - I never had an imaginary friend but I was big on playing pretend especially around like the Warrior Cats books or pretending to have powers.

What is your go-to way to fall asleep? - Noise cancelling headphones, sleeping mask, ASMR, but I play game playthroughs on my TV.

If you had to change your name, what would it be, and why? - I've changed my name before and the two names I go by currently are tied to characters that really resonate with me and that I feel a connection to.

What is your favorite of Redacted’s audios, and why? - David's Hoodie Audio, it was the first one I ever heard and I latched onto the character and the audio kind of aggressively. That audio has gotten me through a lot this year.

What Redacted boy holds no appeal to you, and why? - Ollie! I love him, don't get me wrong, but for me something about him is kind of boring and I don't find myself going back to his audios at all.

Tell me about that one book/movie/tv show you know all the words to. - The Twilight movies as cringe as that is. They came out during a really shitty time in my life and they became a comfort, I've seen all of them more times than I can count.

Which Redacted boy are you platonically attracted to? - Honestly, Damien. I relate to his story in a lot of ways and just generally as a character plus he's so ride or die I feel like he'd be a great friend and wouldn't be hard to relate to.

Do you have a go-to thing you ramble about when you’re tired, and if so, what is it? - Usually random TikTok drama that I've come across and/or random political things going on currently.

Tell me your go-to gas station and drink combo. - 7/11 Slurpees (Coke and Cherry mix) and Munchos (best potato chips ever)

Tell me about your favorite playlist at the moment. - I have an everything type playlist with all the music I like and it's the one I've been cycling through the most. It's fun to hear how all my odd tastes come together in one playlist.

What’s your guilty pleasure media, and why? - Currently? Boyfriend ASMR I suppose. It's really hard to explain to other people what this thing is without sounding at least a little odd - (I had to explain it to a new therapist and could not figure out how to do it without sounding a little insane.)

And whatever else you think tells me about who you are! - My favorite color is pink, my favorite sweet food is chocolate, I use emoticons a lot :3c and I love my friends above all, they've gotten me through a lot and I really value community.

The Enthusiast is an interesting, difficult to match type because I could pair you so compatibly with so many people. Ultimately, it was vibes and the color pink that led me to pair you with Gavin.

Enthusiasts are characterized as creative, outgoing, and unique, the kind of person you don’t forget. I love the idea of pairing Gavin with someone like that because that’s kind of how he is too; he’s best with someone that has the same star power, the same je ne sais quoi to stand out next to him. Not just that but I love that y’all are very interpersonal people with friends being so important to you both; that’ll be perfect considering how the DAMN group are not just his friends but his family.

Y’all would honestly be such an it couple around Dahlia maybe with some cute matching outfits, some pink statement pieces that you and Gavin swap because he’d be a fashionista and a thief that way. When you’re not found at the 7/11 with your respective Big Gulps and Slurpees, you’re chilling at home, giving Gavin a pop culture education because if he hasn’t seen Jumanji, we can’t be sure he’s seen Twilight, and you’d have to fix that.

Song:

Yes, I'm young for a teacher, I'll teach you what you don't know/ (I could teach you the things that you wanna know)/ But I can't give it up all at once, you would overdose/ Don't you bring any bull in the room tonight/ It's a whole new rodeo/ It could be you and me/ But you know that I'll steal the show, oh (yeah)

One, it makes sense for me to give you a Sabrina Carpenter song in return, so that’s fun. Two, I love this song in particular because I could storyboard a whole movie scene set to it of you and Gavin in a Dahlia club, dancing, outdoing one another, just killing it with the romantic and sexual tension of the song like it’s a duet. I have a vision, okay?

Runner-Ups:

Asher was a really close runner-up for you because community and pack are so important to him too as Shaw Beta, so you would have been a good mate for him. Vincent is a runner-up not just because it’s fun to pair Twilight lovers with vampires but because he also finds so much cheesy comfort in those movies; he loves them.

note: whoever this is for and you know who you are let’s pretend this is the first and only time I posted this ask hahaahhaahaaaa I’m sorry bless you

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

#redactedasmr #redactedverse #redacted asmr #redactedaudio #redacted audio #redacted #busybee matches

[valorousflower]

@liecoris - closed starter

Master Thief - Final Test

From robbing the many companies across Tokyo, the upper and top class, jewelry stores and banks, and national gold reserves of a super-bank, Kin Masaki has come far. He was a threat to the capital city's economy from just thievery alone, but that didn't hold a candle to what he truly desired.

To rob the richest man in the country's mansion, Hiroshi Arai, that was his ultimate test to becoming a Desolation Elite. Kin, he didn't have any powers, but to bear one would be a great honor. The mansion was guarded by state-of-the-art, extreme budget security systems, and the Champion of Japan herself, Fumiko Arai. He was a wanted man, and he had to tread carefully.

Navigating the extended mansion, all the jewelry and riches were being stripped of Hiroshi slowly, but steadily. He made sure to rob at around 4 AM where the night was darkest, thus Fumiko was at her weakest possible state. However, Fumiko was not going down without a fight. The bags of riches were stowed away in a large truck, and Kin had placed the final bag down at the very back.

"The Light Rose.. are you light on your feet?"

Kin smirked. He had already sensed Fumiko's presence from behind, just from the radiance of her Glowing Rose alone, and the young girl jumped towards ground level, nearby him. He turned around and took out a crossbow loaded with heatseeking toxin arrows and a couple of gas and smoke grenades; he came prepared for this fight.

She had to be very cautious. Her energy shield will not hold up as well as on paper. A few mistakes and she would be defeated.

Kin threw down the gas grenades which exploded, forcing Fumiko to shortly Rose Dash away from the sudden threat.

#liecoris #fumiko arai | the light rose #verse; champion of light #[hope this is good!]

[luciaiscool7]

What We Do In The Shadows: Vampires and the Supernatural

A Gothic double refers to a character which exhibits a sort of split personality, such as Jekell and Hyde, and is a gothic literary trope that has been appropriated in neo-Gothic tv series, such as Penny Dreadful. Dina Pedro extends the idea of a Gothic double in her work ‘We’re Going to Make You into a Proper Woman’:

“Neo-Gothic fiction portrays an insidious Other that can neither be contained nor controlled. This could be interpreted as a subversive representation of postmodern anxieties— including gender oppression and patriarchal violence—through familiar Gothic elements such as ‘supernaturalism, excess or Medievalism,’” (196).

In What We Do In The Shadows (2019-present) all the main characters, minus one human, are vampires, so the premise is set up for what we consider “supernatural” to be natural, and for humans to be the outlying Other. The show does not contain a viable example of a Gothic double, but it does investigate other-ness and what can be considered supernatural through the story. What We Do In The Shadows is a comedy mockumentary of the lives of 3 vampire roommates, which takes some inspiration from historic vampires as well as the gothic literary trope (within a mockumentary setting) of characters telling their own stories within a broader narrative.

The origins of each vampire determine their relationship with the “supernatural." The vampire Nadja is from 15th century Antipaxos, a small island in the Mediterranean, and her husband, Lazlo, is from 17th or 18th century England, and considers himself a “man of science.” When Nadja warns the other vampires of supernatural occurrences throughout the show, Lazlo and Nandor often dismiss her as superstitious until she is proved right and she ultimately saves them. Interestingly, this both affirms the gendered binary of supernatural/science through the roles of Nadja and Lazlo, and subverts it. What We Do In The Shadows recontextualizes the usually debunked idea of “supernatural” as real in this mockumentary series: making Nadja, who falls into the trope a hysterical superstitious woman, right, and Lazlo, who is the “man of science and enlightenment,” wrong and ridiculous with his 17th century scientific logic. The show uses the gendered supernatural/science binary for comedic purposes and shows the ridiculousness of the binary in the first place. For example, in one episode, the house is haunted by ghosts, and Lazlo refuses to believe it, citing a potion of metal, gas and yellow bile as the true ghost. When he’s proven wrong, he pretends that he doesn’t see the ghost to save face (which he argues is to catch the ghost by surprise) and Nadja ultimately takes the problem seriously and solves it herself.

More than being vampires, the immortality of the vampires liberates them from traditional gender roles. All three main vampires come from different time periods and countries and were socialized with different gender roles as humans, and have been allowed to change and grow over the course of 500+ years. In terms of gender performativity through clothing, the vampire’s wardrobes are tied to their cultural upbringing, some of which breaks modern gender presentation because ideas of gender change over time and have changed since the vampires were alive. On the other hand, the freedom of the vampires to express themselves as those who aren’t held down to finite human expectations of gender allows for experimentation in gender performance. This disconnect from human small-mindedness also liberates them from oppressive normalcy, coupled with access to supernatural powers and creatures. It is also implied that all of the vampires are queer, and their relationships are brought up very casually- it is clear that they are liberated from shame and social expectations of gender and sex due to their supernatural immortality and disconnect from human social expectations. A great example of this is Nandor and his 37 wives that he has a djinn reincarnate later in the show:

Immortality also allows the vampires to transcend the idea of reward or punishment- they will outlive any moral ideas of repercussions, and the format of a 20 minute episode based comedy show doesn’t allow for many hard endings with set morals. Immortality liberates them from facing human social expectations, and the only real downside they can face is time: they can never really return to what they used to know and they have to continually readjust with the times.

Discussion Questions:

How does portraying vampires from their perspective change the human one we usually see which depicts vampires as a stand-in Other?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of telling supernatural stories from a comedic perspective?

Although immortality (and other forms of excessive supernatural power) is liberating, it can also be a curse- where is that line? 

@theuncannyprofessoro

#oxyspeculativetv #Youtube

[beantownbrownie]

Here’s a lil’ sneak peek at a nice one; this is my daily, a 2017 Jaguar “X260” XF 20d Prestige. It just underwent a full paint correction and detail in prep for sale on Cars & Bids.

This one is finished in Ultimate Black Metallic over Latte/Espresso with Burl Walnut Gloss and Morse Code Aluminum. It’s equipped with its namesake 20d engine, a 2.0l turbodiesel I4, pushing 181 HP and 318 lb-ft of torque to all four wheels via a ZF 8-speed automatic.

It’s good for a moderate 0-60 sprint of 7.9 seconds, a top speed of 121 MPH, and upwards of 40 MPG. Where its promise really lives is all in the midrange; like most diesel engines, low-end torque is constantly there, but the immense buildup of power that comes on towards the middle of the rev range is what really keeps these pulling and pushing. Couple that natural diesel torque curve with the forced induction of a turbocharger, and this power train comes alive around 1,700 RPMs. Keeping the transmission in S and the drive modes in Dynamic will place the car squarely in that rev band and keep it there as long as possible, always spooling the turbo and maintaining a slightly higher engine speed.

The resulting performance is intoxicating; carving the winding backgrounds of Carlisle, navigating the undulating landscape of Stowe, and overtaking leisurely traffic in Manchester will never once feel slow, or lethargic, or dangerous. You just ease into the accelerator, listen for the telltale whistle, dig in, and feel as an immense surge propels your forward. It’s a charismatic power plant, and one that keeps you on your toes - always keeping you acutely aware of when and where power builds, where it wanes, how it wants to go, and where you can hand off the momentum and torque of the engine to the transmission for a kick-down.

It’s immensely helpful that Jaguar’s complex suspension setup and highly tailored geometry give this car a ride only margins away from a Mercedes-Benz, with the eager spirit of an Audi, and the sharpness of a BMW. With a nearly even weight split, a wider track than many of its primary competitors, and one of the most capable AWD systems outside of Audi Quattro, Subaru Symmetrical, and Alfa/Maserati Q4, and this car definitely poses a unique proposition for the kind of buyer that genuinely wants a nice, daily drivable, efficient, and reliable car, but with all the marks of a sporty and engaging drive, when needed. It’s a car that has usable power at all times, but especially so when you’ve reached the apex of a turn and you rocket out with immediate power on tap, or when you feel the ground rising below you and the car hunkers down and starts pulling like a Mack truck even as it climbs that hill.

In reality, the ingenuity of this car and JLR’s Ingenium engine is that it feels only a step away from a more traditional gasoline engine, but the elements that make it a diesel are not lost either. Its power is similar to any gas counterpart, but there’s far more drama and flair and theatrics with it. In some parts, it harkens back to much earlier turbocharged cars that would drive quite normally until boost kicked in, in outrageous amounts, all at once, and suddenly the entire characteristic of the experience would change. It’s the same reason why I bought not one but two (nearly) identical diesel Jaguars!

After getting t-boned in my XE 20d Prestige, I purchased an E 63 AMG that was flawless in every regard. It was exceptionally well-equipped and was by far the most insane car I’d ever owned, but after barely six months, I sold it and purchased this XF, shipping it all the way from California to Massachusetts in the height of 2022’s wildfires and market inflation, and it’s been a blast ever since.

This one is rather uniquely equipped with options such as the Comfort & Convenience and Technology Packages, plus additional à la carte options, giving it soft-close doors, heated/ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, power liftgate, 10.2” InControl Touch Pro, 12.3” digital cockpit, 17-speaker/825W Meridian Surround Sound, and 19” Axis 14-spoke wheels.

But, with all that said, it is time for another new experience, and with the fun of summer right around the corner, I think it’s time to part ways with this charming Brit for something a little more exotic. So, I leave you now with a few photos that will be featured on Cars & Bids in the coming weeks:

Here’s a quick spot of the engine and some documentation:

#cars #car photography #cars and bids #doug demuro #cars of tumblr #british cars #jaguar #land rover #jaguar xf #turbocharged #turbo #turbodiesel #luxury #luxury cars #sports cars

[nightpool]

Just finished watching a really great Wendover Productions video where he makes the case that the pandemic has caused a fundamental shift in the priorities of the oil and gas industry, with high prices ultimately representing the shutdown of the oil and gas industry as investors no longer believe in a long term future for carbon extraction, and shift to focus on long-term investment in renewables.

It's a long video, so here's the money quote:

U.S. shale oil producer's reinvestment rates—that is, the share of cash flow going back into the business rather than out to investors—is at an all-time low. Whereas last time oil prices sat at a comparable level the reinvestment rate was quite literally off the chart, today, less than half of their money is being put back into the business. This [capex] investment is typically what would go into developing new rigs—but today it's just getting paid out as profit.

Companies have the ability to produce more—the US Bureau of Land Management has exactly 9,000 approved-but-unused drilling permits on record—but companies just don't have the appetite to drill. Industry-wide, it's the same situation. Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Chevron and BP's capital expenditures are each at or near all-time lows. Simply put, oil companies aren't investing in the future anymore. They're investing in now.

This is not a misinformed strategy. Out of the S&P 500 index's 11 distinct sectors, the energy sector (made up almost exclusively of oil and gas companies) has been by far the lowest performer since 2007. The sector only gained 41.7% in value across that era, which means it was actually flat with inflation. The oil and gas industry simply is not a good investment anymore, and so it's no surprise that it's not getting investment from outside or in.

While it's up to debate whether we've reached "peak oil", it'd be much easier to argue that we've reached peak oil investment. Because of the temporary, finite nature of any oil supply, a relatively high level of investment is needed just to keep production capacity stable. When the world looked like this [rising demand from 1997-2020]—when climbing oil demand was all we knew—the logic behind investing 5.5 billion dollars in a single pipeline was sound.

But now with the world looking like *this*—with the future of demand looking less confident than ever—even investing a couple tens of millions in a single fracking rig is risky.

Oil going negative appeared to spur a fundamental mindset change among oil executives and investors. After having spent the past decades watching both the power of scarcity and the ruin of abundance supplies become the enemy, oil's under more pressure than ever to deliver profits now—because confidence in the future has been lost. Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Chevron and BP each successfully posted record profits in 2021, and this can continue.

The end of oil is near. The momentum is already too strong. Renewables are taking over. But the orchestra can keep playing as the ship goes down—in an era where there is no future industry growth to capture, scarcity is the name of the game. If oil companies keep supply tight, they'll keep prices high and capture consistent profits even as they *add* to the incentives of renewables.

This appears to be the dominant strategy. The alternative would be to keep prices low to slow down the switch, but considering the driving force behind the transition is the prevention of the destruction of the planet, rather than the search for a more cost effective source of energy, the profit-focused approach appears the most intuitive.

Astonishingly, this means that the oil industry is ceding the market. They've lost. They're shepherding in renewables, but they're not going down without a fight. Moving to a carbon-less world will take time and the oil industry can shrink faster than renewables can grow. Therefore—short of a fundamental strategy shift by one of the world's largest industries—the era of high fuel prices is here to stay. For those unable or unwilling to transition early, the weight will cost them. For those who held onto ownership in the sector, they're starting to experience one last great rally. Because the oil industry's party at the end of the world just started.

I dunno! it's a neat video! It does make me want to increase oil regulation by just staggering amounts though. They've already lost the fight, so who cares? Nationalize the oil supply to ensure an orderly transition.

[alphaman99]

The Villainy of the Van Buren Sisters (1916)

In 1916, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren completed a 5,500 mile (8,851km) journey across the continental United States on separate motorcycles. They were also arrested multiple times for their villainous perfidy.

They had to contend with appalling roads, sometimes mountainous terrain, some remarkably unseasonal bad weather, and plenty of other issues... but they completed the trip, making them the second and third women respectively to cross the continental United States on motorcycles.

They were also the first women to reach 14,109-foot summit of Colorado's Pikes Peak by any motor vehicle.

(Which seems like cheating, but for all I know it might be harder on a motorcycle. A helicopter would definitely be cheating. Nevertheless, having done nothing more constructive on a motorcycle than fall off it, I'm still in awe.)

But they were, nevertheless, villains. Why was this?

Had they stolen the motorcycles?

Imagine the scene... a pair of hellions in suspicious hats hotwiring a couple of motorcycles, with naught but villainy in their eyes, and untrammeled mischief on their minds...

No. Their twin 1,000cc Indian Power Plus motorcycles (equipped with gas headlights) were legitimately purchased from the Indian Motorcycle Company. Back in 1916, these were the motorcycles to have, and they ran to an exorbitant US$275 each in the day. That's roughly US$7,000 in today's money.

The sisters were not short of a dollar or two, as they were descendants of a former US President, and came from a wealthy family.

Did they cause mayhem along the route?

It's hard to commit a ram-raid with a motorcycle, I'm sure... so were they the first women to do so on motorcycles in the United States?

Oddly, no. Not this either.

They certainly attracted attention, and they certainly committed crimes... but not in the way that you might think. There was no mayhem in the traditional sense. No bank robberies, no drive-by shootings, no burn-outs outside the Police station.

They did have to be rescued once, after becoming lost in the desert, but that involved one chap who was able to guide them back to a road... not a huge call-out on the tax-payer's dime.

Were they trying to promote anarchy or rebellion?

The first all-female motorcycle gang members, heading across the country on a recruitment drive? Trying to foment discord and thrust the United States into an era of calumny and woe?

No. There were no anti-government slogans, no "What are you rebelling against? What've you got?" showdowns. In fact, if anything, they were trying to be especially patriotic.

They were part of a 'preparedness' organisation, and wanted to show that women could be a productive part of the US war effort - as the US was steaming quickly towards entering World War I - and demonstrate that women could help to shoulder the burden of sacrifice for their country, even if they weren't allowed to fight.

Specifically, they wanted to show that women could become dispatch riders on the front-lines, able to travel long distances quickly and efficiently.

So, why were they constantly being arrested?

They were wearing trousers.

I don't mean that they should have been riding around with no pants on, as such... because that would have been chilly, and nobody wants flying bugs up their bits... but that even as late as 1916 there were expected dress codes, and women could be arrested for wearing men's clothes.

As the Van Buren sisters were wearing leather riding gear - including trousers and jackets - this was considered a ghastly breach of etiquette, not to mention the law, and couldn't be overlooked by... well, by the less-evolved members of society.

Technically, they should have been crossing the continental United States wearing dresses or skirts, and (probably) riding side-saddle... and according to media of the day, they were "using the national preparedness issue as an excellent excuse to escape their roles as housewives."

Ultimately the sister's petition to be allowed to be come dispatch riders was denied.

They each had successful later lives, however. Augusta went on to become a pilot, and Adeline became a lawyer.

In 2002, the sisters were inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association's Motorcycle Hall of Fame... but their epic journey - which would almost be a doddle with today's technology - and the ridiculous social barriers that they faced certainly deserves a wider audience.