#apl discussion

[lovelessrage]

Reminder that deconstructing the prioritization of romance doesn't mean creating new pedestals for friendship and other types of relationship! Levelling the playing field means levelling out all of it. I've reblogged posts about it and made my own before, but aros do have a major platonormativity problem, and it won't go away on its own. There needs to be an active effort in understanding platonormativity and how aro communities can play into it.

Aplatonic aros are here and we're not going away. Siding with platonormativity and openly agreeing with it doesn't make us go away. It just makes us feel unsafe around spaces we should be welcomed into, and devalues our aro experience.

[evil-aro-ace]

Being aplatonic (and plato repulsed) SUCKS

like no aspec pride posts are towards me, it's all for alloplato folk!

ik people dont have to include us but it's actually hell to take pride in being aroace spec & interact with posts for people who are, when everyone presumes you MUST highly value plato shit

[infiniteorangethethird]

Recently found out about loveless people and still kinda looking into it but got some questions, if that’s alright? No pressure at all!! 😅

I assume they vary from person to person on all these an maybe don’t make too much sense but!! Does being loveless mean a lack of desire to have any connection with people? Like not really wanting friends an that jazz. Also is it a lack of care as well? I don’t know if that ties in with empathy or not. Can (or is there any real want to) loveless people still feel deep bonds with others, even if it wouldn’t be really love in any fashion?

Hi, apologies for the wait! I don't mind you asking at all, I actually much prefer people asking questions instead of just assuming things they don't know.

Like you said, these things tend to vary from person to person, so I can really only speak from my own experiences, but I'll try to answer your questions the best I can!

For some people, being loveless can absolutely mean a lack of desire for connections, but it's definitely not the case for everyone in the community. I, for instance, still like to have friends I can connect with - friends I can share my hobbies with, friends I can talk to about blorbo from my shows, friends I can lend a hand to if they need help and friends that can help me if I am in trouble. The only difference (for me at least) is that I don't really desire the other person, so to speak, rather the shared experiences themselves. I still like spending time with people, I just don't care much who the other person is so long as we are having fun.

Since love, at the end of the day, is just one of the many emotions humans are capable of feeling, I do think it's very much possible to form deep bonds with others based on emotions outside of love. To me, for instance, trust is a key factor in friendships (and relationships in general) - I can't be friends with someone I cannot trust, and I definitely feel a close bond with people who I deeply trust. And I do desire to have deep, trusting bonds with people, to have people in my life I know I can share anything with, even if I don't necessarily love the other person.

Of course, there very well could be loveless people out there who specifically call themselves loveless because they cannot form the deep bonds most people would associate with love, and that's still fair, too. It very much depends on the person and how they define love for themselves. ("Not wanting friends at all" probably falls closer to the aplatonic identity, but there's definitely overlap between the two, and again, it depends on the person.)

As for a lack of care, it's... complicated, for me at least. Most loveless people will reject the notion that being loveless also makes you an uncaring asshole, which I do agree with. A common example they bring up is that if you help a stranger you met on the street, you would do it not because you love them, but because you can still care about other people's wellbeing, even without loving them. (I would even say that it's very important to still care for people even when you don't love them.)

However I do think that for me, being loveless affects the way I care about people. From what I can tell most loving people's care tends to be person-centric - I know you, I love you, and I want you specifically to be well and happy. For me it's more about a general drive to help people when I can and to avoid hurting others as best as possible - you are a person, I want you to be well and happy, but I also know you, which means I am better equipped to help you than a random stranger.

I'm fairly sure similar things could be applied to low/no empathy as well. I'm both loveless and have low empathy, so these two are definitely working together to color my experiences, but they are not the same. Whether it's the empathy part that "makes me this way" or the loveless part, I'm not sure.

As I said, experiences can vary among loveless people, and I definitely encourage listening to different people with different experiences if you want to get a fuller picture. (I also encourage my fellow loveless folk to share their experiences in the tags and reblogs!)

Thank you for the question and I hope I could help!

[proxolagist]

it’s honestly painful seeing the annual ‘are aros/aces/apls valid’ argument get kicked up every year. right before pride month too??

[aplatonic-alpaca]

Aplatonic Asks 🍏

What aplatonic labels and terminology do you use?

Is there any intersection with your aplatonic identity and other identities you have?

Thoughts on apples? Red or green?

Thoughts on apple juice? What about apple cider?

Have you ever tried a candy apple? Thoughts on artifical green apple flavor?

Have you come out to anyone as aplatonic? Have you discussed aplatonicism with anyone outside of aplatonic communities?

How did you realize you were aplatonic?

How did you first learn about the term "aplatonic"?

If you do want friends, describe your ideal friendship. If you don't want friends, describe your ideal support system.

(A) If applicable, talk about the successful and comfortable friendships you've had. What is it like for you to navigate friendship as an aplatonic? (B) If you don't have, want, or prefer friends, talk a little about the other kinds of relationships in your life that you deem important. Outside of relationships, what makes you happy and comfortable in life? What's it like to navigate life without friends?

Is there anything that makes you feel plato-repulsed?

Thoughts on the "power of friendship" trope? And other similar platonic-heavy tropes and stories?

What do you wish alloplatonics understood about being aplatonic?

What would you want to see highlighted in aplatonic awareness aimed at alloplatonics and questioning apls?

What would you want to see in aplatonic representation in media and/or fandom?

Do you have any aplatonic headcanons?

Has there been any media and/or characters that you could relate to as an aplatonic?

Any aplatonic-friendly media recommendations? Any media you recommend that aplatonics avoid?

[aro-culture-is]

aromantic aplatonic culture is being frustrated that although people seem to understand that the aromantic community includes people who don't just not feel romantic attraction, but also cannot form romantic attachments at all, and yet i havent seen anyone discuss aplatonics without clarifying that aplatonics can indeed form platonic attachments, they just dont experience platonic attraction, which is untrue of at least one aplatonic person.

and whatever the equivalent of non-partnering for aplatonics culture is making sure your friends are eating enough, buying and hand-making them gifts, talking them through their mental health struggles, spending days and nights making each other laugh, and not being remotely bothered by the prospect of never seeing them again so long as you have no reason to think they arent doing just fine without you.

yeah for sure! i think it's something we don't talk about a lot because our system has mostly alloplatonic or what we refer to at least as demiplatonic alters, we don't feel connected very well to apl stuff. we'd love to boost more apl voices on this blog, we just don't want to speak over or for a community we don't know, you know?

(also i think we've seen that referred to as friending and non-friending apls?)

[papercranesandpride]

As much as having more people who are aware of and understand aplatonicism would be nice... God am I glad that our community is small and unknown enough that the whole "are cis perisex heteroromantic heterosexual aplatonics queer" discourse hasn't happened yet. I imagine that sometimes, and there is no way that will go over well or with most people actually supporting us.

Which is a shame, because that could lead to some important discussion. The short answer is "yes because aplatonicism goes against social norms and thus is inherently queer," but we can go deeper. I'd argue there's a unique level of queerness possessed by allorose aplatonics because of how that impacts their sexual/romantic relationships.

People in the aromantic community like to talk a lot about how romantic partners are treated as the be-all and end-all of all relationships and that they're supposed to fill all your needs, but that isn't actually true, especially not in hetero relationships. Think about "girls nights" and "boys nights." There are plenty of feminine or masculine topics that society says your opposite gender spouse isn't supposed to care about and you're supposed to save for your friends. If you don't have friends, or don't care about them? That is going to change your experience of and expectations of that relationship. While partners are viewed as the most important part of a support system in amatonormative society, there's still a level that's viewed as "too much." If you don't have friends, just your romantic partner, you're probably going to be viewed as "clingy" or "weird" or "codependent," even if you do in fact have actual healthy boundaries.

Anyway, I could probably elaborate on this more, but a) that's really not my place given that I'm very aromantic, and b) I'm kind of tired. But I did at least want to restart/amplify this discussion because while I see alloromantic aplatonics bringing it up sometimes, it never gets very much traction. I assume that's because of how many aro apls there are and how closely linked those communities are. Which is a shame, given aplatonicism was coined by an alloromantic and I think the experiences of alloro apls are uniquely interesting and important.

[arowithwood]

Is it going to be annoying if I ask 3 aplatonic ask questions? Eh, whatever. I want to know 15, 17, and 6. And you can always ignore one if that's too many

Ah, no that’s absolutely fine!

6 - Have you come out to anyone as aplatonic? Have you discussed aplatonicism with anyone outside of aplatonic communities?

I haven’t come out to anyone, no. To be honest I haven’t even come out about being aro either except for a handful of people, and I don’t think they’d appreciate me coming out as aplspec to them because I do mostly consider them my friends and they might be put off by my explanation of “every once in a while I feel literally no platonic attraction to anyone, not even you”. I’d like to come out someday but that’s probably not going to happen for the next few years sadly. I have briefly discussed aplatonicism with other people as far as I can remember, but that was with another aspec on tumblr.

15 - What would you like to see in aplatonic representation in media and/or fandoms?

I think I’d like to see a story set from the point of view of an aplatonic person, where they meet and build a support group in a situation without the expectation that they’ll become and stay friends once the situation is sorted. Maybe they still talk once in a while after it’s all passed, but they’re fine with being occasional acquaintances. I think there was a post going round a couple of years ago or last year talking about like a fantasy/superhero group made of apls who went their own separate ways without becoming found family? Yeah that kind of thing.

17 - Has there been any media and/or characters that you could relate to as an aplatonic?

Nothing comes immediately to my mind, but if something does then I’ll add to this :)

[aplatonicism]

Hello, I have a topic in concrete that I have being thinking about it for a long time is how society tends to idealize emotional vulnerability in general, particularly on women due to the cultural ideal that women have emotionally available, emotionally vulnerable and should be giving eternal emotional support. As someone who is apl and a woman, I always felt pressured to create overly close friends from a young age, especially in my country where friendships are highly valued, and every time I opened up emotionally to someone in friendships I never felt better even if I technically got validated. If anything, I ended up regretting and putting a significant amount distance from them. Looking back, it’s simply not the kind of emotional intimacy that I thrive and if anything it make me feel pressured to reciprocate in a type of relationship that is unwanted. Perhaps, I’ll never drive on any kind of emotional intimacy and that’s okay for me. Reflecting on this topic of emotional vulnerability , I couldn’t help but notice that there’s very little to no discussions of the downsides of vulnerability in general such as having it rejected, having it used against you, or simply regretting for a variety of reasons and when there’s discussion is often shut down or accused of emotional unavailability (as if being emotionally unavailable is a moral failing when in reality is neutral on itself). In addition, I notice that most relationships types emotional vulnerability is seen as mandatory in order to work and I can’t help but wonder if there’s a relationship model where emotional vulnerability can be completely absent or simply not required.

Hey pal, thank you for sharing your perspective here.

I very much agree with you. The demand for emotional availability, emotional intimacy and vulnerability, especially from people who are perceived as women in our society is exhausting.

When I think about it, being exhausted by that demand for emotional intimacy, along with not understanding the boundaries between social intimacy and sexual intimacy encompasses a lot of my thoughts about my own aplatonicism.

As for "a relationship model where emotional vulnerability can be completely absent or simply not required", please don't take this as flippant, because I mean it very sincerely-

That type of relationship sounds to me a lot like how I understand culturally normal (so called toxically masculine) "bros" friendship between two men to exist. People who know and hang out with one another without any expectation of vulnerability.

[aspechc]

This blog is for sharing any of your aspec and aspec-related headcanons about your favourite media!

What we are about:

Hearing your headcanons and thoughts related to aspec identities. Whether it's about a canonical aroace character, a character you think is apl, or how you imagine how being agender works in a fantasy culture! Any aspec and any headcanon for any work is allowed.

This includes both positive and negative experiences, family friendly and adult ideas. Do you like to believe that couple is in a wonderful happy QPR? Great! Do you have a thesis on the internalized aphobia of your aceflux blorbo? Also great! Anything potentially upsetting or age-inappropriate for minors will be tagged.

Celebrating each other's creativity and experiences. This blog is all about allowing people to express themselves and communicate. You can submit your ideas in any manner you like, whether that's an essay, a meme, recommendations, or anything else. Feel free to reply to or add on to other's ideas as long as you're respectful, and show your love to your favourite headcanons! Even if you don't agree, show your admiration for their creativity!

Learning and being open-minded. There are so many a-spectrums, no one person knows them all or has experience with them all. There's as many aspec experiences as there are aspecs! If you don't understand something take a moment to learn or ask.

What we are NOT about:

Bigotry, in-fighting, or harassment. Full stop, you will not be entertained or tolerated, end of discussion. Nor will we entertain "headcanons" that are clearly veiled bigotry or in-fighting.

Venting, complaining, or antagonizing. There's plenty of fandom spaces for non-aspec topics, and plenty of aspec spaces for discussing negativity and fandom issues. This one is for sharing joy, creativity, and camaraderie. Though the headcanons may get dark or angsty, we're here to have fun.

Debating validity. Some people may have headcanons you disagree with. Some may use labels you don't know or understand.. This isn't about establishing the truest headcanon or most correct way to identify, this is about expression. Remember that there's always other people behind a post, sharing part of themselves. Others will see media and identity different from you, and that's a good thing, and there's no limit to how many headcanons there can be.

If you break any of these rules you will be blocked and/or your ask or submissions deleted. If you harass anyone you will be blocked and reported.

I wanted to create this blog after experiencing camaraderie over aspec headcanons in my own fandom, while seeing aspecs in other fandoms only coming together in negativity around how their fandoms treat aspec characters or headcanons. So, regardless of your prior experiences, here is a space to enjoy yourselves and put negativity to the side for a little while. To not think about others who would put you down, but to indulge in aspec fandom with people who are equally appreciative.

[saleintothe90s]

506. The Sunday Salespapers, December 4, 1988, part 2

(part 1)

Win a cute lil wagon or a big scary wagon.

You guys, its ~our coffee~ in holiday packaging!

This obviously has nothing to do with the holidays, unless you make hamburgers for 40 as part of your Christmas Eve, I just had to share this giant keg o ketchup. 32 oz! That's two more ounces than the Stanley I put my iced espresso and cream in so I can sip on it all day.

We have our first silly goose! You know, the folk art geese everybody's moms wanted in the late 80s into the early 90s. Their kerchiefs always had to be blue and white! Also, sorry, but I'm not giving my cats mysterious drops to change their smell of their poops.

I need to know this tasted. What is simethicone.

oh. This. this was the collection of terrible secret santa presents. Except for you cat mug, you can stay. I had that brass jewelry rack! I had it with my Barbie stuff and Ariel's hair got tangled up in it.

I have never considered broccoli in a dip until I saw this. You would have to cut the broccoli up teeny tiny for it to be dip-aple, I'm guessing. A little smaller than broccoli cheese soup size, I guess.

I am flabbergasted at how cheap this Caboodle at Treasury Drug was. This is an early model that looks more like the Plano tacklebox it was descended from.

This order form for an engraved Parker pen is insane. Why couldn't you just fill out the form, choose the pen you want, what you want the pen to say, include a check and send it off. Why did you have to buy the pen, take the ink refill out of the pen, make sure you keep the box it came in, fill out the form and send all that off. Also I didn't know that Popples were also footballs.

WOAH. WOAH WOA. My dad was a firefighter and I'm sure if mom n dad had the money back then, I would of had this.

Again, not Christmas, but on everybody's home recorded tape of a Pee Wee Christmas, there is a commercial for this toothpaste on it.

I wouldn't be able to make my mind up on what sheet set I would want. Alf or Garfield, Alf or Garfield.

Ok, who didn't have or didn't know someone who had this.

The Kiblan cat sheets! Kiblan stuff goes for so much $$$ on eBay. I was wondering why that Mickey pillow looked so familiar, then I remembered it was in a law office commercial when I was a kid! It was on fire! Something about how the law offices were responsible for fire retardant toys and children's pajamas? I know I have the commercial on one of my tapes a local friend sent me. Just can't find it right now.

More Silly Geese and the house they lived in!

Even MORE. Also tablecloths and tables my mom most definitely had. I love how the rugs are described as "kitchen slices".

Man, Bradlees was home of the Silly Geese.

I only share this bride because she reminds me of Markie Post.

I wonder if those California Raisins keychains from Pep Boys are leftover figures from the Hardees promotion. Big oof on the front facing Alf.

It is 2024 and I want Alf pajamas back. I had an Alf nightgown where Alf discusses how much he loves cats.

I had those lil Oliver shoes!

I also had some flocked Oliver toys from Sears that had amazing detail. (source)

SEARS, what were you doing selling an ear piercing kit.

I love that a New Yorker esque comic was used for Crispix.

You tellin' me there's no Hawaiian Punch in these Tutti Frutti cookies?!

This is one of my most missed foods. Matt from the Purple Stuff Podcast always brings up the commercials that gave people the idea of of McNuggets as a holiday party food . This is my idea of a holiday food for an 80s holiday party held at someone's giant house in the suburbs.

Again, not related to Christmas, but to childhood. Did anybody else's first grade teacher make you bring a bottle of this soap to school on the first day? We used it for the sink in the classroom. Was that just my mean first grade teacher, Mrs. Bailey?

We had the ornament of the couple on the sled with the horse!

We laughed at winning an almond orchard back in 1988, but could you imagine how much it would potentially be worth in 2024 with all the almond milk yall be drinking?!

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[aplatonic-culture-is]

friending aplatonic culture is someone you've known since 7th grade asking you if you know what "aplatonic" is (and you, having known you were apl since sophomore year of high school, saying yes), and them coming out as demiplatonic

and after some discussion, you ask "so, knowing all this, do you want to be friends?"

AND THEY SAID YES!!! AAAAAA

quite literally the one person now who i actually, genuinely consider a friend instead of just saying "yeah sure we're friends" because i feel like i'm forced to or else people will think i'm an asshole when i just. don't feel the connection at all.

:D

[eldorr]

Cosmicqueer

With symbol (left), Without symbol (right)

Cosmicqueer is a Queer Stance where one is highly opinionated, aka me. Similar to Critinclus and other such terms. I just wanted a term for my beliefs because I saw some stuff that REALLY annoyed me the other night so here we are.

Cosmisqueer is PRO:

Non-traumagenic systems (aka systems of any kind)

Any "contradictory" or complicated queer identity (within reason, such as Turigirls and Lesboys, Cis Nonbinary Woman/Men, Gaybians, Tulipians, AMAB Transmascs, AFAB Transfems, etc.)

Split Attraction Model, such as Mspec Gay, Mspec Lesbian, Alloaro, Alloace, Alloallo Apl, etc. (Essentially inclusive of any non-rose attraction terms such as Alterous, Queerplatonic, Exteramo, Familial, etc., provided one's form of attraction with those is non-normative.)

Aldernic and Altersex

Terms to describe complicated forms of oppression, such as Exorsexism, Treimisia, and Transandromisia. Cosmisqueer also stands to uplift discussions on general transmisia, transmisogyny, homomisia, amisia, etc. (I personally prefer to use the suffix of misia over phobia.)

Neurodivergent, Race, Nonhuman, etc. exclusive genders/orientations/terms

Nonhumans, Otherkin, Alterhumans, etc.

Reclamation of slurs

Informed Self diagnosis

Kink

Objectum, Conceptum

Polyamory, Non-partnering, any non monoamory identity.

Any non-normative being describing oneself as Queer. (Within reason, should only be done if it's an aspect that defines one's identity a decent amount imo.)

Comsicqueer does NOT support:

Radqueer or other similar queer stances

Safequeer

Transid/TransX (Diaracial, Transage, Transabled, etc.)

Pro-Contact or any not anti-contact stance for non-consensual paraphilias (The big 3, and others)

Terms related to the big 3, non-consensual paras, highly dubious concepts. (Minus MAD flags, depending on the nuance of the subject at hand.)

Pro-ship ideology, non-critical fiction stances.

Pro-Incest, Pro-S/H, Pro-ED.

Emojis I'd associate with Cosmicqueer are: ✨☄️🌈. (Sparkles, Comet, Rainbow.)

I already pretty much ID with a couple queer stances, I just wanted a stance where one's Queer, and feels the word Queer can apply to any non-normative identity relating to gender, orientation, presentation, etc. while feeling Queer is inherently connected to the kink community, and can apply to nonhumans, plurals/systems, non-monoamorous beings, etc. as long as their internal identity affects their external expression in any shape and form, being visibly or socially "non-normative." (Within reason, hence the exclusion of actual harmful identities, actions, stances, etc.)

Essentially using the old definition of Queer to cover "strange" and "odd" identity, and blurring the boundaries between the old use of the word Queer, and the current use of it. Essentially I dislike people reducing Queer to just gender identity and sexual orientation, when Queer has always covered much more than that.

[spireofshadowsandtruth]

Ever told a lie? Then we’re pals!

Hello and welcome to our little corner of the internet! This blog is run by the Cookie Run fictives of the @skyedancer-system; primarily by Shadow Milk (if the theming didn’t already give that away lol). It’s a place for all of us to post more source-related things separate from the main system blog, and to get a bit more personal.

About Us! (Collective)

- Names: BT or Bassie

- Pronouns: Drei/Drem, It/Its

- Aroace-spec (Ficto specifically), Apl-spec, Xenogender

- Bodily an adult

- Trauma-endo + gateway system

- Collectively dragonkin and fictionkin (alterhuman blog is @unchainedclaws)

- Main/art blog is @skyedancer2006

Who Runs This Blog!

- 🃏Shadow Milk (He/Any)

- 🔆Pure Vanilla (He/She)

- 🧿Truthless (He/It)

- 📖Sage (She/Her)

- ♠️Black Sapphire (He/She)

- ⚜️Golden Cheese (She/It)

- ⚔️Pitaya (They/It)

- 🔑Blueberry Milk (Any Pronouns)

- 🫐Belladonna (He/It/She)

Each of us tag our posts with our emoji + name combo (if we know who’s fronting/if it’s not a general post)

Before You Follow!

- We are bodily an adult! Minors can interact, but please keep both your and our ages in mind

- We are very pro-endo; anti-endos are blocked on sight. No exceptions unless you’re willing to discuss civilly.

- We don’t tend to put image descriptions or plaintext on our posts, mainly due to lack of spoons. Our blog is not screenreader friendly as a result. If others want to add IDs and PTs on any of our posts you are free to!

- There will likely be agere/petre content on this blog. If you are gross about regressors, you are NOT welcome here.

Graphic Credit - Divider Credit - Pfp/Banner edited by us - Soul Jam graphic is official

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Report on nation's first space weather simulation exercise

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, recently released the results of the nation's first end-to-end Space Weather Tabletop Exercise (TTX), held in May 2024. The After-Action Report, published in March 2025, highlights the key findings and insights gained from the exercise.

Space weather events, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, can have significant effects on the nation's infrastructure, economy and daily life. The TTX simulated these severe solar events and tested the government's interagency coordination, response protocols and communications across a wide range of industry and critical infrastructure sectors, marking an important milestone in the nation's preparedness for severe space weather.

Space weather experts—alongside those responsible for emergency management, response and recovery from 25 federal, state, tribal territory and local agencies—engaged in a hypothetical scenario that simulated a series of solar events with wide-ranging effects on Earth and the space between Earth and the moon, including:

Intense radiation exposure to satellites, astronauts and commercial aviation

Radio communications outages and disruptions

Loss of functionality or degraded performance of GPS for precision navigation and timing

Reduced ability to communicate with and track on-orbit satellites

Local- to regional-scale power outages, affecting railways and even pipelines

"This critical exercise provided awareness to senior government leaders while highlighting key research and observational gaps as well as best communication practices on the important topic of space weather," said Ian Cohen, deputy chief scientist in APL's Space Exploration Sector and the exercise's science lead.

The TTX built on APL's experience in hosting similar senior-leadership-level exercises across different topics and sectors—including planetary defense and global health—and the Laboratory was in the unique position to bring together a wide range of subject-matter experts, including heliophysics and space weather scientists, space systems engineers, national security and critical infrastructure experts, and emergency preparedness and response leaders.

The After-Action Report identified several key findings and recommendations, including:

Demonstrating the need for better coordination to produce meaningful and understandable space weather notifications that clearly describe the potential impacts on critical infrastructure

Emphasizing the importance of a whole-of-government approach, especially federal-regional-state-level coordination and awareness, while also highlighting existing gaps that need to be filled to ensure a streamlined and rapid response

Highlighting opportunities to understand current technology limitations and discussing possibilities for improved forecasting capabilities, including suggestions to place spacecraft farther upstream (closer to the sun) for earlier warning of impending storms

Underscoring the need for a national space weather education campaign to raise awareness of risks and improve public understanding

Demonstrating the need for a more coordinated and streamlined communications plan with the public through federal, state and local agencies, and on social media

Showcasing the benefits of a whole-of-government exercise to prepare for scientifically complex threats

Dipak Srinivasan, a program area manager in APL's Space Exploration Sector and the APL exercise manager, noted that "the TTX was a critical step in the nation's preparedness for severe space weather events. We at APL are proud to have brought the breadth and depth of our capabilities to lead this and other types of interagency activities on behalf of our sponsors. It allows us to provide realistic exercise scenarios that would stress our systems, helping inform agencies across government about the technical, communications and policy gaps in our space weather readiness."

In a remarkable coincidence, a significant real-world space weather event—the largest geomagnetic disturbance in more than 20 years, the "Gannon Storm"—occurred at the same time as the exercise. Several key participants had to simultaneously manage both the real-world needs of the nation and the simulated actions of the TTX, highlighting the importance of preparedness and the relevance of the exercise to real-world events. The TTX was developed independently and did not replicate the event or intentionally align with the timing.

The TTX was sponsored jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Leveraging its expertise in space weather research, APL developed the content for the exercise in coordination with NOAA, NASA, NSF and FEMA. APL coordinated, hosted and executed the exercise and also collected, collated and reported the data and results.

IMAGE: A photo taken from the International Space Station of the aurora borealis streaming above southeastern Manitoba on Feb. 28, 2023. Credit: NASA/Josh Cassada

[the-indigo-symphony]

You said "And I have a drafted post somewhere that discusses the difficulty of having a support network when you don't want friends, which only gets reinforced by stuff like this..." a few days ago, and as an apl Going Throigh It I'd really appreciate it if you posted it. It's so difficult when no one wants to hear you vent unless you meet some arbitrary platonormative standard.

Ah, I probably will soon... it's deep in my drafts, so I'd have to go dig for it, but I can look for it. It's not just about support networks, btw; it's about how a lot of things are set up with/on the assumption of friendship, support networks included. I might have to polish it up first, but I'll see what I can do.