#latent world program

[gloomiustexan]

I've always liked analog horror but think that the subgenre's gotten boring. So to liven things up, here's tuesday_tapes, a sorta-anthological series taking place between 1996 and 2001 that's inspired as much by 90s Oliver Stone as it is by Local 58. Part found footage, part analog horror, all-American.

(the playlist so far)

#tuesday_tapes #analog horror #analoghorror #found footage #foundfootage #90s #2000s #y2k #analogue horror #internet horror #creepypasta #vhs aesthetic #vhscore #vhs horror #2001 #local 58 #tomorrow is our profession #latent world program #horror #horror series #short horror film

[molinaskies]

Sonic and the Mirror of Trauma: Scrapnik Island

Scrapnik Island is by far the most intriguing and impressive IDW Sonic miniseries so far. Daniel Barnes wrote an excellent story about recovering from trauma, struggling to escape your past, and facing the setbacks that come with both of those, and Nathalie Fourdraine and Jack Lawrence produced some beautiful art.

On its surface, the story has the potential to be a cheeky, cliché one-off akin to a spooky Halloween story (that started in December… hehe). But, when you look deeper at the plot and some of the tropes, and once you remember that it takes place between issue 56 (which I’ve crucially discussed at length) and issue 57, it suddenly becomes so much more important.

Mecha Sonic is a version of Sonic who has been forced to address the pain of his life and dabble with the consequences, and he represents the moment that Sonic has to face his own trauma—and that scares him.

Scrapnik Island sets off with the Scrapniks pursuing Sonic to help him, but Sonic, of course, has missed the memo. Mecha Sonic is hottest on Sonic’s trail, which stands out to me as not only is Sonic visibly afraid of Mecha (both from his sudden presence and from his memories of their last encounter), but he’s actively running away from his trauma, his past, his fear.

Even after Sonic’s been set straight on the Scrapniks’ deal, he’s still put off by Mecha Sonic’s silent demeanour and their history. So, Sonic treats him coldly, and this animosity triggers something deep within Mecha that he fights to starve off.

There is lots of visual storytelling to indicate that Sonic and Mecha Sonic are meant to be literary foils, but below is my favourite example. A flashback of a decommissioned Mecha Sonic fades into a present shot of Sonic “taking it easy,” but more so getting fed up with his situation.

Sonic is also particularly distrustful (and afraid) of Mecha Sonic, compared to the other Scrapniks. However, as time runs on, Sonic comes to an initial understanding of Mecha’s changed ways and wants to make peace. However, right after this, Mecha Knuckles attacks, Mecha Sonic defends and, in a way, sacrifices himself for Sonic, and things fall apart from here.

After Mecha Sonic is triggered during his battle with Mecca Knuckles (after a forceful encounter with Mecha Sonic’s past that sends him down a path of relapse), Mecha Sonic loses his ability to starve off Eggman’s primary programming. He turns on Sonic once again, but instead of serving Eggman, he strives to serve himself. While Mecha is falling victim to his traumatic past and coping mechanisms, the unfortunate thing about this is how it all reads to Sonic: another betrayal of his trust. It all calls back to Mr. Tinker, Metal Sonic, and Surge.

Mecha Sonic’s plan is to swap bodies with Sonic so that Mecha can use Sonic’s speed to escape the island, but the Scrapniks attack before the transfer can complete. This leaves Mecha and Sonic in an in-between state where they hear each other thoughts and feel each other’s feelings.

Even though Sonic states that the anger and sadness in his head is not his own, he’s still clearly shown to be feeling those feelings. They don’t originate from him, but their presence mingles with his own emotions to produce something darker and more irritated. Their presence also acts as a gateway of sorts, where the latent anger and sadness that Sonic can’t suppress makes it harder for him to put away his own feelings. Couple that with his physical pain from his sprained ankle (on the same leg he busted up a few issues prior), and soon, Sonic snaps for the first time in the entire IDW comic’s run.

I love whenever Sonic’s anger is allowed to shine because he is never enraged for petty reasons. Sonic has an attitude that often leads him to cranky comments, but Sonic is genuinely angry here because it hurts him to see someone speak so lowly of themselves, to have been hurt by the world so poorly. Mecha Sonic is also yet another person who has been created by Eggman’s terror specific to oppose Sonic. It’s another example of Surge’s “I will kill you or die trying” with the added complexity of Mecha’s attempt at redemption being corrupted by the trauma of Eggman’s influence. This puts pressure on Sonic because these impositions put Mecha, Surge, Kit, and others like them in direct opposition to Sonic for reasons entirely of no fault of his own—and that angers him. All Sonic strives to do with his life and his gift is help people, and to have so many people come out of the woodworks to say that the only thing he can do to help them is to kill himself is absolutely devastating to him. Not only because he believes in the direct opposite—that the only person who can give one purpose is oneself—but because it threatens to strip his own purpose away from him whenever these notions are unearthed.

Sonic isn’t angry at Mecha, personally. He’s angry at the system created to hurt them both.

The most important thing to remember is that, unless I fully missed something*, that strange mind-link thing between Sonic and Mecha Sonic is never undone. After Sonic cries Mecha Sonic’s tears, the story cuts to Tails officially deprogramming Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles from Eggman’s directives, but it’s never explicitly stated that Mecha Sonic’s and Sonic’s mental link was reversed.

It can be reasonably assumed that it occurs off-screen (off-page? Outside of what is shown to the reader) because that would make general sense, but then again, so did the reprogramming, and that was explicitly mentioned. Further, it’s a general rule in writing for media that if you want something to be known about your story, it needs to be shown to the audience if not alluded to or directly referred to having happened. So, this is either an oversight, or it’s entirely intentional.

* The only way I can imagine this being accounted for is that the machine that linked Sonic and Mecha’s brains, the Egg Noggin, is (obviously) an Eggman device. Thus, whenever Tails removed Eggman’s programming from Mecha Sonic and Mecha Knuckles, perhaps it also restored Sonic’s brain to normal. This, however, feels like a bit of a stretch because we never see or hear of Sonic needing or receiving any treatment, but I am willing to consider it to be a viable reason. Either way, I think the point I’m about to make still stands as either a physical change or an emotional change in Sonic’s character.

This experience, this sharing of minds in such an intimate way where they can both so clearly hear each other’s hearts, taught them something. I read this as some sort of floodgates being opened, where while Mecha Sonic can more easily feel compassion and listen to the good in his core, Sonic now more clearly feels his anger and has a harder time suppressing his emotions. Whether there is lasting physical damage left in Sonic or he’s simply reeling from the depth of his emotions felt in this adventure, there’s been a clear impact.

Even if Sonic isn’t fully delving into things just yet, he’s taken a lesson away from all of this.

(From the IDW Endless Summer One-Shot, set between issue 64 and issue 65 and after the 900th adventure one-shot)

If nothing else, Sonic clearly understands trauma better now. Sonic is absolutely traumatized by his experiences with Eggman and other high-stakes adventures, but again, due to his tendency to push away his darker emotions, he hasn’t processed much of this. Sonic puts all his sadness and rage and fear and confusion into box after box after box before shoving everything onto a big, cluttered shelf, never to be seen again… until now. With such a clear look into the mind of someone actively reeling through trauma, a trauma so like his own, that shelf has collapsed, and now everything is spilling onto the floor before Sonic, quick as can be, can stop it.

Sonic is finally starting to understand the bigger picture, but I don’t think he’s fully on the path of self-awareness. I think there’s more boiling under the surface, more than even he realizes. And if Sonic keeps taking these micro-risks (instead of his usual Hail-Marys) that are fueled by his anger, like storming the Eggperial City too soon, then something will have to give.

Scrapnik Island is incredibly important to the IDW storyline because it showcases not only Sonic learning the depths of his pain and the pain of others but also yet another nail in Eggman’s coffin.

#idw sonic #sonic idw #idw sonic spoilers #sonic idw spoilers #scrapnik island #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #sth #sonic idw endless summer #idw sonic endless summer #dr eggman #eggman #sonic character analysis #character analysis #meta analysis #sonic meta analysis #long post #idw sonic issue 56 #idw sonic scrapnik island #something's cooking #and its not just me #hehe #good comic is good #mecha sonic

[canmom]

ai analogies

with photography, the 'inputs' or 'creative choices' include the subject, the framing, and technical qualities like exposure, focus, aperture and iso. the output, the thing that's judged, is then the qualities of the image - composition and colour and narrative. since photography is very quick, a photographer will typically take many shots of a subject, and then pick out the ones they like best to share with the wider world, so there is also a curative element.

with collage (and also photobashing, and even the limited space of a dollmaker game), the 'inputs' are the choices of existing images, and the composition created by arranging them. so there's a curative element in selecting what to collage, and then new meaning is created by juxtaposing two previously unrelated images, the spatial relationships between them, and so on. (see also graphic design!) the visual qualities of the original image are relevant insofar as they affect the composition, but you don't judge a collage containing a painting or photo on how well-painted the painting or well-shot the photo is, rather on how well it uses that painting or photo.

with 'readymades' and similar genres of conceptual art, it's kind of similar, right? you put the existing objects in a new context and create meaning through how they're arranged. people respond to whether the idea it communicates is interesting. (often these days they come with some text which gives a key to inform you how to interpret the artwork.)

anyway. with drawing and painting, which are comparatively laborious to create, you are constantly making thousands of creative choices, from the broad scale - composition, value structure, how you construct a figure - to the tiny, like line weight, rendering, shape design. to navigate this vast space of possibility, you will be informed by your memory of other pictures you've seen (your personal 'visual library') and techniques you've practiced, reference images you've gathered, and so on. the physical qualities of your body and the medium will also affect your picture - how you move your arm, how watercolor moves across the paper, etc etc.

broadly the same is true for other very involved media like sculpture or computer graphics or music (of all kinds!). more fine-grained control implies both more work and more scope for creative choices.

when someone sees an image created by whatever means, they take all of this in at once, for a gestalt impression - and if they feel like it, they can look closer and appreciate the particular details. many artists will think about trying to create a composition that 'leads the eye' to take in particular points of interest and convey the narrative of the picture.

so then, 'AI'. your inputs are the design of the neural net, the selection of training data, the text/image used as a prompt and then finally the selection of an image produced by the program. (you can modify that image of course but let's not get into that for now). chances are you don't have a lot of control over the first two since the computation involved is too unwieldy, though some image generators can be 'finetuned' with additional training data.

'AI art' is like photography in that you typically generate a lot of images and select the ones that 'come out well'. like a photographer looking for a subject, you might search around for an interesting prompt. it's unlike photography in that you have very limited control over all those other parameters (at best you can try to verbally describe what you want and hope the AI understands, or ask it to generate similar pictures and hope one has the qualities you want).

'AI art' is like collage in that you are taking existing images and creating new meaning of of them, by generating a latent space and transformation algorithm that approximates them. it's unlike collage in that you have no real knowledge of what specific images may be 'most' informing the corner of latent space you're probing. you can look at an AI generated image and say 'this looks kinda like a Nihei manga' but it's not using a specific image of Nihei. still, there is something similar to the relationship between images in collage when you do things like 'style transfer'.

'AI art' can be like conceptual art or for that matter political cartoons in that often it's just providing illustration to a concept or joke that can be expressed in words. 'Shrek in the style of The Dark Crystal' or 'cats that spell "gay sex"' is what you're getting across. but 'AI art' as a subculture places very high concern on the specific aesthetic qualities, so it's not that simple.

briefly, sampling in music often tends to foreground that it's a sample, either one the audience may recognise - the Amen break for example - or just by being noticeably different from the texture of the rest of the piece. even when the sample isn't easily recognised, though, the art of sampling is to place it in a new context which brings out different sonic qualities, e.g. by playing it rapidly in succession, or heavily filtering and distorting it, overlaying it with other sounds, or playing it right before the drop. it's similar to collage and photobashing.

paintings then. AI art rather obsessively tries to imitate paintings, drawings, 3D graphics etc. some of its proponents even try to position it as obsoleting these art forms, rather than a new derivative art form. a lot of the fear from artists who work in those media is that, even if the AI generated images are a poor substitute for what we make, it will be 'good enough' to satisfy the people with the money, or discourage people from learning how to paint with all its nuances.

so, 'AI' may make results that look like a painting, but the process of making it is hugely different. rather than gradually constructing a picture and making decisions at each turn, you try out successive prompts to get a page full of finished pictures, and generate variations on those pictures, until you find one you like. it's most similar to the client who describes an image they want and then makes requests to tweak it. there is still creativity in this, because it's kind of replicating the back-and-forth between an artist and client/art director/critique-giver/etc. however, in this analogy, it's hampered by the limited communication between you and the 'artist'. and it's a different sort of input, so we respond to it differently.

generating and posting AI art could also be compared to the kind of thing we do on this website, where we curate images we like and share them. you're all looking at the outputs of the same image generator and pointing and saying 'ooh, that one's cool'. what's kinda troublesome in this analogy is that AI obfuscates all that stuff about credit and inspiration, collapsing it all into one mass. unless their name was used in the prompt, you can't tell if the 'AI' image is 'drawing heavily' on any particular artist. this isn't a new problem - firstly websites full of uncredited images abound, secondly any creative process is inspired by loads of things that we can't enumerate or hope to divulge, so the idea of tracing the paths of inspiration is perhaps a mirage anyway. still, for me (sakuga fan type of person!), knowing what i can about the specific people involved in creating artwork and how they went about it is important, and that's heavily blackboxed by 'AI'.

none of this would be helped by harsher copyright laws. it's great that people can create derivative works and respond to existing art. that is the scaffold that launches us somewhere new and hopefully interesting. simply putting someone's work into an image generator to create similar pictures is not a very interesting statement in its own right, and a lot of AI illustration produced at the moment has a weirdly glossy, overproduced feeling that is offputting and leaves nowhere for the eye to settle (when it isn't just mush), but that's not to say AI is never going to be able to be used to say anything interesting or become a meaningful art form in its own right.

'AI' is kinda like a bunch of things but not exactly like any of them. (this isn't to get into the economic questions at all, that would be a much longer post!). but since there are people very sincerely devoted to this being an art form... I want to know how to 'read' these works - what I'm looking for in there, what a meaningful comment would be. bc right now when I see an illustration and realise it's AI generated image it's like... a sense of disappointment because whatever I was picking up on isn't actually part of the 'statement' in the way i thought. so it's like oh... that's nice. the machine picked a cool perspective huh? all the things i would normally appreciate in an illustration are outside the artist's control, so responding to them feels irrelevant! so what is the right mode here? there's more to it than just the choice of subject. but I feel like I have more to say about even a picrew.

#ai #yet another one of these lol #it's been on my brain i guess

[goldkirk]

tw for end of the world/apocalypse fears and such

So anyway with new Israel-Hamas news AND American politics AND the ongoing Russia stuff, my latent “here are some of the signs of the coming-soon Three Days of Darkness, or the not-quite-end-times pre-end times, OR the actual end times” programming has arisen like a sleeper agent, and I’m just shouting “back, back!” while swiping at it with a broom

(This is extra frustrating because my rational brain is trying to focus on the humanitarian horrors and the realistic facts of things while the rest of my brain wants to wallow in selfish “AAHHHHH APOCALYPSE END TIMES FEAR AAAAAAAH” and I’m like Sit Down this is not about me Jesus Christ self. But deprogramming takes a long time and a lot of brain rewiring so I will try to donate to some aid groups and just Do My Best to rewire my neurons over time)

me: Our Lady said at Garabandal that the Great Warning and the Illumination of Conscience come sometime after—and maybe I’ve already been one of the ones to fall prey to the Antichrist’s solution to my problems being apostasy from Truth—the signs are only visible to those who have the eyes to see them and know what they’re looking for—nations will wage war and we’ve already had the explosion in Marian apparitions around the world, and they SAID most people would ignore the signs—they SAID it would be ultimate conflict in Israel and that Russia would rise up and wage war on the nations if it hadn’t been able to be fully converted through the power of the roasary, and China is banding together with Russia like was warned about years ago—

me, tiredly swinging a broom at my brain: girl you sound like a Qanon truther

(to anyone who is a practicing devout Roman Catholic and has problems with what I just typed out—yes I KNOW these aren’t in order and I KNOW not all of these are approved prophecies from official Church Mystics I KNOW. I’m not going for accuracy here I’m going for “represent a fraction of the swirling and out-of-order thoughts ping-ponging through my brain” okay. Go back to Catholic Fox News EWTN and leave me alone.)

Anyway. Going to read Dawkins and play with my dog and breathe and meditate and be so normal about this

#tw: apocalypse #exCatholic #ex catholic #UGH #shh katie #at least I’m not currently in Missouri to hear my [redacted family member] speculate on upcoming American civil war or evil agendas #cult escapee

[hlficlibrary]

- HL Fic Library's University/College Fic Rec -

Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.

✧ We Are Only Just Beginning by @afirethatcannotdie [E, 129k]

In the dim light of a dorm kitchen, Harry Styles meets a boy who flips his life upside down. Three years later, he's a senior in college, ready to take on the world with the love of his life by his side. And then Louis Tomlinson admits he doesn't know what he wants to do after college after all, and Harry's world flips again, this time not so pleasantly. He can't imagine his life without Louis, but he's starting to worry he might have to.

A college AU featuring lots of domestic sappiness, waffles, tattoos, late nights and early mornings, and above all, Louis and Harry against the world.

✧ Both Showing Hearts by kiwikero / @icanhazzalou [E, 113]

Louis Tomlinson is, in fact, not straight. Harry Styles isn't sure what he is. Together, they figure it out, and maybe fall in love along the way.

Or, the Uni AU where Louis helps Harry figure out his sexuality, Niall crashes a bachelorette party, Liam works in a printing centre, and Zayn happens to need lots of printing done.

✧ Red Brick Heart by hazmesentir / @alveronian [E, 98k]

Harry has only had his room for thirty-two minutes when it stops being his.

Uni AU. Harry had turned up at the halls of residence expecting fun, new friends, and maybe a life experience or two. What he doesn't expect is a surprise roommate who's loud and dramatic and obsessed with tea and is maybe, actually, all he's ever wanted.

✧ it's golden, like daylight by wildestdreams / @butyouneverdo [E, 61k]

"I actually think you might be onto something.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “You mean…”

Louis nodded. “As crazy and insane as this, this might just solve both of our problems.” 

“Are you saying you’re in?” Harry asked. 

“I’m in.”

or, a College/A/B/O/Fake Relationship AU where longtime friends, Harry and Louis, come up with the perfect plan to fake date, which, of course, ends up being a complete disaster.

✧ thinking about the t-shirt you sleep in by nonsensedarling / @absoloutenonsense [E, 52k]

Harry's alpha fraternity donates to a local thrift shop (because of Liam's latent crush on a cute beta in his lecture). Louis' financial situation (and confusing omega instincts) lead him to make some interesting fashion purchases. Lots of pizza, feelings, and not-really-lying.

✧ The First Year by @parmahamlarrie [E, 46k]

When Louis Tomlinson was assigned a first year student to be his roommate for his final year at the University of Manchester, his expectations were low. All he needed was a cheap place to sleep and keep his stuff amidst his nights out, willing his brain to forget his past. He never expected Harry Styles to become his eclectic, sweet, and cuddly best friend. That was never the plan.

Or the cliche Uni AU

✧ Just Tell Me the Song and I'll Sing It by myownspark / @myownsparknow [NR, 40k]

Louis is an architecture student who can only think about the future. Harry is a baseball player who can only think about right now. Both are lonely for different reasons. Boybands bring them together.

Or, this may just be a long love letter to Louis’ voice, I’m not sure.

Based on the following prompt: Harry and Louis are university students who go to the same bar on the weekends. The bar has karaoke and Louis likes to sing Disney/Musical/Boyband songs sometimes. Harry thinks he's cute so he starts singing Disney/Musical/Boyband songs and flirting with him while he's on stage.

✧ All Your Mates Are Here by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup [T, 36k]

"The pack is... It's folding, Harry."

Like every werewolf does when they get to a new town, Harry joined one of the many local packs when he started university. Now, three years into his program, he's hit with the news that his pack is giving up, going their separate ways. In the wake of the holidays, the three single wolves from the Majestic pack are pointed in the direction of a new pack to join; one that's got struggles of its own.

A new pack, a new house, and two new roommates with personal space issues... Plus exams, of course.

✧ Compete Against the Stars by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose [M, 31k]

“We should probably keep our distance,” Harry says, now backing up until he’s leaning against the wall opposite of Louis. It already feels too far away. “I don’t know if I can handle not being able to touch you in some small way.”

Louis nods and looks down. “The solstice will be here soon,” he murmurs.

“And with it, our mates,” Harry finishes, his voice cracking at the last word.

An ABO au where Louis finds out he's claimed to another Alpha. Angst ensues.

✧ Introduction to Dynamics by @juliusschmidt [E, 29k]

Louis Tomlinson is the outspoken omega in the 'Introduction to Dynamics' course Harry wishes he didn't have to take. He's nearly certain to present as a beta, after all. Things will be simple for him.

✧ Campus Creatures by @kingsofeverything , YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf [E, 25k]

It’s senior year for werewolf Louis Tomlinson and vampire Harry Styles, and as presidents of their respective fraternities, they’re determined to do it right.

Though what that means is anybody’s guess.

✧ blend into my favourite colour by rainbowninja167 / @rainbowninja [T, 20k]

Harry often wonders if they’ll ever meet in real life. And if Harry will recognize Tommo the instant they see each other, like somehow their souls will just know. Or maybe Harry’s soul is shouting “Louis!” too loudly for any other signals to go through.

Harry is a barista with a secret Werewolf High fan blog, a desperate crush on a customer named Louis, and a best friend on Tumblr who always makes him laugh. Louis can't figure out why the barista at his favorite coffee shop keeps creepily staring at him, and to make matters worse, he may be slightly in love with a friend he met online. A love square involving two boys, one TV fandom, and one food fight.

✧ I Didn't Fall For You (You Fucking Tripped Me) by @allwaswell16 [E, 20k]

These days Louis tends to steer clear of dating alphas. He’s dated too many knotheads in his time, and he’s ready to just focus on school and his friends and his pet monitor lizard, of course.

Too bad the alpha next door won’t take a hint and stop using the worst pick up lines of all time on him. He’s really got to stop laughing with him--and talking to him and walking to class with him and letting him bring him coffee and tea and gifts for his lizard and watching Netflix together and...

✧ Keep Me Closer by zanni_scaramouche / @zanniscaramouche [T, 18k]

Louis expects Harry to react poorly, maybe even file a formal complaint and that’s gonna suck ass but Louis won’t say shit cause he knows he deserves it, so he prepares an apology before Harry’s even turned around.

What he doesn’t expect is Harry to fucking drop.

✧ if it looks like, feels like, tastes like love... by tempolarriefics / @tempolarriefix [T, 16k]

Niall has an easygoing smile on his face, bright and unbothered, as if he isn’t facilitating a lunch between Harry and the one person he might truly hate.“Niall. Louis,” Harry greets them both, somewhat strained.Louis doesn’t even look up at him.Harry sighs, taking a seat next to Niall and grabbing for the sandwich on the table.“Hear me out,” Niall says, cutting right to the chase. “Family housing.”

Or, the one where harry and louis hate each other but pretend to date to be able to live in university 'family housing', zayn and liam are their nosy next door neighbors, and niall is the friend who made it all happen.

✧ All I Want Is To Be Free by @lululawrence [NR, 11k]

“Uh, you saw photos? Of me wearing the shirt?”

The guy nodded eagerly while he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Yeah! I took a picture of the photo I saw so I could remember to look it up. Hold on.”

The guy scrolled through his phone and made a happy sound when he found it. “Here!”

Louis grabbed his phone to look at the picture. Yep. That confirmed it. He was going crazy.

The photo he was looking at was definitely one of him wearing his beloved shirt, but there was a taller man standing beside him, looking at him and laughing as Louis had his hand resting possessively on the guy’s hip. Louis had absolutely no recollection of this ever happening.

Or the one where Louis keeps finding photos around campus of him with a man he's never met before, and the only logical explanation must be he's going crazy.

✧ Can't Buy My Love, Can Buy Me Dinner by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13 [G, 9k]

Is it ethical to accept a dinner date for the free food? And will you hate me when I go anyway?

Fact 1: Louis hates Harry Styles. Fact 2: Louis is temporarily living off toast and spaghetti hoops. Fact 3: ...Louis may be semi-accidentally dating his worst enemy.

✧ reckless serenade by @thepolourryexpress [E, 4k]

Harry’s not too sure how she’s gotten to this point either. So, she understands where the incredulous look on Liam’s face is coming from.

“You mean to tell me you’ve been dating Louis for three years and she doesn’t know it?” Liam raises an eyebrow, blinking.

Or, Harry's Google search history may or may not look like 'my girlfriend doesn't know we're dating.'

✧ you don't have to wear (your best fake smile) by coffeelouis [T, 2k]

When Harry was 12, he moved to Holmes Chapel and broke up with his first boyfriend.

When Harry was 20, he sat next to said boyfriend in class, and although he continues to wear Harry's parting gift of his beloved Manchester United sweatshirt every goddamn day, does not seem to remember Harry at all.

#ficrec #hljournal #hlcreators #hlsource #1dficvillage #tracksintheam #trackinghome #1dsource #yourlarrysource #coffeelouis #thepolourryexpress #ladylondonderry #ladyaj13 #lululawrence #tempolarriefics #allwaswell16 #rainbowninja167 #yesisaworld #kingsofeverything #hazmesentir #kiwikero #afirethatcannotdie #wildestdreams #nonsensedarling #parmahamlarrie #myownspark #amomentoflove #juliusschmidt #zanniscaramouche

[blubberquark]

AI: A Misnomer

As you know, Game AI is a misnomer, a misleading name. Games usually don't need to be intelligent, they just need to be fun. There is NPC behaviour (be they friendly, neutral, or antagonistic), computer opponent strategy for multi-player games ranging from chess to Tekken or StarCraft, and unit pathfinding. Some games use novel and interesting algorithms for computer opponents (Frozen Synapse uses deome sort of evolutionary algorithm) or for unit pathfinding (Planetary Annihilation uses flow fields for mass unit pathfinding), but most of the time it's variants or mixtures of simple hard-coded behaviours, minimax with alpha-beta pruning, state machines, HTN, GOAP, and A*.

Increasingly, AI outside of games has become a misleading term, too. It used to be that people called more things AI, then machine learning was called machine learning, robotics was called robotics, expert systems were called expert systems, then later ontologies and knowledge engineering were called the semantic web, and so on, with the remaining approaches and the original old-fashioned AI still being called AI.

AI used to be cool, then it was uncool, and the useful bits of AI were used for recommendation systems, spam filters, speech recognition, search engines, and translation. Calling it "AI" was hand-waving, a way to obscure what your system does and how it works.

With the advent if ChatGPT, we have arrived in the worst of both worlds. Calling things "AI" is cool again, but now some people use "AI" to refer specifically to large language models or text-to-image generators based on language models. Some people still use "AI" to mean autonomous robots. Some people use "AI" to mean simple artificial neuronal networks, bayesian filtering, and recommendation systems. Infuriatingly, the word "algorithm" has increasingly entered the vernacular to refer to bayesian filters and recommendation systems, for situations where a computer science textbook would still use "heuristic". Computer science textbooks still use "AI" to mean things like chess playing, maze solving, and fuzzy logic.

Let's look at a recent example! Scott Alexander wrote a blog post (https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/god-help-us-lets-try-to-understand) about current research (https://transformer-circuits.pub/2023/monosemantic-features/index.html) on distributed representations and sparsity, and the topology of the representations learned by a neural network. Scott Alexander is a psychiatrist with no formal training in machine learning or even programming. He uses the term "AI" to refer to neural networks throughout the blog post. He doesn't say "distributed representations", or "sparse representations". The original publication he did use technical terms like "sparse representation". These should be familiar to people who followed the debates about local representations versus distributed representations back in the 80s (or people like me who read those papers in university). But in that blog post, it's not called a neural network, it's called an "AI". Now this could have two reasons: Either Scott Alexander doesn't know any better, or more charitably he does but doesn't know how to use the more precise terminology correctly, or he intentionally wants to dumb down the research for people who intuitively understand what a latent feature space is, but have never heard about "machine learning" or "artificial neural networks".

Another example can come in the form of a thought experiment: You write an app that helps people tidy up their rooms, and find things in that room after putting them away, mostly because you needed that app for yourself. You show the app to a non-technical friend, because you want to know how intuitive it is to use. You ask him if he thinks the app is useful, and if he thinks people would pay money for this thing on the app store, but before he answers, he asks a question of his own: Does your app have any AI in it?

What does he mean?

Is "AI" just the new "blockchain"?

#AI #artificial intelligence #large language models

[yoga-onion]

The Quest for Buddhism (118)

Buddhist cosmology

[Spinoff] Transcendental Meditation – One of the modern meditation methods.

As a comparison and contrast to Vipassana meditation (Ref) as an alternative medicine, we would like to mention Transcendental Meditation of Hindu origin.

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation technique derived from the Vedas, made known in the mid-1950s by Indian Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Maharishi summarised and presented the Vedic teachings in a form that was understandable to Westerners, using scientific language.

Advocates of the Transcendental Meditation movement (TM) claim that the technique promotes a state of relaxed awareness, stress relief, and access to higher states of consciousness, as well as physiological benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.

Transcendental Meditation is said to foster a higher consciousness and improve one's luck (described as receiving nature's support). When done in groups, it is said to promote very powerful attunement, creating harmony and positive influences in the environment (making the world a better place).

The connection between mantra and meditation is considered a "scientific technique" and is called the "science of creative intelligence. It is said to develop latent abilities, drawing out vitality, intelligence, and fulfillment, and even "transcending" thought. Maharishi states that "transcendence" is the transcendence of the mind over thought, the turning of the mind inward, beyond thought, beyond the conscious mind, to experience pure consciousness which being absolute bliss consciousness, totally unchanging and eternal. The "ultimate goal" of transcendental meditation is "God-realisation," the realisation of the value of "God" within oneself, and the attainment of God-consciousness.

Building on the teachings of his master Brahmananda Saraswati (known honorifically as Guru Dev), the Maharishi taught thousands of people during a series of world tours from 1958 to 1965, expressing his teachings in spiritual and religious terms.

Many celebrities and celebrities such as the Beatles studied Transcendental Meditation during this period, and its influence on the subculture was significant. It is known to have had a major influence on musicians during the Flower Movement, and among hippies in the 1960s, 'meditation' and 'zen' were seen as techniques that could provide similar psychedelic experiences without the use of drugs.

They were loved by hippies as a method for 'mental expansion' and so-called 'opening the doors of perception', with Transcendental Meditation being described in the rock media as the most 'effective' and known amongst young rock lovers.

Beginning in 1965, the Transcendental Meditation technique has been incorporated into selected schools, universities, corporations, and prison programs in the US, Latin America, Europe, and India. The technique has still been included in a number of educational and social programs around the world.

仏教の探求 (118)

仏教の宇宙論

[番外編] 超越瞑想 〜 現代瞑想法の一派

代替医療としてのヴィパッサナー瞑想（参照）との比較対照として、ヒンデゥー教由来の超越的瞑想について触れておきたい。

超越瞑想 (ちょうえつめいそう、ﾄﾗﾝｾﾝﾃﾞﾝﾀﾙ･ﾒﾃﾞｨﾃｰｼｮﾝ:TM) は、インド人のマハリシ・マヘーシュ・ヨーギーによって1950年代に知られるようになった、ヴェーダに由来するマントラ瞑想法である。マハリシはヴェーダの教えを、西洋人にも理解しやすい形で、科学的な言葉を使って要約し紹介した。

超越瞑想運動 (TM) の提唱者は、このテクニックがリラックスした意識状態、ストレス解消、より高い意識状態へのアクセスを促進し、心臓病や高血圧のリスク軽減などの生理学的効果もあると主張している。

超越瞑想を行うことで、より高次の意識が育まれ、運がよくなる (自然の支援を受ける、と表現される) という。グループで行うと、非常に強力な同調を促し、環境に調和と肯定性の影響が生み出される (世界がより良くなる) という。

マントラと瞑想の結びつきは「科学的テクニック」とされ、「創造的知性の科学」と呼ばれる。これによって潜在的な能力を開発し、活力、知性、充足感を引き出し、さらには思考を「超越」させるという。マハリシは、「超越」とは、思考を超えた心の超越であり、意識を超え、純粋意識を体験するために心を内側に向けること、純粋意識は絶対至福意識であり、全く不変であり、永遠であると述べている。超越瞑想の「究極の目標」は「神の実現」であり、自らの内にある＜神＞の価値に気づき、「神意識」に到達するとされる。

マハリシは、師であるブラフマナンダ・サラスワティ (敬称はグル・デヴ) の教えを基に、1958年から1965年までの一連の世界ツアーで何千人もの人々に教え、その教えを精神的、宗教的な用語で表現した。

この時期、ビートルズなど多くの有名人や著名人が超越瞑想を学び、サブカルチャーに与えた影響は大きい。フラワームーブメントの時期のミュージシャンに大きな影響を与えたことが知られており、60年代のヒッピーの間では、「瞑想」や「禅」は薬物を使用せずに同様のサイケデリック体験ができるテクニックとして捉えられていた。

「精神拡張」、いわゆる「知覚の扉を開く」ための方法としてヒッピーたちに愛好され、中でも超越瞑想が最も「効く」とロック系のメディアで語られ、ロックを愛好する若者の間で知られていた。

1965年以来、超越瞑想法は、アメリカ、ラテンアメリカ、ヨーロッパ、インドの特定の学校、大学、企業、刑務所などのプログラムに取り入れられている。この技法は、現在も世界中の数多くの教育・社会プログラムに取り入れられている。

#transcendental meditation #modern meditation method #vedic tradition #hippie #matra #alternative medicine #mental expansion #flower movement #60s #meditation #psychedelic movement #philosophy #nature #art #history

[tanadrin]

What are the (in-universe) politics of climate change in the world of Sogant Raha?

Climate change as such isn’t a major political issue in any era of Sogant Raha’s history, because industrial civilization with a population in the billions isn’t really a thing in any era of its history. The politics of environment and ecology, however, have been very important.

The first human civilization on the planet was technologically advanced but small; in the wake of the destruction of the Ammas Echor, they had to rebuild an industrial base on the planet, which took centuries and was never sophisticated as the one the ship had provided. Sogant Raha did not have as extensive and as accessible coal and oil deposits either, and certainly not in the regions of major human habitation during this early phase of settlement.

The major conflict when humanity arrived at Sogant Raha was, loosely, between those who wanted to approach the project of colonizing an alien world in an extremely conservative fashion, shaping human civilization to suit the environment as it existed, and those who believed that changing the environment was inevitable, and that it was both possible and desirable to seek a new equilibrium between humanity and the planet. Both factions were by our standards very environmentalist! With their religious background it could hardly be otherwise. But they disagrees (nearly to the point of civil war) on the actual program of settlement, and to what extent Terran species in the Great Record should be brought back.

That conflict was mediated by the Archive, in the form of Praxis, but this compromise lasted only as long as there was a unified political structure on the planet. That structure was based on the Ammas Echor and collapsed when the ship was destroyed. In the aftermath, colonization was unregulated and chaotic, a situation neither faction would have been happy with. Inevitably, humans profoundly altered their environment (and had to adapt themselves in turn). During the difficult centuries that followed, ecological concerns were only one of many different competing concerns for the fragmented polities of human civilization.

By the time of the Fifth Thalassocracy, a major industrial base had been rebuilt—think early 20th century, with zeppelins and steamships and railroads, though a much smaller global population, heavily concentrated in one hemisphere. But centuries of human population growth were provoking strange reactions in the native biota. New epidemic diseases were sweeping through the population; there were repeated attacks on the frontier by wild animals that nobody had ever seen before, some of which seemed like strange versions of Terran organisms; and the general feeling, especially at the margins of civilization, was that humanity was under siege by the alien ecology beyond its borders.

This period coincided with the second Continent-Archipelago War, which on its own would have been devastating; the use of new superweapons made it even worse. The war culminated in the unauthorized use of an experimental weapon that harnessed the latent energy within the Nexus strain of native microorganisms, and provoked a chain reaction in which the metabolism of native life went haywire. The disaster that followed, called the Burning Spring, was essentially a mass extinction. More than 90% of all land life died over the course of a couple thousand years. This death triggered atmospheric changes—carbon levels spiked for instance—but terrestrial life exploded to fill the vacated space left behind. But the rapid environmental change (and the devastation of war) also caused human civilization to collapse again, to a thoroughly preindustrial state.

The societies that eventually arose millennia later largely did not remember the history of what had gone before. They did not remember this was not the planet they were native to, and it would have been hard to notice. The actual native biota were confined mostly to slowly-shrinking refugia in the continental interiors, which were dangerous to approach—in the borderlands of those refugia, strange monsters roamed, virulent pathogens that caused hemorrhagic fevers and fulminant cancers were common, and almost everything that lived there was incredibly toxic to humans.

Ecology went from a matter of specific political concern to the background rhythm of thousands of different cultures. Each had their own way of thinking about the environment they lived in. Some saw themselves as stewards; others, as pragmatic exploiters. New urban civilizations with sophisticated modes of production would and did develop. Some even rediscovered some of their ancestors’ advanced technologies. But they were on a smaller scale, and while they might be intensely concerned with their local environment, global matters were not something they were in a position to understand or significantly affect.

(The Lende Empire, for example, was in its last centuries just starting to industrialize. But it wasn’t connected to a truly global system of trade, and while it had religiously-motivated environmental concerns, these were of a much smaller order than global carbon emissions. And they were expressed differently than how we would express our environmentalism: less ‘preserve natural ecology’ and more ‘don’t desecrate this sacred mountain range.’)

#sogant raha #tanadrin’s fiction #thanks for the ask anon!

[togglesbloggle]

I still toss and turn about this all the time, by the way- it’s probably the most enduring obsession of my childhood, and a nontrivial chunk of what drove me to things like geology, programming, ratspace, and even stuff you wouldn’t expect like a fondness for time travel stories or Li Po poems.

One neuron is just a cell. Many neurons, arranged just so, is a person. Qualia, interiority, volition, values, all spectacularly inexplicable in physical terms. A whole world of imagination, captured in miniature as a net with just the right pattern of string. It’s so fucking goetic. Arrange these symbols in a circle, and a demon appears, using some dread fire to give meaning to form and animate base matter. “The hard problem”, they call it.

My hard problem isn’t that it works, as such. This, I can accept, although not with full equanimity. It’s that it demonstrates something about the cosmos, because everything demonstrates something about the cosmos, and I cannot for the life of me see through that fog. The universe is not billiard balls and it’s not negative-probability waves moving through fields, because when you arrange symbols in a circle you can summon a demon. That was there from the beginning, latent at the big bang that kicked us all off. But all we have is this one thing, this tiny little biosphere on a tiny little world that stumbled blindly in to the right incantations, and everywhere else we look it’s just billiard balls as far as the eye can see. This is not to say that ‘is there extraterrestrial life?’ is the most important question, though of course it’s instrumental, and the Fermi Paradox is maddening in this context as well. But the deeper question is, ‘why in the everliving tiddlywinks does a universe with a demon-summoning ritual in it pretend to be mechanical except in this one narrow thing?’ Where’s the rest of the magic system?

And now we’re closing in on perfecting the ritual ourselves, not understanding a damn thing of course, only marginally less blind than the evolutionary process that first succeeded in us. We zero in on intelligence, the one part of all this that we’ve managed to make tractable in analytical terms, and use that to bootstrap ourselves toward something that hopefully, hopefully shares all the rest. Demons summoning demons (of course it spirals out to infinity almost immediately, how could it not?), and maybe the new ones will be able to tell us what the universe is and how we happened within it. Makes sense as a strategy, I suppose.

[bleachbleachbleach]

Is Mayuri, in your opinion, an opera-playing villain or a techno-playing villain? I ask because I had a whim to listen to the Akhenaten opera and was, after being moved by the singing (I had never heard a countertenor before and the sound was so gorgeous and otherworldly whether in English, Egyptian, or sci-fi-esque vocalizing), struck by the realization that it might be a tripleBleach and/or Mayuri thing.

Mayuri is beyond genre. Like, you know how a few months ago we were talking about hearing aids and Mayuri's ear cones, and were speculating about the frequencies of sound they're tuned to? THAAAAT. When they're not tuned to the frequency of mandatory conversation, man's out here listening to ghost shrimp crackles and piecing together the aural profile of reishi itself. Not the bludgeoning soundwaves that accompany sword releases or surges of spiritual pressure, but the latent music of reishi motes holding different constellations to take the form of this material or the next; reishi as atmosphere; reishi as some quality of this universe that is not solid, liquid, gas, light, Abstract Metaphysical Quantities A-Z. It is only perceivable as sound.

That being said, Akhenaten definitely seems like a spectacle he'd be into! And if he had to choose a composer from the Living World (teeth grit, lip curling) why not Philip Glass?

I went to an undergraduate institution with a bunch of brutalist architecture and a "central campus" specifically designed to be inhospitable to large public political demonstrations, as well as a system of underground tunnels for covert political operations. Definitely the vibe you want to accompany your bioengineering flagship, LOL. Not dystopian at all! (I think normal people who walk through this school do not think of it in these terms, and consider it a very pleasant place. But THEY DON'T KNOW.) And of course, big Central 46 energy.

It also has a well-regarded contemporary music program, which is very contemporary. As one of my college-mandated cultural experiences, I once went to a piano concert that consisted of a man, every so often, hitting a discordant note or two on the piano, only to let the notes sink into prolonged silence for minutes at a time. It was like the musical equivalent of water torture, because it'd be just

a

drop, a

note, every so

often--

--always (perhaps? or maybe not) with the promise of more; and there you are, waiting, anticipating, brain pleading for a stimulation as you become fully awakened to the oppression of silence. The sublime power of silence. Pain music.

I think Mayuri would like music like that, because the brainwaves must be sublime. And I think he'd love the temporal fuckery of it all, given his fight with Szayel.

He probably makes the labs work in silence--even though it literally doesn't matter what kind of noise is coming out of them, since he can tune his cone-ears to refuse the sound, if he wanted--because, per my co-blogger (who had to attend the water torture concert with me, lol), "nothing is more monotonous than a completely silent lab."

But mostly, the mandate of silence is simply to control for variables. Some labs are doing stuff where the vibrations of sound might actually throw off data. I mean, most aren't, but all the labs are experiments in themselves, because sometimes Mayuri plays water torture music for them, for Science. Sometime he plays sounds imperceptible to any ears but his, to see if it produces any measurable, if silent, effects.

Akon plays music in the lab when Mayuri's not around, though. Anything from Millennial American rap to Beijing opera to experimental jazz to the Fast and Furious soundtracks.

#kurotsuchi mayuri #to add to the headcanons created for this post i'll say that i've written lines where akon's primary assessment of soul society music #relative to living world music is that he thinks soul society should employ more bassooons. serious lack of bassoons in soul society #asks #bleach headcanons #shinigamiology #no brain just bleach #we have almost recovered from our state of askbox shame!

[gloomiustexan]

💾

Tomorrow is our profession. Playlist here.

#tuesday_tapes #analog horror #found footage #internet horror #horror series #analogue horror #creepypasta #horror #2000s #vhs aesthetic #1999 #1990s #2001 #latent world program #local 58

[nova-dracomon]

Lucky for Me, I Run on Spite and Sweet Revenge

Originally posted on tumblr on October 27, 2022

Posted Updated Version on the Fictionkind Dreamwidth on April 11, 2024

Write about a time that your fictomere completely lost their cool, or a time that someone lost their cool about your fictomere. - 95 [Frenzy]

My strongest noema is that I dark digivolved when I had a chance for revenge against one of the royal knights.

The royal knights are an extension of the supercomputer, King Drasil, who oversees the Digital World and have sworn to do their bidding. The same King Drasil who unleashed a virus to wipe out all but 1% of Digimon. Royal knights are Digimon themselves, but they’re too powerful to dare challenge. After miraculously surviving the x-virus, I was able to escape through a small gap into the human world. No matter how angry I was at first, choosing to fight them instead would be a waste of my life. The idea of continuing to live as an act to spite god was much more appealing. On the other side, I was able to meet a human that became my partner.

I wasn’t the sole Digimon in the human world for long and apparently the little tear I used to travel between worlds wasn’t the only one. Other digimon were able to find similar gaps into the human world, so my human partner and I worked together to keep any dangerous ones at bay. As a digimon, our emotions make us. The closer our bond became, the more resolute and confident my partner was, the powerful the forms I would take. My strength was directly tied to her emotions, will and growth. Over time, we even found other human and digimon pairs that joined us. My partner was way more enthusiastic about them than I was. I never was the most social creature to begin with and time had made me jaded, but they were tolerable. They grew on me at some point.

But bitterness and resentment are like poison. I’ve had minor upsets when digivolving before, I’d be more feral/aggressive, and maybe use more force than was strictly necessary, but I wasn’t…like this. When I was finally going to hit mega, my own hatred and resentment tainted the evolution and I completely lost control. I do not know what I was supposed to become if I had a clear heart, but I transformed into holydramon x. Normally, holydramon is seen as a heroic protector. After having it’s latent powers drawn out by the x-program, it's more akin to a vengeful deity:

“Although there are no visible changes to Holydramon, who has continued to evolve throughout the history of the Digital World, the wild, draconic ferocity it had restrained has been completely drawn out. When facing evil Digimon, it smashes them to smithereens with its brutal, tremendous fighting style, and then erases them in the blink of an eye with its enormous light energy of justice (Holy Blaze), and is starting to become feared as a vengeful god.” - from wikimon.net (image is too)

After writing that last paragraph, I feel like my partner must have played a role in the evolution too. Digimon are hyper-sensitive to the emotions and wishes of humans. Was it only my heart that tainted the evolution? Was my partner filled with anger and despair over how I was treated? Am I placing all of the blame unfairly on my own shoulders? I don’t know. Either way, I doubt I helped the situation given my personality. The thought does warm my heart, not even because I “wouldn’t be totally to blame,” it’s more the thought that someone I care about was outraged on my behalf. It’s proof I wasn’t alone.

In this new form I completely lost control and attacked indiscriminately without care for the damage to the city around me, myself or anyone else from our team. Honestly, my noema gets fuzzy after actually digivolving, but I get the feeling I either lost, tied or the battle was postponed midway through. I also believe it was my partner that was able to pull me back from rampaging.

The extra wild thing I’ve discovered overtime is this became my normal mega evolution. Usually dark digivolutions are “one and done” so to speak. You have something happen, learn your lesson, and become something else, something more virtuous, next time. The more I explore my vaguetype, the more shifts and noemata I experience, I only have holydramon x for this level. When I do experience a mental shift of this digimon, it’s usually accompanied by a calm confidence. For my partner and I, I think it was more about tempering our need for vengeance with mercy and grace. We didn’t need to change who we were, the form wasn’t wrong in the broad sense of the word, but we were taking things too far and distorting them.

When I get angry in the present-day, I try to remember what she taught me. I don’t want to be that monster that defeats opponents at any cost and dies inside along the way.

- Hortense

#nova squawks #nonhuman #alterhuman #othervague #fictionfolk #described

[iliadette]

What are some reasons to actually like Spirk + Star Trek?

I'm an ORV fan but I used to watch Voyager as a kid and I've seen a one or two of the newer movies a few years back (dark something something?) I stayed away from the Star Trek fandom as an adult because I mainly associated it with racism and misogynistic nerd guys.

Hi, anon. Sorry if this ask will take a long time to appear, English is not my first language an I am bad with words on a good day.

You're probably thinking of Into Darkness. It's the second reboot movie. There's a lot of different opinions about those lmao. Personally, I love them even though they do have bad bad points, but then again, I love everything about Star Trek, even at its worst.

There's no denying that there was a bit of period-typical misogyny in the original Star Trek, and it got worse in the long run after Rick Berman was selected for production. Latent misogyny, hetero and amatonormativity, as any 60-to-90s show does. To deny that would be stupid. But.

Star Trek was one of, if not the first, tv programs to depict people of different races working together, as equal as they could get in a military-like setting, in a time when segregation and Cold War were still a thing. A Black woman, an Asian man, a Russian one, a Scottish one, all holding a major position in a government vessel, all iconic characters to this day. Censorship never let him, but Gene Roddenberry, the original creator, always intended to include queer people in ST, as I will explain better later. ‌The original series had episodes which very clearly condemned nazism, racism, the Vietnam war, genocide. The Ferengi race of the Next Generation were created to be a satire of western capitalists but were wrongly pegged as an antisemitic stereotype. If a major character is disabled, they have accomodations made for them, they don't have their disability erased, though I hear that Strange New World kind of fucked that up. An episode of TNG was in protest of conversion therapy though people didn't like how it ended. A major theme of Deep Space Nine revolves around colonialism. It had the first black protagonist (commander and later captain); the first female first officer in the franchise to have a major role, who formerly fought in a resistance movement against a the occupation of her planet by a fascist imperialist race; the first trans woman in all but designation, who btw very much kissed another woman in an absolutely iconic scene; a canonically very neurodivergent doctor. Voyager had the first female captain to star in a series. Seven of Nine's character is particularly dear to me because while it's obvious that she was added mainly to boost and entice the male audience with her sex appeal (and well, I am sapphic and far from immune), it's also obvious how much the writers and Jeri Ryan cared for her storyline and growth. She's such a complex character, I really love her. Seven-centric episodes are always a treat for me. I can't remember anything else off the top of my head, sorry abt that (I also haven't watched Enterprise and the newest series yet so I can't talk about that).

Does ST have bad moments? Misogynistic, racist, homophobic, ableist, amatonormative moments? Hell yes. Some episodes are really cringy and have very bad writing. But there are more good ones than not, and those are the ones I live for, the ones that can give you a message that stays with you, where there was somebody in the crew/cast who read the script, saw something terrible, and went "this will not pass on my watch" and worked together to fix whatever they could. I'm sorry if your experience with Star Trek was with dudebros who think "the woke of the latest series ruined the franchise".

Now, about K/S. I believe with all my heart that nobody needs a reason to ship any two or more characters together. That said, I think Spirk is one of those ships where you have to wear anti-ship goggles not to see the potential (but no big deal if you don't). They touch each other all the time, they risk their life and career multiple times to save the other. This is not inherently a sign of non platonic feelings, and they sure aren't canon as we usually mean it, but.

Writers sure had a field day sprinkling suggestive bits (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) all throughout the franchise, especially queer writers (Theodore Sturgeon, writer of Amok Time and Shore Leave, may his soul be blessed for all eternity).

Bonus for how they look at each other. (1) (2) (3) (4)

Roddenberry himself described their relationship as one of love. It's not mentioned in the series, but in the books it's revealed that they share a telepathic bond that connects their souls, which in Vulcan culture is called t'hy'la which can mean "friend, brother, lover". This definition was created specifically for the two of them, so this is a very obvious wink/nudge, if not an outright acknowledgement that "yes they're in love, but homophobia exists so this is all we can do."

In The Motion Picture when Kirk looks at Spock like a lovesick puppy after a long separation, and the simple feeling not much later.

And can anyone dare to say that those death scenes from The Wrath of Khan and Into Darkness are supposed to be platonic, or what Kirk says about Spock at the beginning of The Search for Spock, that his death feels like he lost "the noblest part of his soul"? And what about "Not in front of the Klingons"??

The books, too, have some very interesting nuance.

Sooooo yeah I absolutely think that Spirk is and will always be the one ship that best comes to mind when it comes to ST. In my eyes and in those of a lot of people they're canon in every way that matters, and if either of them had been female there would have 100% been a marriage in one of the movies, à la Riker/Troi. They'll forever be my ST otp, though I'll occasionally indulge a little bit of Spones and McSpirk. I could even like and reblog other ships like McKirk or Spuhura but only in fanart and only in moderation. I personally wouldn't be interested in reading fanfiction about those. But every ship is valid and equal in fandom, and none is superior just because it's canon and/or had a major role in the birth of shipping culture. Which is the very point all this behemoth of a post originated from, I guess.

This.... Has turned into way more than I thought. Sorry about thay. I hope my answer was satisfactory, anon. Also that I didn't bore you. Hope you have a great day, and thank you for reaching out. ❤️🖖

#star trek #k/s #spirk #anon ask #long post #personal #meta #ish #i think this was coherent

[ancicntforged]

"I forgive but I will never, ever forget. Don’t mistake my kindness for gullibility."

-Seraphina

General Info:

Name: Seraphina Title: Headmaster of Wysteria Academy Nickname: Sera Occupation: Teacher, Headmaster Affiliation: Wysteria Academy Age: 13'250 Race: High Elf Gender: Female Height: 170 cm Eye Color: Icy Blue Hair Color: Blonde Misc: Nice legs, daisy duke.

Personality;

Seraphina can be described as both elegant and intellectual, with an air of enigmatic charm that captivates those around her. She carries herself with a poise that commands respect, yet there's a warmth in her demeanor that makes her approachable to students and faculty alike. Her smile is known to put at ease even the most anxious first-year students, and her laughter is a rare melody that resonates through the halls of Wysteria Academy.

At the core of Seraphina’s ethos is a deeply rooted belief in the potential of every individual. She possesses an innate ability to see the latent talent within each person, often before they see it themselves. This insight drives her dedication to fostering a nurturing and supportive environment at the academy. She is patient and kind, yet when the situation calls for it, she can exhibit a firm resolve that assures all that the academy is under capable stewardship.

Seraphina’s intelligence is not merely academic; it is also emotional. She is attuned to the needs and sentiments of the academy’s diverse population, demonstrating an empathetic understanding that transcends cultural and dimensional boundaries. Her counsel is sought by many, not just for her magical expertise but also for her wise guidance on personal matters.

Creative and thoughtful, Seraphina often surprises the academy with her innovative ideas for new programs and magical endeavors. She is a visionary, always looking to the horizon for ways to expand the realm of the possible. Her passion for knowledge is infectious, and she instills in her students a hunger for learning that goes beyond textbooks and spellcraft.

Despite her many responsibilities, she never appears hurried. Seraphina believes in the power of balance, finding time for quiet reflection amidst her busy schedule. She champions the idea that a sound mind and a peaceful heart are the wellsprings of true power.

She is best described as the soul of Wysteria Academy, embodying its values and inspiring its community. Her leadership is not just a position she holds but a journey she shares with every soul that walks through the academy's enchanted doors.

Backstory:

In a secluded corner of an unknown dimension where the veils between worlds are thin and the essence of magic pervades every gust of wind and blade of grass, Seraphina was born under an auspicious alignment of stars. Her early years were spent in the verdant groves of Elysian Fields, a realm known for its scholars and sages. She was the daughter of two renowned magicians, who nurtured her innate curiosity and encouraged her to view the world not just as it was, but as it could be.

Seraphina's thirst for knowledge was insatiable. Even as a child, she exhibited an exceptional aptitude for magic and learning. She would spend hours in her parents' expansive library, her small fingers tracing the ancient runes on the spines of books as old as the dimension itself. Her favorite pastime was to sit at the feet of visiting scholars and dimensional travelers as they recounted tales of distant worlds, each story igniting a spark in her young mind.

As she grew, so did her abilities and her reputation. By the age of ten, she had mastered spells that some seasoned practitioners had yet to conquer. Her parents, recognizing her prodigious talents, enlisted the tutelage of the finest teachers from across dimensions. These mentors came with knowledge that transcended the conventional, teaching her not only the intricacies of high magic but also the delicate art of interdimensional diplomacy and the importance of ethical leadership.

Seraphina's upbringing was unconventional. Her education was not confined within the walls of any single institution; the entirety of the multiverse was her classroom. She learned to harness the energies of the cosmos, to commune with ethereal entities, and to tap into the latent power that lay within her.

Her relentless pursuit of knowledge was driven by a profound desire to understand the deeper truths of existence and to harness this understanding for the betterment of all. This desire was not rooted in ambition for power or prestige, but in a genuine compassion for the living beings that shared the tapestry of the multiverse with her.

The turning point came when Seraphina, barely past her teenage years, discovered an ancient tome that spoke of a forgotten dimension—a place where the greatest minds of countless worlds gathered to share knowledge and wisdom. The tome was incomplete, the location of this mythical academy lost to time. Driven by a vision for a place of communal learning and the betterment of magical practice, Seraphina set out on her greatest quest: to rediscover this lost dimension and to restore it to its former glory.

This quest would see her traverse the most obscure corners of the multiverse, from the chaotic mists of the Aetherwilds to the crystalline caverns of the Illuminarium. It was a journey fraught with challenges that tested her resolve, her intellect, and her magical prowess. Yet, with each trial, Seraphina's resolve only strengthened, and her vision for a place of universal learning—a sanctuary for scholars and magicians—became clearer.

Seraphina's journey to establish Wysteria Academy was marked not just by her pursuit of knowledge, but also by her deep desire to create a sanctuary for learning, where individuals from all dimensions could come together to share and grow in their magical and scholarly pursuits.

After years of traversing the multiverse, seeking wisdom and allies, Seraphina finally unearthed the location of the lost dimension that housed the original Wysteria Academy, a place long thought to be a myth. She discovered the remnants of the once-great institution, shrouded in the mists of time and neglect. Undeterred, she saw not ruins, but a foundation upon which she could build her vision.

Using her mastery of magic and her connections across various realms, Seraphina began the arduous task of restoring the academy. She summoned architects from the Plane of Elemental Earth for their unparalleled skill in stone masonry, and librarians from the Chronal Archives to replenish the academy's once-vast collection of books and scrolls. With her own hands and spells, she rebuilt the academy's walls, infused the grounds with protective enchantments, and planted the gardens that would become the academy's living heart.

As word of her endeavor spread, beings from all corners of the multiverse began to arrive, drawn by the promise of a place where knowledge knew no bounds. Some came to teach, bringing with them the wisdom of countless worlds. Others came to learn, eager to explore the vast depths of magical and mundane studies that the academy offered.

Under Seraphina's guidance, Wysteria Academy grew not just in size, but in reputation. It became a nexus of cultural and intellectual exchange, where ideas and knowledge from diverse dimensions intersected. She established exchange programs with other magical institutions, and soon, the academy was not just a center of learning, but a bridge between worlds, fostering understanding and unity among different realms.

Seraphina also ensured that the academy was self-sustaining. She created magical systems that harnessed natural energies, ensuring that the academy would always be a haven, unaffected by the strife and turmoil that might plague other realms. The academy’s self-sufficiency also served as a living lesson to the students, teaching them the importance of harmony with nature and responsible use of magic.

Yet, Seraphina's vision went beyond academic excellence. She fostered a community where each individual, regardless of their background, could find belonging and purpose. She implemented councils composed of both faculty and students to ensure that every voice was heard and every concern addressed, creating a culture of inclusivity and respect.

As years passed, Seraphina watched with pride as her students graduated and ventured forth, carrying with them the lessons and values they had learned. They became ambassadors of Wysteria Academy's ideals, spreading knowledge and goodwill across dimensions, and many returned as teachers or benefactors, eager to give back to the place that had shaped their lives and destinies.

Abilities & Weapons:

Arcane Mastery: Seraphina possesses an exceptional command over arcane magic, capable of complex spellwork that can alter the very fabric of reality.

Dimensional Travel: She can navigate between dimensions with ease, often using this ability to access rare sources of knowledge and to invite distinguished individuals to Wysteria Academy.

Elemental Control: Her control over the elemental forces is nuanced and powerful, allowing her to manipulate air, fire, earth, water, and aether to her will.

Enchantment and Artifice: She is skilled in enchanting objects and creating magical artifacts, some of which are used throughout the academy as learning tools or for maintaining its grounds.

Chronomancy: With a refined understanding of time magic, Seraphina can manipulate temporal flows in localized areas, though she uses this ability sparingly and with great caution.

Telepathy and Mental Fortitude: She can communicate telepathically and is adept at shielding her mind against intrusions, making her an excellent mediator and strategist.

Illusionism: Her illusions are intricate and vivid, often used for educational purposes or to protect the academy through concealment and misdirection.

Transmutation: Seraphina has the ability to transmute materials, which she uses to great effect in alchemy and magical construction.

Healing Magic: She possesses a profound knowledge of magical healing techniques, capable of mending wounds that are beyond mundane aid.

Magical Flora and Fauna: She has a special affinity for magical creatures and plants, able to communicate with and nurture them in ways that few others can.

Magical Education and Pedagogy: Beyond her practical abilities, Seraphina has a deep understanding of magical theory and education, allowing her to craft a curriculum that brings out the potential in each student.

Protective Wards: Her skill in crafting protective wards is unmatched, ensuring that Wysteria Academy remains a safe haven for all who dwell within.

Seraphina's weapon of choice is a spellsword, an amalgamation of a wand and a sword, which serves as a conduit for her vast magical powers. This extraordinary blade, known as the Arcanum Edge, is a testament to her expertise in both combat and sorcery.

Capabilities:

Spell Channeling: The Arcanum Edge can channel Seraphina's spells through its blade, casting with precision and amplifying the effects of her magic.

Adaptive Combat: The weapon can adjust its weight and balance to suit Seraphina's needs, making it a perfect extension of her will in battle.

Elemental Infusion: At her command, the spellsword can be imbued with elemental energies, wreathing the blade in flames, frost, electricity, or other forces.

Protective Enchantments: The sword is endowed with protective spells that can deflect magical attacks or create barriers of force.

Telekinetic Control: Seraphina can wield the Arcanum Edge with her mind, allowing for remote combat and the ability to attack from unexpected angles.

Sentience: The spellsword possesses a degree of sentience, capable of responding to Seraphina's thoughts and acting in harmony with her combat style.

Dimensional Rifts: With a swing, the blade can tear through the fabric of dimensions, allowing for rapid escapes or the summoning of allies and objects.

Rune Activation: By activating specific runes on the blade, Seraphina can unleash devastating spells or seal away powerful entities.

Trivia:

-Celestial Conductor: Seraphina’s birth coincided with a rare celestial event known as the "Astral Convergence." It is said that this alignment of stars and planets endowed her with an innate ability to channel celestial energies, contributing to her exceptional magical prowess. Students often speculate that her spells gain an extra surge of power when similar celestial events occur.

-Herbal Tea Enthusiast: Among her more personal and lesser-known interests, Seraphina is an avid collector of teas from various dimensions. Each type of tea in her collection offers different magical properties, such as enhancing focus or calming turbulent magical energies. She enjoys hosting tea ceremonies for the faculty, which are subtly infused with spells to promote collegial harmony.

-Master of Forgotten Magics: Students often speculate that Seraphina has mastered several ancient and nearly forgotten magics. She occasionally references these archaic practices in her advanced lectures, hinting at a depth of knowledge that extends far beyond the standard curriculum and suggesting that she has explored magics that many believed were lost to time.

-i'll prolly add more if i ever come up with anything or any interesting headcanon asks come my way

#;Wysteria Headmaster | Seraphina #cyverse #long post #bio #profile #its been like five years since i last made an elf oc #and the random names like Elysian Fields or Aetherwilds i just used a random fantasy name generator lmaoo #some are just very on the nose like the Chronal Wizards

[sebeth]

Who's Who In The DC Universe #1: The Atom I, The Atom II, The Atomic Knight, The Atomic Skull, Auron

The Atom I by Rick Hoberg & Romeo Tanghal

The “original 98-lb. weakling, Al Pratt bought dinner for a drunken vagabond who turned out to be Joe Morgan, a former boxing champ

Morgan put Pratt through an intensive training and exercise program

Pratt chose to become a costumed crime-fighter instead of pursuing a boxing career

Atom gained “atomic strength” from an encounter with Cyclotron in 1948

The Atom was a charter member of the Justice Society and later joined the All-Star Squadron

The Atom retired after the JSA’s breakup in the 1950s

He later became a professor of nuclear physics and married a woman named Mary

Al’s godson is Nuklon  (aka Atom-Smasher) of Infinity Inc

He remains mostly retired but will don the costume when duty calls

The Atom made frequent appearances in the various Justice Society series and in All-Star Squadron. Damage (Grant Emerson) was later revealed to be Al Pratt’s long-lost son. If I remember correctly, Atom died in the Zero Hour mini-series so he never encountered Grant. I am unsure of the explanation behind the disappearance of Al & Marys son or how Grant ended up in the bad guy’s custody.

The Atom II by Gi Kane

Ray Palmer was a graduate student trying to find a way to reduce matter in an effort to aid farmers in increasing their yield. Ray discovered white dwarf matter was needed to successfully reduce objects.

Palmer shrunk himself in order to free himself and others from a cave-in.

Ray became a professor at Ivy University and the hero known as the Atom.

Palmer married Jean Loring but the duo later divorced.

Ray and Jean told their story to author Norman Brawler, ending Ray’s secret identity.

Ray suffered adverse health effects due to years of exposure to white dwarf matter.

He currently lives with an alien culture located somewhere in South America, permanently remaining at his six-inch size. The aliens are around six inches in height.

I’ve always loved Ray – a likable, relatable genius. “The Sword of the Atom” was the mini-series/special where Ray moves to South America. He fell in love with one of the aliens (I can’t remember her name) but their love was doomed when loggers (I think) destroyed the alien civilization, causing her death.

Ray returned to America, solved his shrinking health-related issues, and resumed his heroic adventures.

The 2000s were not friendly to Ray. Jean, his ex-wife, decided to murder Sue Dibny, among others, for…reasons. Ray became a shrunken recluse allowing Ryan Choi to become the third atom. Donna Troy, Jason Todd, and Kyle Rayner searched the multiverse for Ray Palmer for…reasons. Jean Loring became Eclipso and a Black Lantern and murdered more people for…reasons. Ryan Choi, a delightful character, was murdered for…reasons causing Ray to resume the mantle of Atom.

Did DC have to murder Ryan? DC has dozens of speedsters, kryptonians and Bat Family members. I think the universe can handle two Atoms.

…reasons = bad storylines I can’t be bothered to remember the details of.

Ray has had multiple solo titles and is a long-standing member of the Justice League.

Ray has appeared in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon and made multiple appearances in CW’s Arrowverse, most notably the Legends of Tomorrow series.

The Atomic Knight by Murphy Anderson

Gardner Grayle was an army sergeant who was placed in a sensory deprivation tank and subjected to a series of simulations, studying his response to nuclear war and its aftermath

Grayle tapped into his latent telepathic abilities and took over the simulations and the staff

He fantasized beyond a nuclear war, instead conjuring up a fantasy where he and a group of others wore radiation-proof suits of armor. The Atomic Knights helped restore order to post World-War III America.

The fantasies expanded to include an appearance by the mythological Hercules

Grayle fell in love with Marene Herald, a psychiatrist attached to the project and included her in his fantasies

Superman discovered the project when Grayle’s fantasies began reshaping reality. Superman shut down the project and freed Grayle from the tank.

The sergeant had to re-adjust to life in the real world and Marlene’s real place in his life.

Grayle joined S.T.A.R. Labs and use his precognitive abilities to prevent catastrophes

Grayle occasionally dons a suit of armor, stolen from the army, and goes into action as the Atomic Knight

The only Atomic Knight(s) I’ve read was their appearance in the Convergence Legion Of Super-Heroes mini-series. I will say, if I was stuck in a sensory deprivation tank and subjected to a series of post-Nuclear War scenarios, I too would create my own fantasy world.

The Atomic Skull by Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson

Albert Michaels was a director of S.T.A.R. who suffered from a rare nervous disorder that short-circuited the electrical impulses of his brain.

Michaels stole his own inventions from S.T.A.R. and turned them over to SKULL, where he quickly became the leader

Skull attempted to cure Michaels by implanting a neural pacemaker made of radium in his brain.

The implant malfunctioned, mutating Michaels’ brain waves into a new form of energy

The Atomic Skull is a C – D level Superman villain. He did make a few appearances in the Justice League Unlimited cartoon.

Auron

Kidnapped by the Psions, the Okaaran woman X-Hal was forced to take part in a genetic experiment and was mated with a Branx warrior. The mating produced two children, one who became the first Citadelian, the other the being called Lambien.

The Citadelian left Okaara when X’Hal went mad and destroyed three of Vega’s 25 planets in her fury.

Lambien was raised by X’Hal once the Warlords of Okaara found a way to harness the incredible power granted her by the Psions’ experiment.

Lambien received some of X’Hal’s powers and appointed himself the guardian of Okarra

Lambien later joined the Omega Men

His power continued to grow and though he feared he may become as insane as his mother, he retained his sanity

Lambien changed his name to Aurion

Aurion and the Omega Men destroyed a Gordian fleet of Citadel slavers on earth and then returned to Vega, where they helped end the Citadel tyranny.

If you are a fan of the Wolfman/Perez era of the Teen Titans, a few of these names should be familiar even if you’ve never read an issue of Omega Men. The Citadel and the Warlords of Okaara feature in the origin of Starfire. And Kori swears by “X’Hal” in almost every Titans issue. Marv Wolfman is the creator of the Omega Men and Starfire which is why he can interweave the story elements between the two series. Starfire debuted in late 1980 and the Omega Men in mid-1981.

I’ve never read the 1980s Omega Men series (it’s on my TBR list as I’ve heard it is excellent). I have read many of the other appearances of the Omega Men from the 1980s to present day – their Teen Titans appearances, the Invasion, the Adam Strange, Rann-Thanagar War, and Tom King mini-series and I can’t recall Auron featuring in any of them.

Love the Omega Men, they’re a fun group.

#dc comics #dcu #atom #al pratt #ray palmer #atomic knight #atomic skull #auron #omega men #teen titans #starfire #marv wolfman #who's who in the dc universe

[not-a-space-alien]

I'm convinced that the prevalence of discussion board assignments in higher education in modern times is doing a disservice to the next generation of professionals and making us all actively worse at writing. It trains participants to write to meet a minimum word count by padding everything with meaningless fluff and repetition, creating essentially the academic version of purple prose, instead of giving us ample opportunity to practice writing concisely and with purpose.

The idea of "how long should it be?" "Long enough to get the job done" as directions is completely foreign to my generation and we haven't been given the tools to judge what sorts of scale is appropriate for what projects because of this. And it'll always result in us writing way, way too much and putting in a lot of effort that is not only wasted, but makes the results actively worse because we're scared it won't be enough for the unknowable, judging eye, because we're writing to meet an assignment requirement and not to meet a project goal. Even outside of school assignments, because that's all we've ever been taught to do.

Which is a criticism that applies to a lot of school assignments, but... I think discussion boards are uniquely training students in higher ed to be in a world of hurt after graduation, because in my experience so far the entire world outside of the classroom revolves around the principle of I'm Not Fucking Reading All That. And if you don't PAINFULLY streamline everything as much as possible for everyone around you all the time, you will have less effective communications, because no one is going to Read All That.

The way that people talk on discussion boards after they hear the sleeper activation phrase "discussion board" that activates their latent programming to talk in a way nobody ever talks in real life, isn't practice for anything, except maybe more discussion boards in the future.