#he was in some way simulating 2015

[niniralin]

fell asleep in the midday and dreamt there were little squids that had evolved to have similar body shape to little birds (thrush style) and they even had powered flight. sorely disappointed to wake up and learn i imagined this.

[le-chevalier-au-lion]

always the same question, always the same answer: rosquez [t], part 2 of did you run here?

Even the cooling vest is sticking to him with sweat. It feels fucking sweltering inside his helmet, the air thick and soupy like a swamp. To Marc’s right, they’re sliding an icepack under Pecco’s leathers, handing him another bottle of Gatorade. He can barely see the sliver of skin around his eyes, but it’s easy to guess he’s miserable.

Ages ago, on a Saturday he barely remembers, people were worried about riders’ health in this kind of weather. He’s probably given interviews about it.

But Marc—

Marc forces himself to breathe, once, twice, his lungs expanding and contracting convulsively inside his ribcage. Strictly speaking, nothing that is going to happen in his immediate future is Pecco’s fault. The weight lingers at the bottom of his stomach, though. Heavy and poisonous like lead. Dizzy. He’s never disliked his teammate, exactly, but today, seeing him is a whipcrack on Marc’s back.

It’s always the heat that gets to him first—humid, suffocating. Like a shroud.

“Hey, hey.” One of his mechanics. Marc blinks, shudders. “Are you really sure about softs? They’re going to—race simulations are saying five or six laps before they just go.”

His smile is mostly reflex. It takes him a moment to realize nobody can see it.

“Yes, I’m quite sure,” Marc says.

“Ah, alright—”

Marc shakes his head. “I don’t think the predicted drop-off is going to be a problem. We can expect especially the KTMs behind us to fall off around lap ten or so, and Fermín isn’t so confident with his breaking.” He sounds delirious, he realizes.

There’s a long, stunned glance, and things are jumbled, out of order. A kaleidoscope of explanations he’s given, again and again and again, losing coherency.

The pounding of blood in his ears rings deafeningly loud. Marc is pretty sure he’s about to have a migraine in a couple of hours, except—

Ha.

“I’m quite sure,” he repeats, scraped raw until there’s no charm left.

“If you’re confident.”

Confidence has nothing to do with knowing how things will happen. Marc laughs inside his helmet, a quiet, rotten thing, inaudible through the roar of bikes being set up and revved. He has twelve laps to—not save himself. It never works.

To have fun, maybe. One last ride before things fall apart.

But just thinking about it makes his stomach roll, revolting against him. Marc braces his weight on the bike, blood-red and ominous, his throat burning, eyes stinging.

What a joke.

His hands shake. Wet and clammy with sweat inside his gloves. It’s Valentino’s fault, he decides, justified in the spike of red-hot anger that surges through him. Things rarely go wrong in Sepang without Valentino somehow being behind it, especially since he got pulled into this shitshow. The pleasure of blaming him is petty, edged with thorns. Same as always, since 2015, since this started.

It hurts him more than it hurts Valentino.

Valentino who knocked him from his dying and rising routine. Valentino who refuses to answer his questions. Valentino who won't fucking apologize for once in his life.

The horn blows. Five minutes to start the race. His heart hammers, sick, heavy, edging towards something that might be panic. He keeps thinking about Álex. Hates, hates, hates that he's thinking about Álex at all, about shouting at him this morning because suddenly everything'd seemed too small, too grating.

Like the only way he'll get out of this loop is in a body bag.

But he's some twenty minutes away from, well, another show. T5, lap 12, as it usually is. The day will restart, everyone none the wiser about what happened to him. No pain to anyone but him.

The worst part are the ten hours after Marc dies—before the day restarts.

Valentino walks on leaden legs, like a zombie. Repetition has taught him with a whip to his back, so he walks away from the circuit.

Can’t bear to face Álex Márquez again. It feels too personal, like a razor blade lodged in his throat, to see him cry silently, hot, desperate tears into the crook of his arm, in the middle of the Gresini garage. Even knowing it isn't permanent. Even knowing he won't remember it tomorrow.

Poof, like a magic trick. Right now, though, before the reveal of a whole Marc Márquez, sleeping soundly in his hotel, there’s the nausea burning in his throat, the sickly, clammy fear of seeing disembodied legs.

A scream rings out through the circuit.

Valentino knows what it means.

Stops mid-walk to throw up into a trash can. It’s just stomach acid, no food.

He’s never hated Marc quite like this. Not in Phillip Island, not in Argentina, not every single time Marc gave an interview pretending that he was still his idol. Not even in Jerez, watching him kneel on the dust over the replays, his arm cradled close to his chest. A laugh—manic—rips out of him, and if he doesn’t keep moving, somebody is going to find him to tell him what happened.

But he wastes precious minutes trying to convince his chest to stop seizing up and his legs to start moving again. The sound of helicopter cuts through the lethal silence that hangs over the track now.

Emergency evac. Valentino crashes back into his own body.

And starts running back to the hotel as chaos descends over the circuit.

The next ten hours crawl by. Second by second by second, people knocking on his door, trying to call. Valentino is too tired to try and pull up footage from the crash, to try and divine what went wrong this time.

Nothing did, really.

Marc was fighting Pecco for the position, just an inch ahead. He lost the front, because he’s a maniac and chose a soft tire for the hottest race Sepang they’ve ever had. Had been running on soap for five or so laps. Pecco was too close. Had no room to react, though he tried.

Valentino has seen it happen before.

It’s easier to close his eyes, the hairdryer running in the bathroom. He doesn’t sleep. Just feels the time trickle past him, a barbed chain wrapped around his throat.

Just once, why can’t Marc stop fighting?

When the day restarts, Valentino can’t breathe through the anger tightening up the chain, spikes tearing into him.

Things jerk around him in flashes of color. Senseless. A kaleidoscope. Cinderella in reverse. He runs to Marc’s floor, takes the steps two at a minute.

He hammers against Marc’s door. It’s eleven minutes after midnight, five wasted trying to right himself after the universe tossed him back to ground zero, his knees giving out, his body cold and out of sync, something tugging inside him like a fishhook.

This is the soonest—

Marc yanks the door open. ��Valentino?” Then: “What the fuck?”

It’s right there, locked behind his teeth, I hate you I hate you I hate you, but nothing comes out. He just stumbles into Marc’s hotel room, knocking past him. His skin is warm where Valentino touches, mostly by accident. Alive. Real. Fucking alive.

Any of these days, the clock is going to strike midnight, and Marc will still be dead.

Valentino claws at the skin of his wrist. It pours out of him, wretched, too true, and shame fills the space that the words emptied up, “Can you not race tomorrow?”

Marc blinks, sluggish. He’s leaning on the wall like it’s going to hold him up, eyes flickering between his hands and Valentino and the clock.

There is no offense at the suggestion, this time. Valentino has never done anything like this before.

Can’t predict Marc’s next move.

Except—

Marc looks—briefly—heavenward. Valentino hears himself scoff in this out of body dread, the clammy millisecond before he hits the asphalt and discovers if the crash is as bad as he thinks it’s going to be. There’s this look in Marc’s eyes, even in the dark. Hopeful. Hopeful enough to twist the knife in his stomach.

“How many times have you gone over today?”

Valentino smirks—like he has a knife tucked between his lips, joylessly, scraped raw. “Once or twice. It’s not like you ever take it seriously.”

His hand slams against his mouth. He hadn’t meant to—he hadn’t even had time to think—

Marc spits out a sound not unlike a snarl. His shoulders are hunched, and he’s shaking, shaking from head to toe, hands covering his face. When he rips them away, they are clenched at his sides. Valentino has never been afraid of being hit by him before.

“Why can’t you answer me?” He hisses. “Is it so fucking difficult? Once, just once, can’t you tell me one little truth? How many times have you gone over today?”

His scream echoes. Valentino facies it tears through like a gunshot. His ears ring.

The silence that follows is the quiet of a tomb.

“How many?” Marc asks again, because he can’t resist the pain, can’t resist forcing the broken bone until it splinters with no hope of salvaging anything. He’s still shouting. There’s this look in his eyes, dark and rabid, like he’s going to gnaw off a limb.

Valentino thinks he has frozen over.

“You know,” he whispers.

Marc runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck this,” he says emphatically.

“You know you’re going to die.” He sounds deliberate, calculated. Each time he opens his mouth, he isn’t sure it’s him speaking. “And you get on that bike anyway.”

“Christ,” Marc sighs, low and tired and—fuck him. “You have no idea what’s going on.”

Valentino laughs, three quarters reflex and a little vindication, the laugh he gave Uccio when he cornered him in Phillip Island, ten years ago, Marc’s weird telemetry being brandished like a knife. “I know that you apparently decided to die every day for months now.”

Marc bursts over. “I don’t decide to die!”

“Then why don’t you stop it?” He’s shouting too. Valentino hasn’t shouted in an argument in fucking years, loathes doing that. To speak is to fill himself with blood, the wound ever-flowing.

“Stop it?! What the fuck do you mean?”

“Don’t go out, don’t race, stay alive. Or are you so obsessed with wining and getting that ninth title that it never crossed your mind to lie down?”

It’s only five points between him and Pecco. He would try again and again to fix it on the bike—isn’t the one who has to go through those ten hours.

Marc pushes him, stumbles back himself. His teeth are wrenched, but a small, wretched sound still slips out. He sounds animalistic when he speaks, “Are so obsessed with your lost tenth that you can’t see I’ve tried? I don’t want to die!”

“Am I supposed to believe this?”

“Hell if I know the shit you tell yourself,” Marc snorts, an ugly thing. Valentino gags. “But go on. It’s not like I can stop you, and it’s not like I give a damn. I’m not the one who needs to deal with this.”

“Prove it to me,” Valentino grinds out. He barely hears himself.

Marc sits on the bed and starts laughing—starts cackling. Hysterical. Right until he starts choking on it, a noise that rakes over Valentino’s nerve endings. Everything suddenly aches. He wonders if the days restarting mean the exhaustion gets rolled back too. Doesn’t remember the last time he managed to sleep.

Every second is—

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Prove it to me,” he repeats. The words come up like bloody petals lodged in his chest. “Prove it to me that you’ve fucking tried to not die at least once.”

The mania bleeds out of Marc. He gets serious, suddenly. Stone-faced. Hollow.

Valentino has seen footage of it happening dozens, hundreds of time. The folded set of his hands, in front of his body. His wide, doll-like eyes. Sepang, Sepang, it’s always Sepang.

“Valentino,” he says, very calmly. He kicked me, “get out.”

[jackboxconfess]

sorry, not sorry but YDKJ: Full Stream has to be the worst YDKJ game and one of the worst Jackbox games.

1. Jackbox is not good at writing psychological horror. you are comedy writers, this is a comedy game for parties and it shows. It's okay to experiment or try a storyline like what was done with YDKJ 4: The Ride, but the "writing" is just hints of Binjpipe being malicious until Escape the Simulation, where we get an admittedly interesting but vague episode of Cookie realizing he's in a simulation, but it just fell flat, it made me feel nothing. the game would've been much better suited as an epsiode format like The Ride or 2011/2015, but this game is catered to streamers, and we can't have streamer audiences jumping in halfway and getting confused.

2. Cookie's at his worst, he is unfunny, boring, and his dialogue is aged poorly. he is much toned down from his movies to 2015 days to cater to streamers. I know the excuse "Binjpipe controlling/censoring him," but it's taking away what made people such as me, fall in love with his character writing. Also a problem is if that's a person's only exposure to his character. Cookie's more passive personality in FS has led to some people infantilizing him which as a Cookie expert bugs me because no he is NOT silly and innocent please pick up YDKJ 2011. It's crazy how it took Jackbox making an "18+ adult party pack" for Cookie to return to his regular-self again.

3. FS was CATERED for streamers, but the thing is streamers do not care about FS. if a streamer is opening pack 5, they're playing patently stupid or mad verse city, games that are more fun and cater to a less niche player audience. Yes, streamers are what boosted the party packs' popularity, but Jackbox doesn't understand that some games are better serving the player audience first and streaming capabilities second, because filling your pockets should not be more important than making such a quality product for YDKJ fans, but ironically Jackbox has become more bland and corporate

4. Jackbox doesn't expand on Binjpipe, no putting easter eggs of it in pack 9 and naughty pack DOES NOT count as lore or storytelling, you set up this story now actually tell it, it's been 6 years and the most we've gotten is a fibbage episode

that's not to say, I do like the conept of Binjpipe and expanding on it myself, though the way Jackbox treats it and the quality of FS is a real let down

YDKJ FS tried to shoe-hammer in an ill-fitting plot on a watered down version on the game that started it all and it's borderline offensive.

Zeeple Dome > FS

mic drop

.

[asherlockstudy]

The plot hole of Wonderhole (E1)

Introduction

The Plot Hole

The Flight

The Simulation

The Desert Island

Introduction

I finally found the opportunity to start my ANALysis of Wonderhole (Rhett & Link Wonderhole compatible joke). If you have read previous posts I have made about their scripted content or even candid conversations they have had, my main object is to examine whether this new content belongs to the same category of the recurring - and treated as a symbolism of their reality by me - Rhink storyline like almost all their previous scripted videos (including stuff from 2015) and creations (i.e TLCOBC); what I have been calling "One Story" for convenience. One Story Masterlist can be accessed here. By the way, I will also not take into account what new thing Rhett IRL may or may not have said in order to mud the water because he has been doing it a lot lately and I am not sure it is 100% reliable.

I will say that I had to watch the First Class Flight more than once to determine whether this episode is actually part of the One Story or not. After a few rewatches I realised that what was confusing me is that Wonderhole so far has a critical difference from the previous videos. The previous videos usually take place in an undefined time or in the present and they are full of symbolisms of their past and present. Wonderhole deals mostly with the future. Therefore, there are two ways we can view this:

Wonderhole so far is not part of the One Story because it only minimally draws parallels from their lived past.

Wonderhole so far IS part of the One Story because even though it doesn't draw from the past a lot, it actually reflects their certainty or expectation for how their future will unfold depending on certain circumstances, so technically it is still part of their true One Story because it is the future that's coming towards them or the one that seems very likely to come their way.

I suppose it's easier for readers to understand this through the obviously futuristic Time Capsule episode, however here I will argue about how this is also the case with the First Class Flight. This episode is linearly distinguished in two great time segments: the present in which Rhett and Link fake a first class flight vlog and the future of them being deserted in an island three years from now.

The Plot Hole

This is the time I should explain the title of this post. There is a massive plot hole in the episode and it is an intentional one. The way we can tell it is intentional is because our attention is drawed multiple times throughout the video towards it. Here are some examples:

"Without ever having to leave Burbank" - Rhett

"Since this is a simulation-" - Link

"...to fake fly us to fake Singapore wearing a fake mustache" - Rhett

"Well, it tastes like it might be juice but it's a simulation!" - Rhett

Link: "We're moving"... Rhett: "Oh it almost feels like it hehe"

"I gotta say, this is the smoothest takeoff I've ever experienced" - Link

"Since Mythic Air flight 138 operated at a real world altitude level of zero feet above ground we're not anticipating any flight safety issues" - Flight Attendant

Get it? They were in Burbank in a simulation of a flight. They never left. They go out of their way so many times to make it absolutely clear they are not moving and they are faking the whole thing. So, how on earth did the disaster and its consequences prove to be real???

At this point we should also acknowledge that there is not any technical evidence, there is no footage - how could there be one after all - that the plane somehow crashed and Rhett and Link survived the fall and were washed ashore to some desert island. This is the general implication but like we saw it is a very faulty one because it makes no sense. Which means that if we want to be precise about what could have happened in those three years between the vlog shooting and them being castaways, there are two possibilities:

It is a fantastical story in which the lie somehow morphed into a truth, it transcended into reality and caused all these consequences or

the technical issue / fall in the flight was just part of the prepared experience by the Mythical Crew, like everything else. We stop witnessing before the fall but it doesn't mean it didn't stop at some point, Rhett and Link continued the vlog, returned home and they ended up as survivors in a desert island after making the real vlog in a later time.

Now, I don't have an opinion or preference on which is the better theory between the two but I think that as symbolisms they signify pretty much the same thing. In order to understand this, we need to examine what each segment of the video stands for.

The Flight

This is very easy. The whole segment of the First Class Flight symbolises Mythical and, most notably, GMM. Everything that happens in this vlog is a conflation of all the most typical GMM formats and running jokes together.

Counting, we have: 1) the Mythical Crew crafting and the attention down to the smallest detail, 2) not consuming alcohol due to youtube rules, 3) their whole experience is curated by the Mythical (Plane) Crew, 4) precautions taken for dangerous Link, 5) Link interrupting the pilot (Stevie), 6) Mythical kitchen outdoing itself, 7) Rhett and Link tasting stuff, 8) Link typically going for what Rhett wants / has, 9) Link being super picky with the food, 10) Link not ceding to compliment Rhett to save his life, 11) Link oversharing and then Rhett making him feel worse for it, 12) Link's sexual but meaningless jokes (coconut in the pants / mile high club), 13) Link being extra particular about getting the perfect angles and shots, 14) Rhett and Link made to do something intimate together with stupid excuses just for the shippers (changing together, touching butts, sleeping together), 15) Link being grossed out, 16) indirect reference to Link's much discussed herpes, 17) Mythical grooming products, 18) doing something physically strenuous but ridiculous, 20) feeding each other, 21) smelling stuff blindfolded, 22) Rhett winning and / or doing something impressive, 23) Rhett winning the prize (here, picking what TV show to watch), 24) synchronizing in everything.

They squeezed in this "vlog" everything they typically do in Mythical episodes. The plane and the flight stand for Mythical, this space Rhett and Link have carved around them and it is what has made them rich and, to a degree, what keeps them secure. Also, the fact that it stands for Mythical is not subtle at all actually:

And in case you did not realise, THIS IS MYTHICAL.

The presence of their company has not been so emphatically stressed in other videos and it makes sense both at face value and subtextually because this is of course who is behind the making of this supposed vlog according to the plot, however we will see now why this matters a lot as a metaphor as well.

The Simulation

This is actually part of the Flight segment but I really want to talk about it on its own because it is the most essential part of the video. I believe this is why they made that video and this is also why it is the first episode of Wonderhole.

Like they clarify, this is not a vlog. It is a test video in place of the actual vlog they wanted to do but weren't sure the fans would approve of. So, they decided to test the waters by spending budget to frivolous Mythical simulations in order to minimize the risk and check the fans reactions, before proceeding with the actual vlog. I have explained many times that this is exactly what I believe it is happening with all their scripted content, especially the recent ones (TLCOBC onwards) and this is what is happening with Wonderhole too. This is the first episode because it is the warning, if you will, regarding what Wonderhole truly is. In short, this first episode is the shrunk simulation of Wonderhole itself, if not their situation for quite some time. Don't forget that last year Link had said there was a very specific question they wanted to get an answer to in regards to people's response to their scripted videos and by the end of the year they both concluded that aside from the positive reviews they had not received the exact response they wished for. (This is why Wonderhole is also going to be bolder than last year's videos, you are seeing this already. Because there is more despair to get the specific response.)

This explains why it didn't matter whether Rhett and Link survived the plane crash either through a fantastical transcendance to reality or in a later time but we do not see it; because it means disaster ensued either because they danced too close to the fire with their simulations / scripted content and people realised it had to be real or because they ignored alarming cues from the audience, went through with the "real" content and that's when the disaster took place. Both are possibilities and whichever one is the one that happens, in their minds the result is the same: they end up stranded and forgotten in a desert island by themselves.

Before proceeding with the final segment, there are more significant layers to the simulation. There are three times when Rhett and Link hear a concerning noise from the plane: when they touch butts in the bathroom, when there is an implication for Link's herpes and when they are together in bed. So those sobering noises happen in moments of relatively more intimacy. Rhett and Link then watch a trash reality show with a frankly weird premise, hot singles go to underdeveloped countries to perform surgeries as complete amateurs?! Wow. Perhaps there is meaning to it but I couldn't find it. The interesting thing here is that even this reality show has the element of practicing something dangerous through simulation. The show host tells the players they have the chance to perform a surgery in a practice before being exposed to the real thing. This is exactly when chaos unfolds, the show is paused and the pilot screams in panic. And at that moment we have what I think is the most important, the most telling screenshot so far:

Rhett and Link then embrace, waiting for the end, while they confess to each other things we all know. As they are looking for something super special to confess, Link says Rhett's balls are hanging out at that moment too. I don't think there is a sifnigicance to this unless the implication was that Rhett had removed his pants while we were unsuspectingly looking at the reality show! But, honestly, I don't think we got the equivalent of the announcement this was an allegory for. They didn't push for anything more there other than the notion that it was time for a most pivotal confession.

Lastly, let's also examine Link's quote early in the episode: "We like closing one eye, because it immerses us in something that's not really happening". This can be interpreted in various ways. Does it mean that we close our eyes in order to see something that is not true or does it mean that if we opened our eyes, then we would see what is really happening? These may seem similar but there is all the difference in the world between them.

It is very interesting however that the theme recurs later with the reality show: the participants perform eye surgeries like cutting cataracts, so there is this repeated theme of wanting to improve what one's eyes see. Alas, they are amateurs which means the surgeries are likely to lead to disaster before they lead to the much desired "eye opening".

The Desert Island

Believe it or not, this is in my opinion the least important segment or, maybe, the one least packed with information. That segment expresses their conviction of how they will survive a potential disaster. They appear removed like recluses but they stick together. Of course, their big longing will be to keep making videos, even if they don't have the means anymore or even if nobody cares to watch. This is about their professional life. Then:

"When left alone Rhett and Link exhibit all sorts of strange behaviours"

Aside of hopelessly trying to work and create, we are presented with what their life is likely going to be privately post-plane crash / disaster. Almost everything we see involves a level of physical intimacy; Rhett massages Link, "their" version of poker (which involves nipple stimulation), trying to make wine (like the notorious wine they made in puberty), skygazing together, checking each other for dermatological issues, sharing their thoughts and the classic joke of changing SOS to SEND TACOS, an indication that they are having enough of a good time to not really try to be rescued and return to their previous lives, with their old job and families. Oh, and having sex with the sex bush. This is the boldest imagery in this episode because we see them... uh...rub themselves on the sex bush (at the very least), not only in each other's presence but also while clasping hands. I don't think I have to tell you this but this is canonically engaging in the same sexual activity because it's like they are masturbating while holding hands. Now, if Rhett considers this a wild leap of logic indicative of "us the Rhink shippers", I don't know what to say.

There is also a very interesting lyric in their song. Watch how it is phrased:

"Sharing peanut butter because we are peanut butter lovers, lovers as in, we're both loving peanut butter. Not that we are making love with one another... We got a bush for that."

What exactly does this mean? We are making love with a bush instead of one another or we are using the bush to make love with one another and not the peanut butter? It sounds more like the former one but the imagery suggests the latter. I don't know. It could also mean that they are really tiptoeing around each other while still keeping their sexual life straight. We are not making love with the peanut butter (gay sex), we have a bush for that (straight sex). But then we see that in the bush they are really pushing the limits between them. It could be all of these things.

Bush aside, what does the peanut butter symbolise on its own? Link denies he is aroused by it but he readily admits he wants to "eat it out" and Rhett follows immediately, the more Link opens up. Again, we see once more Link to be the first one to voice his desire and of course Rhett jumps at it at a moment's notice. This is the case also in Digging the Medium-sized Hole, in the Puzzle, in the Brown Diamond. But then we have this strife caused between them as they cannot decide who should take the "first scoop". Like, who will break the seal of the peanut butter? To be honest, I think this is the drama that anal might have caused between two ex-Christian very traditional dudes. Like, who takes one for the team. Both of them claim the position of sticking their spoon to the peanut butter. Link has the argument that he should be the one to do it because he is the guy into peanut butter while "what Rhett really is is a bean guy" (bean is a slang for clitoris, so he's more into female genitalia, more hetero than Link). Rhett on the other hand doubts Link's versatility in sex (has happened IRL as well) so he doesn't want to cede the position of control to him.

Link: I got a lot of novel grill ideas. Rhett: Like what? Link: Like, the grill that uses the heat generated from rubbing your hands together. Rhett: ...And then you place them on the food?! Link:...... Yep. Rhett: So, the Link Neal Grill is just hands?!

Link is shamed for being too vanilla.

After a lot of talking it out, their eyes are opened to what they wanted all along. Link admits Rhett might like peanut butter just as much and Rhett admits that Link might be as competent in this as he is (find the peanut butter). They decide to each take a scoop from one side of the top and then enjoy it together. I mean, none of this is a great analogy but the most plausible scenario is that in order to overcome their conservative inhibitions and their sense of pride, they had to both agree to engage in this in absolutely equal terms. In short, to switch. Which I totally believe could be the case in reality as well.

The way the sex bush contrasts with the peanut butter makes it all rather confusing because we can also tell this does not proceed in a chronologically linear way at all, let alone that we have a blend of past and future here. But don't worry too much because the result is the same. By putting the peanut butter on leaves from the sex bush and then consuming it, they have canonically exchanged sex fluids. I could have said this from the beginning of this segment and save me of all this struggle.

[wilsonteav]

~Welcome to Wilsonteav's blog~

About me:

Hi, my name is Dominik, but you can call me Bilbo! I'm neurodivergent transgender bisexual boy. I use he/him pronouns. From Poland (🇵🇱). Gemini. I'm into rock, pop, metal and classical music. Intp. Fan of Peter for 1 year and half (started in April 2023). I was noticed by Peter Jacobson.

My fav:

- Artist/Music Band: Motörhead

- Actor: Peter Jacobson

- Fav Show/movie: I have a lot of fav shows/movies but I really like House MD (show) and The Hour After Westerly (movie)

- Colour: Dark Blue / Black / White / Dark Green / Brown

- Fav Ship(s) from:

• House MD: Taub x Foreman, House x Cuddy, House x Wilson, Chase x Park, Foreman x 13

• Sherlock Holmes Universe: Sherlock Holmes x John Watson

• Hannibal NBC (tv): Hannibal Lecter x Will Graham, Brian Zeller x Jimmy Price

Some of my fandoms:

› Fallout 4

› House MD

› Star Wars (only trilogy movies)

› Sherlock Holmes universe (BBC/Movies with RDJ/Books)

› Supernatural

› Hannibal NBC (I'm starting to read books)

› Fandom of Peter Jacobson

› Lord of The Rings (Lotr)/The Hobbit

› Good Omens

› Marvel

› The X-Files

My Hobbies/Interests:

~ drawing - i'm more like traditional artist than digital, but i can draw in both ways

~ singing - I started singing in 2020 during covid as hobby, now i have 2 public performances on my account (mainly during school events)

~ writing - i'm not professional writer, i'm mainly writing fanfics. Although many of people i know say that I write in a very adult and brutal way, because I am interested in the atmosphere of murder and dark mystery.

~ reading books/comics - I mostly read crime/mystery novels (for example Sherlock books), but also comics (like Punisher comics)

~ playing guitar - I only recently started learning, but I want to play electric guitar in the future.

~ photography - I have been doing photography since March 2023, I am a nature photographer rather than a photographer doing photo sessions. I use Pentax K-R.

~ video/photo editing - I usually edit and post something related to Peter or my favorite characters on tiktok. I use Capcut (video edits) and PicsArt (photo edits)

~ building lego - my hobby since childhood, so relaxing

~ listening to music - I'm mostly listening to rock, metal, classical and pop music, but sometimes I also listen to other genres.

~ Gacha life - I am also a gacha editor since 2019, i'm mainly making content with my characters/ocs. Now i'm using Gacha life and Gacha life 2.

~ roleplaying - I'm mostly roleplaying on discord. I'm usually interested in House MD rp, but it also depends on what topic/ship.

~ video gaming - My fav games: Rayman Origins, Rayman Legends, Castle Crashers, Hades, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Lego Games, Cuphead, Sims 4, Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy's (1, 3, 4, Sister Location, UCN, FF Pizzeria Simulator), Fallout 4, Pony Town, Cookie Run Kingdom, Angry Birds Epic, Fallout Shelter, Hogwarts Mystery, Roblox

Kins/Fav characters:

» Chris Taub (House MD)

» Mycroft Holmes (Sherlock BBC)

» Elliot Springer (Hit and Runway 1999)

» Matt Murdock (Daredevil series)

» Crowley (Good Omens)

» Nick Valentine (Fallout 4)

» Han Solo (Star Wars)

» Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones movies)

» Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit)

» Gandalf the Gray (The Hobbit/Lotr)

» Filius Flitwick (Harry Potter movies)

» Gimli (Lord of the Rings)

My accounts:

Tiktok:

- wilsonteav - video editing

- hxpefield - gacha content

Discord: wilsonteav

Twitter/X: wilsonteav

Ao3: wilsontea

Instagram: peterssaturn

Movies/Shows with Peter Jacobson I watched:

• Dr House (2004-2012)

• Paterno (2018)

• Hit & Runway (1999)

• Smile 2 (2024

• Ahsoka (2023)

• As good as It gets (1997)

• Civil Action (1998)

• Hour After Westerly (2019)

• Cars 2 (2011)

• Strip search (2004)

• Fly Me to The Moon (2024)

• The Lost Room (2006)

• The Goldfinch (2019)

• Girls on the Bus (2024)

• Fear The Walking Dead (2015-2023)

If you want to know something more about me, feel free to ask in Askbox !! :D

[downthetubes]

This original painting by John Harris for the dust jacket of the first edition of "Ender’s Game" by Orson Scott Card surfaced after many years was sold at auction in the Christie’s SF auction, ending on 12th December 2024, for staggering £504,000.

People with smaller pockets who would still like to see this image on their wall could buy a signed archival print here here - although at £460 that's a bit pricey for some, I'm sure!

Ender’s Game, published in 1985, is a seminal work of modern science fiction. The novel follows the story of Ender Wiggin, a young boy recruited into a military training program to prepare for an impending alien invasion. Through intense training and simulated battles, Ender demonstrates exceptional strategic prowess, ultimately leading humanity’s forces in a decisive conflict. The book’s exploration of complex moral questions and its portrayal of a young protagonist in a high-stakes environment have resonated with readers and viewers alike, cementing its place as a classic in science fiction literature and leading to a series of sequels, spin-offs and adaptations.

In 1976, John Harris began to produce paintings which expressed the preoccupations with scale and space that remain with him to the present day. He was subsequently invited by NASA to witness a launch of the space shuttle and record the event in a painting, becoming the first British artist to be honoured in this way. That work now hangs in the Kennedy Space Centre and is part of the Smithsonian Collection. In 2015 he won the Chesley Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Drunkard’s Walk was originally commissioned by Granada in the UK for the cover of a novel by Frederick Pohl. Its iconic status, however, was brought about by its use as the dust-jacket artwork for the first edition of Ender’s Game in 1985, and all 33 subsequent impressions issued by Tor Books including the most recent in 2021 (ISFDB).

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Friday

SpaceTime 20250221 Series 28 Episode 23

Was Snowball Earth a global event

Geologists have uncovered strong evidence that massive glaciers covered Earth all the way from the poles down to the equator hundreds of millions of years ago.

Blue Origin experiences a parachute failure during its lunar gravity mission

Blue Origin's New Shepard has experienced a sight malfunction during an unmanned suborbital flight for NASA designed to simulate lunar gravity.

The Moon Illusion

Have you ever wondered by the Moon always looks bigger when it’s near the horizon.

The Science Report

New study on how to help kids with peanut allergies.

Using gene-edited pig kidneys in human transplants.

New study suggests that like cats, wolves may have domesticated themselves.

Skeptics guide to the Great Lakes Triangle

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Apple Podcasts (itunes), Stitcher, Google Podcast, Pocketcasts, SoundCloud, Bitez.com, YouTube, your favourite podcast download provider, and from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on his career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. He worked as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth.  The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently. 

[moonshynecybin]

do you think vale's ever going to be self aware enough to realize he was in the wrong in 2015?

i LOVE when people ask me to solve the rosquez breakup... put me in coach i could fix them. ignore all of the times i have used my mind palace to make them worse. ummmm i think (grain of salt) it would depend on a myriad of discrete circumstances. as @frogsonabike recently posted i think if marc passes vale's title total no way in hell until they are very old men. and even then only if theyre all at some gala and its like. a bit they are doing for a crowd. and dani and jorge bullied them into it. MAYBE. old man rosquez... racing their walkers....

outside of thatttttt i could see a slow reconciliation like. post retirement for both of them (actually i think @whatwepostintheshadows pioneered this school of thought. a scholar in the field.) the ISSUE would be getting them into the same place. ALTHOUGH as we have seen in portimao recently that literally may not be as much of a problem as we think, as they are addicted to fucking around on motorcycles. like in my brain i am literally always running the simulation of how we can get them over this hill bc they are so clearly obsessed with each other and carrying the other around like a weight around their neck or a wound that refuses to heal!!! they need it for their HEALTH yknow... so i could see them just. consistently bumping into each other on race weekends post-retirement. maybe luca and alex are teammates or smth like that and so they have to share some space when they visit the paddock. and at first its tense and they try and ignore each other but then marc hears vale make a joke from across the room... honks that big laugh of his... and vale floats over to him as the day goes on, wanting the attention despite himself (they still have the chemistry!!!! fuck!!!). presses his shoulder against marc's when alex does a risky overtake and his posture locks up... hand on the small of his back. spending the day talking about racing until they realize its okay to talk about other things....

[tactical-mode]

Episode 007

No action in this episode, just pure scenes through to the end. If this were formatted for TV, this would probably be the final scene of the pilot, but instead it's the 7th little bite-sized episodelet. Chapters 1 and 2 of Remake have now been condensed into 35 minutes!

A new mod appears for the first time: “Train NPCs” by FantasyRaiderr, which changes some of the NPCs appearances. In this episode, it only changes that one guy’s suit to maroon, but in the following few episode you’ll see some punk rockers, a fedora guy, and a trenchcoat guy, all from this mod.

You might think that these three scenes were easy to make, because, well, they happen in FF7 Remake. What you might not know is that, well, they almost don't happen! Almost none of the shots you see are in order, and many are the same shot from different angles used over and over, haha. Only a handful of the lines even come close to being lines from the OG, most are wildly different, about different topics, or else they're saying literally the opposite thing. (Biggs in OG: "Cloud... think he was killed?" / 7R: "No need to assume the worst. I'm sure he's fine.")

In a few instances I've changed Jessie's lines. I cut her talking about closing the door (because in 7R Barret closes it) as well as the line about Cloud being covered in soot (because he isn't). In the second scene, I used 7R's "our IDs are impeccable" because it's more sensible than "(psst psst... whisper whisper... anyone can tell that we look suspicious, so we're using fake IDs.)" She also uses the new 7R scale of "300 metres" instead of 50, since it is visibly 300 metres up.

Music-wise, we're using the EC version of On That Day, Five Years Ago by Nobuo Uematsu. This is a variation of FFVII's main theme in minor, one of my favorite all timers by the maestro.

There's a continuity error here that is in both OG and 7R: the train route map leads clockwise around the pillar, which is not the way the train is going! If it were moving clockwise, the characters would be looking out the wrong window, staring at the wall! Ha ha. I tried to mirror some shots of the map, and even reshot it several times, but it was a no go. I guess the error remains.

For the shots that show the "view" from the train, I went into the different chapters of Remake and filmed the various slum locations from high above, and then in the editing program I superimposed black bars rushing along the screen to simulate moving along a train track. How does it look?

To book-end the episode, I used some pre-rendered shots from the 2015 teaser trailer for 7R, these shots were only for the teaser and didnt' make it into the final game. Curiously, in this moment in OG, great pains were made to include a similar shot among their 45 total minutes of cinematics.

I always thought that shot was so evocative, and this 2015 shot is a delightful update and imo necessary moment fot the story.

Final Thoughts

The capitulations required to make the next episode work are daunting. I will be shooting them for a while. I'm glad I was about to put up this many episodes in one short month.

[discluded]

hi! this is regarding their recent airport pics and videos, is it not weird that there are fans taking pics and videos of them at the airport? wheres the privacy lmao? like how are they allowed to follow them around everywhere? and also that person who put up the duty free video? thats taken from so close as well? im just concerned like is this supposed to be normal cause mileapo seem like very private people who wouldn't be okay with that

just wanted your opinion!

Yes. Is the short answer. It's weird, and kind of creepy, and a violation of privacy. Anything I say after this is not an excuse or justification that it's OK, but more a reflection of how we (collectively, culturally in the fandom culture sense) got to this point, and why BOC is powerless to stop it even if they had any interest in doing so.

Part of it is that airport fashion became such a prominent part of kpop culture, really being pushed by cultural and fashion icons from Big Bang. So it hasn't been that long really - maybe 15 years at the most, but now Korean idols especially dressed to be seen. if you promote a culture where stars are dressed to be seen at the airport, then it follows that fans will go to the airport for a chance to see their idols. It's that simple.

Just as BTS inherited a lot of fans from 1D when 1D broke up in 2015, KinnPorsche's release in relation to BTS's hiatus announcement also in part helped pushed KinnPorsche to even greater heights. BTS fandom still remains incredibly active, but it's the same way it was with 1D -- the fandom wouldn't get regular updates, and suddenly there was a something interesting and at least worth filling the time with until BTS came back. It's the same reason BrightWin and 2gether became such a big thing when by itself, 2gether was fairly typical of other Thai BLs of its era. Or why Animal Crossing was such a massive hit. The timing affected its success.

(For more context, you should watch this video about the science of luck. A little funnier tidbit, when he talks about running the simulation 1000 times to pick candidates -- that is in fact how machine learning (my job!) works. The tl;dw version of that is to say that talent itself isn't the only factor - success is very reliant on luck.)

So back to your question - inheriting fans from a kpop fandom also means inheriting some of kpop culture. And many post-Hallyu Wave fandoms originating from Asian countries as a collective push for soft power via media output fashion themselves after Korea's success. For example, we don't see this airport culture retroactively affecting jpop fandom (which has a long-standing history) the same way. It's more in countries which fannish cultures are still more malleable and developing their own identities.

In the same way, it's inherited a lot sasaeng culture as well from kpop - specifically, individuals or groups who have way to much access to private information they shouldn't, like flight information.

There's two other factors: few Thai actors(/idols) have been flying out of the country to work and promote as much as MileApo have. At the beginning (for KPWT stops), BOC wasn't encouraging fans to show up at the airport; they were just there. And also going to the cities because they were dedicated enough to support KinnPorsche and BOC outside of the country. And then when it became difficult to manage, BOC more formally organized these more airport sendoffs because they knew people would show up anyway. It was at least a way to help control the chaos, as a courtesy for the airport staff.

Airports are public spaces; BOC really does not have any ability to limit an individual person's presence at the airport, even if they try to discourage as a whole.

That leaves a weird space for these follow-the-actor sessions at the airport when there isn't a send-off announced by BOC, but groups get flight information and word spreads around. Or, when they're past security, which is not a public space.

From Mile and Apo's perspective, I don't think they're necessarily "ok" with this, but there is also very little they can do about it, to an extent. Following them and recording them on a plane has loudly been declared a no-no, as well as openly exposing their travels when they request fans don't because it's for business under wraps (eg. Pond and Apo flying to Europe to iron out the Piaget deal). Unfortunately, it seems like in the general space of the airport, they have to trust fans be judicious in what's an appropriate distance to stay away, and what is appropriate to do/photograph. When fans do violate that perceived barrier (e.g., mil3mile/CaiCai trying to hand Mile a note then throwing it at Apo's head, or the fans who kept stalking Apo in Shanghai despite requests to leave him alone on his trip and irritated a man at the airport into throwing a bottle at Apo's direction), other fans are at least more quick to punish these offenders to this perceived violation of space... though, again, if we're honest, photographing them esp past security, or seeing them off at the airport when they didn't announce it was for fans is... already that.

It's really hard for BOC to curb. But if they want to even address part of the root issue -- which is that there's someone internally who's leaking information to sasaeng/groups likely for financial gain -- they have to be more willing to clean house too. Apo's Shanghai flight wasn't the only thing leaked -- fans knew he was going to show up at iQIYI headquarters too, at what time and date. There's a lot going on that Pond can't control here, and I don't fault him for. Even if they catch one or two internal instigators when they find out who, the damage is already done.

So tl;dr yeah it's weird and sometimes uncomfortable, but become kind of normalized through the way that fandom has developed recently. And it's also very hard to curb, if BOC tries. So some of it is just managing it as much as they can at this point.

Thanks for the question. I think I'll also be more judicious in the airport I stuff going forward. It was always something I said I would continue to revisit, and post at my own level of comfort.

[goongiveusnothing]

I actually appreciate the Clooney charm comparison, because with George there is always a certain self-awareness yet genuineness there - I can say the same for Chris Evans - but with Harry it’s so disingenuous, performative, self serving, in all the interactions. Whether Emma, or Lizzo, or Shania, it comes across as incredibly smarmy and Look At Me. As you and other anons have said in one way or another, he puts on this weird TPWK persona that doesn’t jibe with who I think he really is. It’s actually very alien-esque, like he has to interact with actual human beings and is just performing a simulation of how he interprets how humans interact. It’s very weird. Though the cliche of a 16 year old becoming famous getting stuck in that adolescent stage of personal development is a pretty much a case study by now, and to a certain point it explains it, it doesn’t excuse it. Eh, I had hopes for him back in 2015, but he’s become not the exception to the rule, but the example of the rule.

this is so accurate. i'd say it's that he puts on this persona of what a celebrity being nice to fans is about.

very accurate about george clooney. his charm is grounded in being humble, self aware, making fun of himself, and flattering the other person in a very sincere way.

i never feel with george that he's trying to steal people's limelight or that he even cares about the limelight.

with harry he's incapable of sharing his light with anyone else. in some way or other he has to make it about himself.

[companionwolf]

Fill #1 for Flufftober

Prompt: 25. Nook + 29. "Hey, wake up!"

Fandom: XCOM 2

Verse: uh based on my canon? (I'm kin); NOT shipfic

TWs/CWs: None

The Commander drifts.

They know vaguely they lie in the space under the bar where it turns, curled up with their tail over their nose in the little nook.

Central tends the soldiers, thinks his CO can't see him go to nip a drink straight from the vodka bottle, flinches when they growl softly and sets it back down.

They're here on the Avenger in 2035, a few months post freedom. At least, here enough. With their eyes shut and neurons slow, the Commander could be anywhere else. Could convince themselves of it.

They could be back at HQ, taking shelter under the Hologlobe, listening to the idle chatter and noise of the personnel around the room.

They could be on the run, the fire behind their eyes and smoke in their lungs still, pressed close to Central under a rotting blanket as the cold bites at them both through walls of a decaying house.

They could be in the simulation, any iteration of that, tucked away somewhere in the false halls of a false Anthill, taking a moment of respite.

But they're here.

Here in the future, still not quite accustomed to quadrupled form and lack of humanity. Here, where they have lost. Here, where they are still running. Here, where dream and unreality mix with stark cold truth. They wish they knew some much for sure-- what was sim, what wasn't.

All they can do, they suppose, is keep asking.

Did Pettachi ever feed me a spicy thing-- sime kind of prank, a joke? I don't know, Commander. I don't remember those details well anymore. (Mark that one down as a maybe, then.)

Did Rivera save us when base fell? Yes. (Mark that as real.)

I traveled with you, right? Yeah, I got this scar from those days. (Another check mark.)

We had MELD, in 2015? What the hell is MELD, Commander? (A no.)

Central leans against the bar; the Commander, eyes closed, inhales-- his scent mixes with the alcohol and the ship itself, and their heart slows.

Somewhere, they are still human. Somewhere, they are lying on a operating table? Or maybe a strecher. It doesn't matter. What does matter is he is there too, younger but still him, holding their hand.

God, they wish they could smile the way humans do. All they can manage now is a facsimile of it.

Did they want this? They were dying. Did they ask for this? Why was it this, and not...? Their head hurts, sense of phantom pain and ache.

Footsteps, distantly.

The Commander's ears swivel toward them. A rag tag mix of OG A Team and Alpha Squad-- Fisher, Guzman, and Johnson, to be more precise. They come into the bar loud, Johnson and Guzman laughing at something Fisher has said. Central greets them gruffly.

Oh, Central, thinks the Commander. Their heart swells with love for their XO, for their crew. Oh, humanity.

In their chest the thud of a false thing, made to function the same but never falter. Whatever they had first, it's long gone-- the aliens upgraded much of their internals when they were captured. Whatever it took to keep them alive.

The Commander feels a grimace across their face, knows it's not real, knows it's their human mind covering the reality of their pseudo canine face up because otherwise they'd be barely functional, they'd be lost to themselves entirely.

They mentioned this to Tygan once. "It's covering everything up," they'd said. "Pretending nothing's different." They guess it's too much to ask their mind to adjust so quickly. They spent less than a year in this form before they got caught, before the tank, the simulation.

And in there? They aren't sure what they were, human or this, whatever this is they are now.  They remember being on all fours in some of the hazy bits and pieces, but is that real, or just through the filter of their current self perception?

The Commander thinks.

They don't see themselves as bodily human. There is no overlay of a human self-- their mind is not that desperate. Sometimes it is, like with facial expressions and the sense of missing hands, but usually their self maps properly. 

To be honest, they weren't ever really that comfortable in a human body at all. It was fine, they mean. It was a okay body. A good body. Just not quite right. Just not really theirs, them.

The bark of Guzman's laughter brings them back. The Commander imagines they hang on her mirth like a lifeline. She centers them here, with the sound of her living and breathing and--

Central's voice calls down to them: "Hey, wake up."

The Commander opens a eye, looks up at him. He's studying them, a expression they can't read on his face.

They unfurl slowly, stretching as best they can in the small space, brushing against his legs. "What do you need, Central?"

"Fisher wants you," he says.

The Commander snorts, stands and shakes themselves as if they're drying off from being wet. The collar Guzman gave them jangles.

"What does he need, then?" they ask.

Central shrugs. "Something about a bet."

They roll their eyes. Or at least it feels like they do. Isn't that the same thing, in the end?

"Oh goodie, I love when my soldiers have scores to settle," the Commander says through a yawn.

They see Central shift uncomfortably, don't understand why--

"Sometimes I forget," he says, mostly to himself.

But they hear it. Of course they can hear it. Their head hurts; they feel like they can feel the inner mechanics of their throat, the voicebox, the connections. Obviously they can't. But they feel it anyway. A glitch in their mind's erratic defenses.

The Commander takes a breath-  false air into false lungs; everything a facade of a biological system, all tailor made to keep the brain running.

"Okay, let's go see what the Wonder Ranger wants," they say, half to Central and half themselves.

When they glance back at him as they come out from behind the bar and apporaches Fisher, the Commander sees Central lean forward, his eyes flicking from them to the younger troops, back and forth, taking in the situation.

Something about knowing he's got their back, just like after base fall, just like during the transplant, makes them breathe a little easier.

He's here. The soldiers are here.

They're here.

That must mean something.

[literaturereviewhelp]

Introduction   When tested in the laboratory, the engineering materials usually fails to reach the theoretical strength. This implies that the material performance in service is different from the expected performance hence components designs normally implores the engineer to help in minimizing failures of the materials (Johnson et al., 2015). There are several factors that influence the performance of different components of materials. Some of the major factors include properties of the material which include load or stress system, maintenance and environment (Lippold 2014). Failures in engineering process normally happens due to design deficiencies resulting from poor selection of materials, defect from manufacturing processes and overloading of materials couples with inadequate maintenance of materials. There is need for engineer to prevent system failures whenever it is anticipated (Boyd 2016). In design, the component structure usually asks to reduce possibilities of failure in the system. The metal failure is somehow complex to study since there are several causes of failures which needs to be taken into consideration (Gonzalez-Chavez et al., 2015). Any structural engineer should be in a position to understand the nature of the system being constructed and be able to understand and relate the material requirement for the system. This way failures will be minimized and in case of any failure earlier detection can be done for necessary measures. In this study, we investigate how to improve the methods and the change with different factors in the fracture propagates. In this way we will be able to minimize failures of materials (Settgast et al., 2017). Different measures will be taken in studying materials failures ti help system designers to reduce failures. 1.2 Objectives of the study This study will have both general and specific objectives 1.3 General objective This research seeks to improve the methods and the change with different factors in the fracture propagates 1.4 Specific objectives 1. To determine the effect of viscosity to the fracture. 2. To determine the effect of rang young modulus and Poisson ratio 3. To determine the effect of flow rate to the fracture 2.0 Literature review 2.1 Hydraulic Fracturing Wan et al. (2014) defines hydraulic fracturing as a simulation treatment which is done on oil and gas well which are situated in a low-permeability layers to help in increasing productivity. Usually a special fracturing fluids are pumped at high pressure to the reservoir well at a given interval to help in the treatment of the open vertical fractures. Normally the wings of the fracture extend away from the wellbore in direction opposite the original stress (Wan et al. 2014). Hydraulic fracture helps in creating high conductivity channel within the wider area of formation and help in bypasses any kind of damage that is present in the near wellbore area. 2.2 Operation of the hydraulic fracturing There are several factors which are involves on how the hydraulic functions. There is both the fluid and the solid mechanics taking place within the operation. 2.3 Fluid Leak off The fluids which are being used in different fracturing activities varies from one fracturing to another (Wan et al. 2014). In open fracture, the fracturing fluid is having direct contact with the fracturing surface, the pressure is also exerted on the surface to push the fracturing fluid into the reservoir well (Maddox 2014). In some cases the fluid may flow into the pore spaces within the rock. 2.4 Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics The mechanics of fracture deals with the stability of preexisting cracks and their propagation. The foundation of fracture mechanic were laid down by Troiano (2016) when he applied the energy balance theory on the fracture propagation taking into account the total energy consumed in various parts of the fracturing process which is always constant. The Griffiths theory predicts that the critical σc which is applied remotely in the direction which is perpendicular to the length of the fracture Read the full article

[gaast]

All of the philosophical questions posed by the ARK ("they're not really humans," "they're not really us," etc) are all resolved by the WAU. Don't want to be a data construct living in eternal paradise? Just get assimilated by the WAU. You get to be a human living in eternal paradise instead. You don't even need to worry about Continuity.

The game's ontology is really troubling because I genuinely can't tell if I'm supposed to be happy that the ARK worked. Simon has a very solipsistic view of what's worthy: whichever consciousness he is is the one that is privileged, with his attempts at being sorry for his 2015 self ending up seeming like he's actually sort of relieved that he is not that person anymore. For as important as the ARK is to him, he demonstrates a shocking willingness to treat the consciousnesses that would be inside it as--well, it's odd. On the one hand, he feels sorry for them, and treats them like their own beings. On the other hand, he uses these feelings to decide whether he can take their lives. Catherine's treatment of these constructs is supposed to feel callous, but she isn't the one working herself up over them just to kill them.

If Simon feels so strongly about mercy killing these constructs, then surely the appropriate thing to do with the ARK is to kill it as well.

Simon and Catherine talk about how the ARK is designed to preserve thousands of years of human history, but that simply is not what it's doing. It has preserved a tiny subsection of a history that neither can fully commit to calling "human."

It's so strange. Stories like these always baffle me. The writers convince themselves that humanity itself must be preserved and then wring their hands over whether what they're preserving, or what they can preserve, even counts. Usually it involves characters making value judgements about what gets to be saved, and those value judgements are rarely questioned. "I'm keeping all the good stuff and excluding all the bad stuff." But then--that's not human history, is it?

In SOMA, Catherine can't really pick and choose. She can only take what's available, and that's a good chunk of PATHOS-II staff. But to call that a preservation of human history... A couple dozen scientists. And a dude from Toronto.

Yet, even so, I don't get how Simon feels that these things are worth saving, considering they are not the humans he gives so much weight to. Even as he comes to value Catherine, he still doesn't really see the "copies" as being ontological equals.

And even still, he won't kill himself. He'll kill his other copy, sure (interesting, considering it also serves as an "original," and he sure gave Simon 2015 a lot of weight as an "original!"), but he's gonna survive. Even all alone, with everything destroyed behind him.

...I just think it's a mess, and not in a way that reads super super well. "We can't trust a machine to decide." But we'll trust some scientists. To make a machine. That we'll trust.

It's so muddy. The AI is the evil thing but the simulation machine is fine, even though both do literally the same exact thing, except the AI actually preoccupies itself with preserving measurable life. It's a fairly cheap way to handle things considering AI is easy to make evil, even if it isn't "evil" per se.

I think the main point that I'm trying to make is that plots like these are about authorship and most of these plots never really engage with that.

[longformeditions]

LE023 Lieven Martens Deo Gratias Triginta Sex 17.4.2019

Lieven Martens (Lieven Martens Moana, formerly Dolphins Into the Future) is a composer and observer. Through various recording techniques he creates a conceptual form of programme music that travels beyond the pure description. His works are narrative stills and personal impressions; encounters with objects and thoughts; equally embracing and denying external theories; using the inconveniences of certain techniques and circumstances as the potential creative force; citing history without trying to be a keeper of the tombs of tradition. Amplified with text and pictures, the exotic viewpoint now and then takes a central position. In various ways this hybrid concept is a conductor for questions, critique, adjustment, or for mere amplification. Over the past few years he has been performing all over the globe. From Mexico City, to Tokyo, Niigata, Lisbon, Lecce, Honolulu, Brussels, et al. Between 2009 and 2012 he released several albums under the Dolphins Into the Future moniker on various record labels (Not Not Fun, USA; Fonal, Finland; NNA Tapes, USA; et al). His first LP under his birth name—titled Music From the Guardhouse—was produced by KRAAK (Belgium) in 2013. In 2015 he self-published a compilation of outtakes and sketches produced on various formats, called Songs of Gold, Incandescent. In March 2017, Idylls came out on Pacific City Sound Visions (USA) in co-production with his own Edições CN. And in October 2017, the prolific EM Records from Japan released Three Amazonian Essays, a modern classical reinterpretation of the Spanish cult classic Amazonia by Finis Africae. These albums received critical acclaim from the music media. Next to these activities, Martens runs a private press on which he releases records and editions; and he has been writing commissioned music for ensemble, submitted music for national radio, for film, and for art exhibitions. Furthermore, he’s been presenting his work in the form of lectures at music and art schools. Martens collaborates with fellow artists like Francesco Cavaliere, Roman Hiele (as Hiele Martens), Floris Vanhoof, Spencer Clark and Mia Price (aka Miaux). He also hosts a monthly radio show on the internationally acclaimed LYL Radio from Lyon and Paris, France. In 2016 he received a grant from the Flemish Department of Culture

Artist notes: Johannes Ockeghem (1410–1497), born in Saint Gislain, Hainaut, Belgium, wrote one of our nation’s greatest hits. Deo Gratias is a canon for 36 singers and apparently he wrote this particular song as kind of a joke or game; quickly “between the soup and the potatoes” as we would say in Dutch. Some say Ockeghem had in mind that a much larger number of people should perform this piece, but it was considered too complicated to find enough experienced singers, to make the piece correct measure-wise, et al.

Let’s open Logic X Pro and try and see if we could help Ockeghem to make this vision a (simulated…) reality.

Since this is a creation for deep and/or extended listening I selected a sligtly longer version of the song rendered by Paul Van Nevel and the Huelgas Ensemble, and layered and sequenced this 36 times in row. Every new sequence starts more or less according to Ockeghem’s original transcript. Small detail… in the version of the Huelgas Ensemble no more than 18 voices are singing contemporarily. As soon as the first voice of the fourth (bass) chorus reaches its final note every voice freezes at its current line in the melody.

The layering of these sounds in the computer let the overtones shine and the human breathing and whistling create pretty rhythmic parents. The project shows that Ockeghems original idea is kind of genius—however you layer this music, the final result, be it a bit dense and somewhat congested drone, is still very harmonic. Inspiring.

At first I started cutting, trimming and pitch correcting parts, making the piece a more correct rendition of the original four canon idea. But then I realised that the best manner to execute this version is to keep it simple and short, between the forementioned ‘soup and potatoes’. So here goes with all the gentle flaws…

At certain points you hear the same part overlaid eleven times. Thus 11 × 18 singers = 198 singers! Here’s to making Ockeghem’s grand vision come to (simulated) life.

Deep listening is: Thinking Listening Enjoying Creating Manifesting Realising All of the above None of the above

[jcmarchi]

NASA’s Webb Telescope Improves Simulation Software - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/nasas-webb-telescope-improves-simulation-software-technology-org/

NASA’s Webb Telescope Improves Simulation Software - Technology Org

The James Webb Space Telescope truly explores the unknown, displaying stunning images of previously unseen corners of the universe only possible because of the telescope’s 21-foot segmented mirror that unfurled and assembled itself in space.

The James Webb Space Telescope captures a tightly bound pair of actively forming stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, in high-resolution near-infrared light. Image credit: NASA

Decades of testing went into the materials, design, and processes needed to develop the largest telescope in space. However, the whole project was too complex to test on the ground, at scale, at minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and in other space-like conditions.

Instead, engineers relied on software simulations to understand how the telescope would behave under different in-space conditions, and that work has helped advance the whole field of integrated computer modeling.

The Ansys Zemax OpticStudio software package, pictured here in a demo of James Webb Space Telescope mirror modeling, was equipped with new capabilities and features due to being used in the observatory’s development. Image credit: Ansys Inc.

“We pushed everything, all the simulation, just as hard as it would go,” said Erin Elliott, an optical engineer at Ansys, Inc., which makes Ansys Zemax OpticStudio, one of the design software suites used to develop hardware and software for the Webb telescope.

Simulation technology has improved dramatically over the last two decades because of increased computing power and new ways of accessing offsite computing power as a cloud service. But additional improvements trace back directly to Webb’s development.

.Elliott used OpticStudio to support the Webb telescope while working for NASA contractors, beginning in the early 2000s, before starting work in 2015 for Zemax, which was bought in 2021 by Ansys Inc, which is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

In the early days, Elliott said, Zemax tweaked its software for the Webb telescope effort. “They made some specific changes for us at the time having to do with handling the coordinate systems of the segments,” she said, referring to the 18 hexagonal segments that make up the telescope’s primary mirror.

Elliott also recalled talking to Zemax leadership numerous times about the need for the software to communicate better with other Microsoft Windows programs.

The company introduced an API, or application programming interface, for OpticStudio, which enables the suite to work with other programs and allows for further customization. There were plenty of reasons to add that technology but Webb demands were likely significant among them, Elliott said.

An engineer examines the Webb telescope primary mirror Engineering Design Unit segment in the clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Image credit: NASA

Joseph Howard, an optical engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where Webb and its science instrument module were assembled, noted that using several modeling packages helped drive innovation in the field.

“It’s important to have multiple software companies out there that can help you not only for cross-checking the modeling, but because they make each other better through competition,” he said.

In addition to improvements made to OpticStudio during Webb telescope development, the company in 2021 introduced the Structural, Thermal, Analysis, and Results (STAR) module, which benefited from the knowledge Elliott gained working on the NASA project.

The first six flight-ready James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror segments are prepped to begin final cryogenic testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Image credit: NASA

When a mirror or lens changes shape due to temperature swings, the optics move. Much of the OpticStudio modeling was completed in smaller pieces — engineers would run a thermal simulation independently and add that data to the next optical model, generating more data for the next run.

The STAR module incorporates analyses from other simulation software directly into OpticStudio optical models — an efficiency applicable to telescope and aerospace designs. This feature is also increasingly important for autonomous vehicles, cell phone lenses, and other optics working in tough environments.

Future telescopes and other spacecraft are likely to involve elements of the Webb design. More will travel in segments that must self-assemble in space, and the development of the increasingly complicated robotics and optics will rely on improved modeling software.

“When we built Webb, we knew we couldn’t fully test it on the ground prior to flight, so we depended a whole lot upon modeling and doing analysis to get ready for flight,” Howard said. “The next great observatory will be even more dependent on modeling software.”

Meanwhile, designers of more earthly technologies are already seeing the benefits of an improved OpticStudio, using it to design precision endoscopes, a thermal imager to detect COVID-19 exposures in a crowd, augmented reality displays and headsets, a laser thruster technology for nanosatellites, and, of course, more telescopes.

Elliott also noted that the Webb telescope project trained the next cohort of telescope and optical device builders – those designing and using the telescope’s technological spinoffs.

“The people who built the Hubble Space Telescope were leading the Webb Telescope,” she said. “And now the younger engineers who cut our teeth on this project and learned from it are becoming the group of people who will build the next structures.”

Elliott maintains that the project “was worth it alone for training this huge cohort of young engineers and releasing them into high-tech fields.”

Source: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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