#liquidity aggregator

[cockburnconcrete]

Liquid Limestone Patios Perth

For high-quality Liquid Limestone Patios Perth, Cockburn Concrete specializes in creating stunning outdoor spaces with durable and stylish liquid limestone. Their expert team handles every aspect of your project, ensuring your patio stands out and complements your home or business. When it comes to a Perth Liquid Limestone Patio, Cockburn Concrete offers the perfect combination of aesthetics and…

[rock-n-roll-queen]

There’s two aggregate states of axl rose. Solid and liquid x

[visit-ba-sing-se]

Avatar: Master of which elements, exactly?

Yes, I know this is a kids' show, and the bending system is based on an in-universe system of magic. Anyway, I think this is fun to think about.

Water: We see Waterbenders bending water in liquid, solid (ice), and gaseous (steam) forms. This, along with the fact that they can even change the water's aggregate state and temperature, suggests that they are influencing the individual water molecules and therefore actually bending water in the chemical sense. (Shh, no, I am not getting into the healing part here—that is spirit magic.)

Air: Air is not as straightforward. It could be "air" in the strict sense of containing 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases (which would then lead to the question of how far these percentages could be off before bending becomes impossible). It could, however, also be possible that anything can be bent as long as it is in a gaseous state.

Fire: My first guess here was just pure thermal energy. In that case, "creating" fire would mean heating up the material until spontaneous combustion occurs. Thermal energy can even be used to create electricity, so lightning bending could work with this theory. However, since air is generally not flammable and flames just hovering over people's hands are a pretty big deal in ATLA, I am at a bit of a loss. Where does the fire come from? What is it even burning? Why am I even trying to figure out this magic-based system?

Earth: Yeah, honestly, I am sorry, but it does not get more sophisticated than rocks and dirt.

Feel free to add and share your thoughts!

[outerwildsgeology]

What is a Rock?

Hey folks!

Before we get started with sharing our full survey notes, we thought it would be a good idea to go over some basic terminology to ensure we're all on the same page!

What is a Rock?

No, seriously! What counts as a “rock”? Geologically speaking, a rock is a solid, naturally-occurring collection of minerals. It might be made of a single mineral type, or multiple, but it is an aggregate of many individual mineral crystals that are interlocked together.

Fig. 1: An image of a coarse-grained granite showing individual crystals of feldspar, mica and quartz. Note that the entire rock is made up of these interlocking crystals.

What is a Mineral?

Okay, so we know what a rock is now - it's made up of minerals. But, what is a mineral? A mineral is a building component of rocks, and they have a very specific definition based on particular criteria that must be met. For something to be considered a mineral, it must meet all the following criteria:-

It must be solid

It must be naturally-occurring

It must be inorganic

It must have a definite and known chemical composition

It must have a defined crystal structure

What does this actually mean? Let’s walk through it. Criterion one discounts anything that is a liquid - such as water. As you know, rocks and minerals can become liquid when exposed to high temperatures, magma and lava for example, but in this form, they are not minerals, and therefore not rocks! They can only be classed as minerals once they solidify, provided they meet the other criteria alongside.

Fig. 2: Image of lava (a non-mineral due to its liquid form) and basalt (a fine grained, igneous rock, and the solidified form of many low viscosity lava flows).

As for the other criteria, naturally-occurring and inorganic are self-explanatory. No crystals that can only be manufactured in a laboratory setting are true minerals, because they cannot exist in nature! Crystals that are commonly lab-grown but can exist in nature (such as moissanite) still count as minerals. Inorganic means the mineral can be formed by inorganic processes. Something like calcite can be produced by animals (such as clam shells) but can also be formed by geological processes without the involvement of any living thing. This actually discounts amber as a mineral - since it is tree resin (formed organically) and is not replaced by any other minerals as is the case with fossilisation - therefore amber is not a mineral!

Having a definite chemical composition is also pretty much what it sounds like - it needs to have a chemical formula - a sequence of elements organized to form a compound that we know the definite composition of. For example, the chemical composition of quartz is SiO₂, which means it is a compound made up of atoms of silica and oxygen. Similarly, the composition of potassium feldspar - KAlSi₃O₈ is made up of potassium, aluminium, silica and oxygen atoms. When dealing with specific types of rocks, such as fine grained igneous specimens, the fine grain size of the individual crystals often makes it impractical to determine rock type via crystal analysis alone, so some geologists will use chemical analysis to aid in this - hence why it's important to know the definite chemical composition of your specimens!

Lastly, a mineral must have a crystal structure - but what is a crystal structure? The simplest way to imagine this is with building blocks. Each block is the unit that defines the chemical composition - for example, SiO₄ for quartz. So, one “block” of quartz will be a unit of SiO₄. By arranging these blocks in a repeating pattern, a larger structure begins to take form. Crystals are naturally orderly structures - imagine the blocks are piled nicely on top of each other, this is why many crystals have such well defined shapes!

Fig. 3: Diagram showing the atomic "building block" structure of quartz using a 3D model and ball-and-stick diagram; diagram showing "building blocks" arranged in the natural crystal structure; image of a quartz crystal - note the same crystal structure!

Something like glass, or a naturally-occurring glass, like obsidian, has these blocks arranged randomly, like if you were to take your tower and throw it into a storage bin. Because obsidian lacks this order on an atomic level, it isn’t considered a true mineral!

Fig. 4: Image showing a fragment of obsidian. Note the conchoidal fracturing on the obsidian - this is caused by the lack of organisation in its structure. The disorganised nature of natural glass and obsidian exclude them from being a true crystal, and therefore they are also not considered true minerals.

Unfortunately, we aren’t going to be able to run any chemical analyses in Outer Wilds, but we’ll do our best to compare what we see to real-world rocks, minerals, and features, and hopefully this will be able to steer us in the correct direction regarding some of these criteria to ensure we are making the most scientifically informed analyses possible!

What is a Fossil?

Now, we just said that minerals and rocks can’t be organic, and you’re probably thinking, well hold on a second, what about fossils? How can something that was organic become inorganic, and then a rock?

Let’s start by defining what a fossil actually is. Fossils are described as “any preserved remains, or trace of a once-living thing from a past geological age.” This includes anything from the fossilised skeletons of dinosaurs, to the delicate imprints of leaves and plants. Now, it’s important to note that not all fossils are rocks. Objects preserved in amber, for example, are classed as fossils - but as they remain organic they cannot be classed as a rock.

How do we go from something organic, like a bone, to an inorganic version of it? Probably the most well known form of fossilisation is via replacement - where organic remains are replaced by inorganic minerals. Most bones are made up of calcium phosphate and other organic materials. When an animal dies and is buried by sediment, these organic materials are replaced by inorganic crystals in a process known as permineralisation. Permineralisation occurs when the pores of the original specimen are infilled with mineral matter from the ground or water - which then, bit by bit, replace the original organics with minerals, eventually completely replacing the whole specimen! When this occurs, you no longer have your original animal bone, but instead a replica of it with a completely inorganic composition - a fossil! The minerals involved in replacement can vary widely, which can produce spectacular finds such as these pyritised ammonites, or opalised vertebrae!

Fig. 5: Fossilised remains of two opalised Iguanodon vertebrae; a pyritised Ammonite.

Other fossils, such as footprints and burrows provide a record of an organism’s life, as opposed to actual remains of the organism itself. These fossils are known as trace fossils and are normally impressions that have been made in soft mud/soil that has then lithified. The cool thing about trace fossils, and especially footprints, is that you’re left with a cast of whatever part of the creature made contact with the substrate - sometimes with incredible detail of footpads, claws, and/or skin. Other trace fossils include things like coprolites, gizzard stones, and nests! A trace fossil is also completely inorganic, as it’s simply an imprint of a creature, or something a creature left behind, and as such, technically classes as a rock!

Fig. 6: Photograph showing a dinosaur footprint mould and a dinosaur footprint cast. Both of these are trace fossils and have been formed via sediment infilling and lithification.

Alright, there was a lot of information there, but hopefully it has provided you with a strong foundation and understanding of what classes as a true rock! In our next post, we will be diving into the different rock types and the funky structures and features that they can create!

Hopefully, you’ll soon be able to start identifying a variety of rocks in your own Outer Wilds adventures!

If you have any questions regarding what we have talked about here, or indeed just about the Outer Wilds Geological Survey in general, please don't hesitate to drop us an ask!

Catch you in the next loop! The OWGS Team

[pixie-dust-and-pain]

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone

Words: 2,459 TW: Talk of drugs, and science

PLEASE ENSURE SAFE LAB PRACTICE. DO NOT DO THIS (gestures to vaguely everything)

“Combining derivatives of ACTH and LSD? Really? A potent fear cocktail. I’d replace the LSD with Tetrahydrocannabinol if I was you, though,” “Less potent,” he answers reflexively, voice hoarse and jaw slack. She peers at him, unimpressed. “Less fatal. This would send people into cardiac arrest. Just hand-feed them belladonna if you want to induce terrifying hallucinations then kill them,” she isn’t disgusted, or terrified by his revelation, but is instead judging his competence. It makes something in him bristle. It also makes his cock twitch.

TL;DR: Jonathan Crane meets smart lady. Smart lady sees past his bullshit and laughs at him. Jonathan Crane is about to swoon. Jonathan Crane is me.

The first time he sees her, he’s running on the five hours of sleep he’s aggregated sporadically in the past few days, eyelids burning every time he blinks them and head drooping wherever he’s hunched over his research, awake only by the grace of caffeine and his own excitement, poorly constrained glee running through his veins as his brain works at an ungodly speed, handwriting stretched and barely legible in his mess of papers, crazed and delirious, drunk off of the exhilarating feeling of nearing a breakthrough, anticipation under his skin, fingers twitching to wrap around the fleshy fruit of success and tear into it, so close, so close-

He shoves the chemistry lab doors open, unceremonious and loud in the empty building, and is met with a high, panicked yelp, followed by the crash of something undoubtedly breaking. A girl-his age, younger maybe, eyes wide and round with surprise, messy, stained labcoat, yellow-pink stained latex gloves and the indents of safety goggles, the same ones on her head, probably, around her eyes, blue mask, messy hair-stares back at him, her broken test tube on the floor.

This isn’t unfamiliar territory, not wholly, but it is…unexpected. The Gotham University laboratories are open to students at all hours, a bit recklessly, and while it’s not uncommon to see students trying to finish off their projects a few days before the deadlines in the middle of the night, it is uncommon to see them in the middle of the semester, no major deadlines in the foreseeable future.

There are two ways this plays out: one, she’s disgusted by him and leaves the lab, uncaring of whatever project she’s probably overdue on. Two, she makes passive aggressive remarks until he leaves (not going to happen) and they stay stuck there till morning, in each other’s lovely company.

She still hasn’t moved.

He raises a brow, glances at her puddle of reddish-brown liquid at her feet, a coagulated something letting out a silent hiss. She follows his line of sight, an expression of exhaustion overcoming her as she grabs a mass of tissues and begins sopping up her solution, uncaring when a drop comes in contact with the sliver of skin between her gloves and coat. The act irks him.

The dripping glob goes in the chemical waste bin, and she turns to fix him with a wary stare. He inclines his head, a facsimile of acknowledgement, “Jonathan Crane,”

It’s a minute’s worth of pause before she mimics the gesture, returning his name with hers, expression carefully blank in that way he knows is crafted. Not a crack in that mask, he notes, mildly amused.

She turns away, ignoring his existence, hands working in well-practiced movements as she rinses out her standard flask, switching on her weighing machine with a dry, knuckled glove.

“Overdue project?” he asks, curiosity getting the best of him, carefully spreading out his own notes on a different bench, wincing internally at the messily cleaned state of the equipment.

She pulls down the mask, and he observes her almost clinically. Pink lips, tinted lip-balm, bitten raw and mildly bloody in one corner-an anxiety soothing mechanism? Or a body-focused repetitive behavior?-soft-looking cheeks, an ink-stain running down the corner of her face, almost faded.

She shakes her head in response, sucking up whatever she’s prepared in her conical flask with the pipette, mouth on one end of the tube, transferring it to her standard. He raises a brow. The method’s a bit old-fashioned, and with its own risks, but she seems confident as she transfers her solution. “Personal project. You?”

His lips curl, barely a smile. “The same,”

He ignores her after that, as she does him, instead venturing to prepare his first batch of a stress-inducer. She flits about the lab like she belongs, obviously familiar with it, with the air of someone who places lab safety second in their list of priorities, and results first, routinely sniffing her chemicals and wiping wet, soapy gloves on her coat like a chef with her apron.

His own method is relatively neater, not in the manner of a wary, stringent rule-follower, but in the manner of a man who likes his workplace clean-precise.  A tissue-box on his workbench, along with a packet of gloves, his coat pristine and his method textbook. At one point, the thumb of her glove dissolves, and she only grimaces, pulling out another, blue glove from her pockets. Her other glove is an off-white, and she doesn’t seem bothered by the two different colours.

Even watching her grates on his nerves. He looks away.

It’s during the late, or maybe the early, hours when he finally sits down, blinking rapidly to keep exhaustion at bay. She passes by him, headed to the fume-hood, and pauses, before making her way back to her bag, a garish blue denim thing, and pulling out a flask. For a moment he wonders if it’s alcoholic, before she strips off her gloves and hands it to him, uncapping it, and the strong aroma of well-made coffee hits his nose.

“No food and drinks allowed in the lab,” he says reflexively.

She raises a brow, retracting her arm slowly, and pointedly takes a sip.

“The rule’s there for a reason-this is a safety hazard. Should your coffee be contaminated with-”

She takes another sip.

He accepts the flask.

She doesn’t return to her own work, instead cracking her neck in a way that makes even him wince, and dragging over a stool to sit next to him, pushing away his meticulously arranged equipment with a carelessness that evokes immediate irritation, before he realizes that she’s been careful enough to not disturb his test-tube rack, holding the half-precipitated mixture he’s been waiting on.

“What’s your major?” it’s the first question she’s asked him all night. It’s a stupid one, he wants to tell her, as she rifles through his notes.

“Psychology,”

“Not chemistry?” she asks, amused. She’s staring at his formulae a little too closely. It makes him antsy, he wants to rip it out of her hands, clutch the papers to his chest. Nevertheless, her comment is flattering.

“That too,”

She huffs out a laugh, “Smart. What’re you making?”

“Trying to generate a new anxiolytic to assist with anxiety-attacks,” he answers easily.

She doesn’t answer him for a long minute, before turning to him in her seat, leaning back against the desk in a way he’s certain isn’t permitted, lab-etiquette absolutely atrocious, pushing the goggles up to her hair and her mask to her chin, gaze curious. “Really? How would it work?”

He blinks, taken aback momentarily, “Competitively binds with the receptors in the CNS responsible for adrenal release,”

She hums thoughtfully, the way she’s looking at him making him feel almost like…prey.

He’s seen this look before, of course, but not on others. Not directed to him. He’s been mistaken for prey-weak, lanky Jonathan, the freak-but never before has he felt as threatened as he does now. It has him on edge, his heart racing, as he over-analyzes every movement of hers-her delicate fingers playing with the edges of his papers, her body relaxed, half-sprawled across his work, legs crossed casually, the toe of her sneakers, pale pink running shoes, flexing, the tilt of her head, the calculative glint of her eyes, deceptively innocent, the way she’s chewing her bottom lip, leaving it spit slicked and-

What the fuck.

Mentally, he draws a connection between anxiety and heightened state of arousal and lust. This is scientific, he tells himself. His internal rationalization comes to a screeching halt when she smiles, toothy and sharp, almost shark-like, the corners of her eyes crinkling in genuine delight.

“And how does your anxiogenic factor into the synthesis of your anxiolytic, Jonathan?”

She says her name like an endearment in itself, low, syllables curling around it almost indecently. She’s still watching him-analyzing him, and he should be thinking of a contingency plan, because nobody has been able to look at his notes for that brief a period of time and come to the conclusion that fast. She’s terrifyingly intelligent, quick and clever and hiding brilliance under carelessness. She’s a threat, a match of equal intellect. She’s dangerous, he tells himself.

She’s thrilling.

“I don’t know what you mean,”

Her smile widens. She’s looking at him like one might look at a defiant child, endeared and slightly fond. Patronizing. It has immediate irritation curling in his gut, vitriol souring his palate. It also has him weak in the knees, at the implications of it.

She knows.

“Combining derivatives of ACTH and LSD? Really? A potent fear cocktail. I’d replace the LSD with Tetrahydrocannabinol if I was you, though,”

“Less potent,” he answers reflexively, voice hoarse and jaw slack. She peers at him, unimpressed.

“Less fatal. This would send people into cardiac arrest. Just hand-feed them belladonna if you want to induce terrifying hallucinations then kill them,” she isn’t disgusted, or terrified by his revelation, but is instead judging his competence. It makes something in him bristle. It also makes his cock twitch.

“The hallucinogenic effects of a milder dose of LSD are more potent than those of concentrated doses of cannabinoids. Besides, LSD is a suppressor, in mild doses it shouldn’t be threatening,” he leans towards her, resting his elbows on his work bench (revolting, something inside him screams), long fingers twisting the knob of her flask.

She smiles, slightly, giving him a look of such unbridled academic interest, like he’s a particularly interesting research paper, or some forbidden fruit of knowledge she wants to bite into. “Doesn’t sound like a product meant for the betterment of society,”

“Neither were guns, and yet,”

She laughs, caught off-guard by the quip, the sound bright and lovely as her eyes crinkle shut and she shakes her head, leaning forward, closer to him.

“Psychological torture technique?” she finally asks once she’s calmed down, mien brighter and more at ease than she was minutes ago.

“A personal interest. Scratching an itch, if you will,”

“Disregarding scientific ethic to satiate your curiosity?”

“We all have our flaws, mine seems to be an inability to leave a matter unstudied. And at the risk of playing devil’s advocate, a good majority of scientific advancement has come at the cost of human lab rats,”

“Does progression ignore morality, then? Or is it simply superior?”

He ducks his head, feigning sheepishness. “That’s subjective, I think,”

She raises a brow, as if asking so what? “I’m asking for your subjective answer,”

He tilts his head, words slow and deliberate as he constructs his sentence on just the right side of socially acceptable, though at this point he has a feeling she’s realized he’s anything but, “I feel that in some cases progression takes precedence to morality,”

“And your intellectual progression takes precedence to everything else?” Her tone is accusatory but her words aren’t sharp. Curious, more like. Like she wants to cut open his skull and carve his brain out, study it and dissect it so she can figure out how he ticks.

He’s had people be fascinated by him before, but he’s never been fascinated back.

He licks his dry lips, clears his throat. “Perhaps you’re projecting; I can assure you, my own regard for my intellect is humble and objective,”

“Of all the ego-defense mechanisms I’d resort to, projection isn’t one of them, Jonathan,” she smiles sardonically, two predators circling each other, “Perhaps you’re simply in denial. Why else create something so twisted, and yet something that harms the mind, and the mind alone? A desire for power, is it? Or perhaps control?” she’s looking at him with lidded-eyes, though that may just be tiredness, but her posture is challenging, her gaze sharp enough to cut. He shivers at the cadence of her words, at the thinly veiled barbs disguised as theories.

“Funny, I’d have thought you’d follow a more humanistic approach,” he feels oddly faint, a confusing mix of feelings overriding his rationality, flushing further under the warmth of her smile at his comment, at the roll of eyes that he’d usually find rude and undignified. He averts his gaze

Is this puberty finally kicking in? Is this my sexual awakening? In college and being judged for my questionable scientific pursuits?

He finally looks at her, drinking her in in her entirety, swallowing hard and forcing himself to take deep breaths. She’s a genius. She’s beautiful. She’s looking at him like she’s minutes away from calling an ambulance.

“What are you?” he rasps out, and then immediately reconsiders his word-choice at her offended look.

“Excuse me?”

“Major. What major are you?”

“Oh,” her cheeks dust pink, and it’s the prettiest thing he’s ever seen, “Medicine,”

No wonder. Even so, he’s had professors glance and ogle his notes before, none of them bothering to actually understand the material, not when swamped by enough work and research as is. And in the rare case that they did catch the gist of it, they never went as far as connecting the dots.

She looks at him, seeing, before slinking off the stool, making her way over to her own table as she snaps her gloves back on, pulling her mask up and grabbing a bright blue test tube, giving him a wide berth as she makes her way to the acids.

She drips nitric acid down the side of her text-tube carefully, hands steady, before glancing back at him, dropper still in hand. “We’re out of acidic anhydride,” she says simply. “Use acyl chloride, or make your own if you have the time. And if you’re making ferrous sulfate then lend me some too,”

He was not making ferrous sulfate. He has no need for it-at least, not now. He watches her make her way to the autoclave, completely at ease despite the fact that what he was synthesizing in these labs was probably illegal on some level.

Unbidden, he speaks, already moving towards the sulfuric acid.  “I wanted to study the direct effects of biological response to fear in generating fear itself. How willfully will the body mold the hallucinogenic to provide disturbing imagery when the body is displaying symptoms of stress with no stressful stimuli present?”

She nods, slowly, turned away from him. “Reversal of cause-and-effect,”

“Yes. And,” he pauses here, gauging her reaction, “Whether a different sort of imagery could be generated were the symptoms only slightly tweaked, as fear, being a primal emotion, shares the same biological effects with many others,”

“Such as?” she turns to him this time, genuinely curious.

This time, it’s he who eyes her like she’s prey, a look she seems oddly at ease with-if not welcoming when directed at her. “Lust,”

Beneath the mask, she smiles. 

[valuedeversourcecustomer]

on film and computational thinking: or how the internet impacts you, even if you think you know better

as someone who watches more movies than most people I know who aren't filmmakers/film critics with an interest in watching complete filmographies i find myself constantly struggling with and teetering this line with some directors who intimidate me and asking an extremely unproductive question. "do i watch what most people would widely consider to be their best works first or early on, or do I build up to it?" this is also something i compulsively struggle with especially with authors to the point of it interfering with me reading as much as I'd like.

something i arrived at tonight after reading margaret killjoy's the barrow will send what it may cover to cover in a single sitting is that life is too short to be that absurd and think that little of my own capacity to appreciate art when i very obviously do.

i maintain a letterboxd and review everything i log so long as i finish it (there is not a single work that is owed your time if you are not getting anything from it) and my reviews skew like this

for the record, that is absurdly positive and i think a truly baffling number of movies are perfect bc quite honestly i'm just not that much of a believer in numerical scores, and i tend to give a film 5 stars based on whether or not i was thoroughly entertained/it provoked meaningful thought and took no issues with it and thought it was exactly the movie it was intended to be. the only things that shake that are when someone in the cast/crew is blatantly not on the same page.

by comparison, here's the stats of a mutual i have on there who i often disagree with but respect their opinions all the same and sometimes our opinions line up more or less exactly

if you showed me this without context I would just think this person did not like movies very much and was watching them out of spite but it's also very reasonable to say that on a technical level most movies are fundamentally flawed. I'm just coming from a place where I acknowledge not everything is, nor should everything be, a Kubrick, Godard, Tarkovsky, or any other widely acclaimed auteur.

now, why did I feel the need to share these graphs in supporting my own point about how I'm not respecting my own capacity to love narratives on their own merit? put simply, I believe that aggregations of art criticism, being reduced down to a numerical value is doing atrocious things to the brain, even if you otherwise may think you're immune to it.

CLEARLY I don't care that much and am bringing my own personal connection to the table when I'm engaging with film criticism on my own. I often watch widely acclaimed films and think "really? THIS?" just as I watch a forgotten action movie from the early 90s starring Pierce Brosnan in which terrorists create an odorless tasteless liquid that turns the human body into an explosive device and give it a 5 star review.

so if I am so rooted in my own tastes, why do i still hesitate to watch things for fear I'll like them too much to get as much enjoyment out of other works? the answer, unfortunately, is the same reason that people dismiss complex movies that end up with a 70% on rotten tomatoes, assuming it's "mid" and carrying on, and it's a pervasive problem plaguing the entire internet and the way we think away from it.

for all of the convenience and access to entertainment the internet has afforded us, it has also limited the bounds of what we seek out in a way that is undeniable. nearly nobody is going to refute that you need to actively try to break out of algorithms these days. in the very same way that these algorithms and computers and even how rotten tomatoes calculates a percentage on the "tomatometer" only generally understand yes and no values with zero nuance between it, the more time we spend in that space, the more susceptible we are to imitating it.

James Bridle refers to this phenomenon as "computational thinking" in his increasingly prescient book "New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future" and if there is one book of theory out there that I believe everyone on the internet should read it's that one, especially with how things have developed post-covid since its initial publishing in 2018.

The gist of his idea of computational thinking involves our own increased tendency to respect consensus and be vulnerable to defaulting to confirmation bias. it's so incredibly easy to dunk on people who are wrong on the internet and laugh when they are unable to articulate a response, but once you see it as an imitation of a computer, unable to comprehend outside of what it knows the same way an automated voice redirecting your call to customer service doesn't understand nuance, it's bonechilling. it looks a lot less like a closeminded fool on the internet and more like they're someone who has been sequestered to their own bubble and can't get out and literally has been fed regurgitated propaganda to the point of sickness for the benefit of the oppressor

at what point do the devices we are forced to engage with beget serious illness and will we collectively know where to draw that line, or should it already have been drawn? was this always going to be the destination so long as the rapid development and incorporation of information technology into daily life coincided with capitalism? was this in lock step with the surveillance state the point all along? i wish those answers weren't so straightforward, because it makes me feel like a pessimist.

some of this makes me think of generative AI as well and the battle for creative integrity. it makes me question whether we've had creative integrity at all for a while. for what it's worth, when we've collectively pared our tastes down to the lowest common denominator by allowing algorithms to take over without even noticing, made space for only established IP to thrive, and allowed confirmation bias and numerical scores to drive the zeitgeist, and the studios pandered to cinemasins ass dorks who've never heard of willful suspension of disbelief and we ate every snarky "well that just happened" up for over a decade, were we not all complicit in paving the way for some AI bullshit to write scripts and generate content? I don't think it's far fetched to argue that these are all rolled into a progression of the same technostate and I'd also argue that it would be hypocritical to reject AI without also rejecting what turning the world into a tech space has done to our collective humanity. at best, looking at generative AI, for all it's trained with, is like looking in a crude mirror and i think it's safe to say we don't like what it's reflecting, not just the means of how it reflects it.

i still feel a lot of hope for the world in spite of everything, perhaps specifically TO spite everything, and if there's anything I want whoever reads this unedited meandering stream-of-consciousness lightweight theory piece with. please interrupt your own thought process every day, especially when you wish to reject something outright (except fascism) and ask. is it actually rejection or is it discomfort with the unfamiliar? am i being the AI i criticize?

for the good of the world, please talk to your neighbors and be kind, especially to the people you don't expect to agree with who don't hold power over you. at a certain point positive tangible experiences can and will change minds in meaningful ways. above all else please be safe, it's only going to get more confusing from here because none of this infrastructure we've built will be going anywhere unless in a cataclysmic event so buckle up.

[the-fluffy-folio]

Catalyst EI-03 – Potion, very rare

It is said that these strange bottles were discovered in the ruins of the very same Institute of Microzoological Alchemy the steamlets escaped from many years ago. Found in a locker marked ‘Catalyst EI-03‘, the contained liquid constantly changes its aggregate state and seems to give chaotic elemental powers when consumed. 

🔮 If you like my work, kindly consider to support me on Patreon to gain access to monster pages, tokens & artwork of over 220 quirky creatures as well as dozens of potion & item cards based on their lore.

[intairnwetrust]

I never understood the difference between an ice wielder and a water wielder. Why is there a differentiation? It's not like Ridoc can only wield water in a solid aggregate state. So when are you a water wielder and when are you an ice wielder?

Does your name depend on what you could wield first? According to the motto you freeze water first then you are an ice wielder or you move liquid water first and then you are a water wielder? Do ice wielders find it easier to wield ice than water wielders and vice versa?

Is there such a thing as fog wielders? Looking at the third aggregate state of water lol.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Sustainable and reversible 3D printing method uses minimal ingredients and steps

A new 3D printing method developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego is so simple that it uses a polymer ink and salt water solution to create solid structures. The work, published in Nature Communications, has the potential to make materials manufacturing more sustainable and environmentally friendly. The process uses a liquid polymer solution known as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), or PNIPAM for short. When this PNIPAM ink is extruded through a needle into a calcium chloride salt solution, it instantly solidifies as it makes contact with the salt water. Researchers used this process to print solid structures with ease. This rapid solidification is driven by a phenomenon called the salting-out effect, where the salt ions draw water molecules out of the polymer solution due to their strong attraction to water. This removal of water causes the hydrophobic polymer chains in the PNIPAM ink to densely aggregate, creating a solid form.

Read more.

[katjohnadams]

"Capitalism" as we know it is no longer a functioning system. On a purely logistical approach, what we see now is not a healthy economy but a system of aggregation where those with financial power are not interested in a moving economy and liquid assets but of hoarding wealth. They aren't desirous of capital to buy more things or do more stuff. They have no grand ambitions.

These are not the industry moguls of yesteryear who sought to create empires of companies and production facilities that drive economy, but greedy children who are trying to win a game of numbers and power.

And they are winning.

The game started on unequal footing: those with the capital to begin with turned it against the government and regulation in order to tip the slide ever in their favor. As they push down on their side, even more trickles along with the gravity of power and ends up on their side, pushing it down even further.

There is no way to "win" this game except to start off a winner. They will cannibalize us until there is nothing left but our bones. And then they will want those. As if that is not already where we are.

We cannot play their game, because we aren't even players. We are pawns on the board, pieces to be used. And so?

Radical things must happen. We must collectivize and Strike. We must not turn the gears for them. We must not let them use our bodies and minds as coal for their engines.

[cockburnconcrete]

Perth Liquid Limestone Paths

For high-quality Perth Liquid Limestone Paths, Cockburn Concrete offers expert solutions to enhance your outdoor spaces. Their team specializes in installing durable and stylish Liquid Limestone Paths Perth, creating a sleek, natural look that complements any landscape design. If you’re looking for a unique and long-lasting solution, their Liquid Limestone Path services are perfect for…

[carterashofficial]

So, what is the difference between concrete and cement? I genuinely didn't know there was one.

Okay so 1- I'm not sober right now and 2- Concrete was one of my top 3 favorite college classes (along with botany and architectural history from early gothic to 1700s-ish. yes i had a concrete class. it was required for my major)

So *Cement (the OG stuff) is like. old as balls. its been used since the dawn of time and is like. water+ chalky rock stuff. it's got the structural integrity of a saltine cracker, so if you touch it wrong it crumbles, much like my self esteem.

Then the Roman came along, looked at *Cement, and thought "i wanna make it better" and then went and invented Concrete. The One True Big Deal OverPowered Concrete recipe used in Ancient Rome has unfortunately been lost to time. However- we know the basics. Cement + Water + Fly Ash + Aggregate (you might be thinking "hang on, cement is in concrete?" it always has been). So what are these things?

Cement: the basic ingredient. its cement.

Water: H2O preferably in liquid form

Fly Ash: well-done charcoal in a Supremely Fine Powder

Fine Aggregate: sand, essentially.

Coarse Aggregate: small-medium gravel

So you mix all of these things together and you get Concrete. Unlike the fragile cement, Concrete doesn't give a damn how you touch it unless you're a jackhammer. if cement is the crumbly saltine cracker, concrete is a graham cracker. Stronger, heavier, and overall better.

back to Ancient Rome.

So Concrete has been Invented and those Romans use it to build the Colosseum, because they could and no one could stop them. deep at the bottom of the Colosseum are concrete walls like 9 feet deep. Because their structural engineering can be summed up as "lets make it an arch" and that was it. It was the only way to hold up all those wall and different levels above.

You might now be thinking "hang on Carter, why don't other giant modern buildings not have 9' deep concrete walls. b/c thats ridiculous" It's because the Romans excelled at a lot of things, however they did not use rebar. rebar in concrete started in the 1800s, which led to the boom of Tall Buildings across the globe. Like the first Skyscraper was only 10? stories.

So now we have Concrete + Rebar. just about all Concrete you see in the wild has rebar in it. your sidewalk? rebar. Driveway? rebar. the in-ground pool? Rebar.

But in that below ground pool, its not just concrete. it's Concrete + Additives/Admixtures.

Additives/Admixtures: fancy schmancy chemically engineered compounds to change various things about the concrete, such as:

Concrete cures slower

Concrete handles the expansion/contraction of ice/water better

Concrete has a different Heat of Hydration temp

Colored Concrete (i've seen red for fire lines, aka STOP DIGGING)

Before I continue, i need to explain Heat of Hydration. when the cement, the primary ingredient in concrete, cures (goes from gloop to solid), it lets off heat. it gets hot. Spicy Cement. This is why when you get cement/concrete on your clothes or skin, you're supposed to wash it off ASAP. its corrosive AF and will give you a chemical burn. which like, no bueno. supremely no bueno.

So now you know of Cement and it's better, stronger child: Concrete.

Cement is the flour of the cake that is concrete. Flour + Water? sad saltine cracker. Flour + Water + Sugar? Graham Cracker. Flour + Water + Egg + Sugar? Cake.

You mix your cement with water and aggregates and fly ash and then you've got your concrete. to make it Extra Strong, pour it over rebar. And then wash off wherever it splashed.

Now my final note: in stores across the US you can find bags of lies called 'Quikcrete'. these are not concrete. these are cement. There is no aggregates. no admixtues or additives. Despite the wrong name its a decent product. holds up fence posts really well even when you have a dog that spent 11 years trying to become one with the fence.

Now next time someone complains about the 'cement' or whatnot being chipped, you can turn to them, the soul of an ancient roman engineer in your eyes, and go "its concrete"

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NSF-funded research heads to the international space station on NASA's SpaceX CRS-32 mission

ISS national lab-sponsored investigations aim to enhance drug manufacturing and develop new materials for aerospace, defense, energy, and robotics

Three investigations funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and sponsored by the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) National Laboratory are launching on SpaceX’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission, contracted by NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration. These experiments leverage the microgravityThe condition of perceived weightlessness created when an object is in free fall, for example when an object is in orbital motion. Microgravity alters many observable phenomena within the physical and life sciences, allowing scientists to study things in ways not possible on Earth. The International Space Station provides access to a persistent microgravity environment. environment to advance fundamental science that could lead to improved pharmaceutical manufacturing, new materials with valuable industrial applications, and the next generation of soft active materials with lifelike properties.

These projects build on a strong, multi-year collaboration between the ISS National Lab and NSF, which allocates millions of dollars to space-based projects within the fields of tissue engineering and transport phenomena, including fluid dynamics. To date, more than 30 projects funded by NSF and sponsored by the ISS National Lab have launched to the orbiting laboratory, with nearly 70 additional projects preparing for flight. Below are details about the three NSF-funded investigations launching on NASA’s SpaceX CRS-32.

Improving Medicine Manufacturing

An investigation by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), supported by Tec-Masters, builds on previous research to examine protein fluid flow and clumping—a problem that occurs during manufacturing of protein-based pharmaceuticals that affects the quality of the drug.

“Proteins are used to make various therapies and must be concentrated in medicines to avoid needing to administer large amounts of fluid,” says Amir Hirsa, professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at RPI. “But above a certain concentration, the proteins tend to form aggregates or clump.”

On Earth, studying protein behavior is complicated by interactions between the solution and the container used to hold it. But on the ISS, researchers can use the Ring-Sheared Drop module to form liquid into a self-contained sphere held between two rings.

Hirsa and his team can use this device to study protein motion and create more accurate models of the factors that lead to clumping, especially during drug manufacturing and dispensation to patients. The team also can test computer models that predict the behavior of proteins of vastly different concentrations and types, such as hormones and antibodies. Findings from this research could help uncover ways to avoid or reverse protein clumping, which would have a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry.

“Another very important aspect of this work is making this data, which is so difficult to get, available to other scientists through open data repositories,” says Joe Adam, a research scientist at RPI. “Other scientists may see something even more interesting than we do.”

Developing New Materials

An investigation from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, supported by Leidos, will examine the formation of ceramic composites, which have valuable applications in several industries, including aerospace, defense, and energy. The study focuses on polymer-derived titanium carbide and silicon carbide composites that have electrical conductivity, are stable at high temperature, can be made into almost any shape and size, and are lightweight yet strong.

“These materials can be used in different extreme conditions, such as high temperatures and highly acidic or oxidative environments, where other materials become unstable or cannot survive,” says Kathy Lu, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.

Studying these composites in microgravity could reveal unique behaviors that cannot be replicated on Earth. Findings from this research could inform new techniques for ground- and space-based manufacturing of materials with specific properties for applications such as heat exchangers, electric systems, energy storage, electrodes, and microsystems.

“Nobody has studied microgravity’s effects on these ceramics, and the results could be helpful for the broader family of ceramics and other possible additives, such as fibers and nanoscale materials,” Lu says.

Studying Active Matter

A research team at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) will leverage microgravity to study active matter—microscopic particles that use energy to produce motion—and its effects on the separation of non-mixable liquids. These liquids, such as oil and water, separate into concentrated droplets of one substance dispersed in the other, a phenomenon known as active liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS). This investigation, supported by Redwire Space Technologies, seeks a better understanding of active LLPS, which plays a key role in physics, materials science, engineering, and biology.

“Active fluids are made of billions of small molecular motors that push and pull on each other and generate a turbulent flow, like a windy day stirs the water on a beach,” says UCSB professor Zvonimir Dogic. “A long-term goal is using active matter in microfluidic devices to stir and control the separation of two substances. We’re trying to create simplified systems that start to mimic biology.”

Active LLPS could be used to create materials with lifelike properties, such as the ability to move, change shape, and self-repair, that could be used to develop more lifelike robotics.

SpaceX CRS-32 is scheduled to launch no earlier than April 21, 2025, at 4:15 a.m., from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

IMAGE: Left: A drop of protein solution less than two and a half centimeters in diameter formed in the RSD onboard the International Space Station. Right: An image showing a computed Newtonian flow diagram for the drop. Credit J. Adam

[mariacallous]

Twenty-three-year-old Arnold Robert Haro addressed his final words to the phone in his hand. “If I die, I hope you guys turn this into a memecoin,” he said. Then Haro took his own life.

Haro died on February 21 at his family home in Madera County, California, a death certificate obtained by WIRED shows. His suicide was broadcast live to his followers on X, where he went by the handle @MistaFuccYou. Footage of Haro’s death has since been removed from the platform, but the incident was briefly listed in its trending tab.

In the hours after Haro’s death, people created dozens of memecoins—a type of highly volatile crypto coin used as a vector for financial speculation—modeled after him. Sensing an opportunity to profit, traders piled into one of the coins in particular, driving its value to $2.1 million in aggregate. (The coin has since lost 96 percent of its value.)

On X, some tried to argue that whoever was behind the MistaFuccYou coin had duly granted Haro’s final wish. But most denounced the impulse among traders to try to profit by his death. “If you’re trading this, you’re sick af,” wrote one user.

Speculation ran rampant on X that Haro had ended his life because he had lost money to a memecoin rugpull—a maneuver whereby somebody creates a new coin, promotes it online, then sells off their holdings in one swoop, devaluing everyone else’s stake. WIRED was unable to confirm whether this had happened to Haro, but his friends have disputed the narrative. “It had nothing to do with crypto … It’s not what all these crypto nerds seem to think,” one of Haro’s friends, who goes by j nova on social media, told WIRED. Haro’s family, meanwhile, has described his death as the result of “his battle with depression.”

The incident captures in microcosm the race to the bottom in memecoin trading circles, where only the most heinous and morally bankrupt ideas are now rewarded with attention, says Azeem Khan, cofounder of the Morph blockchain and venture partner at crypto VC firm Foresight Ventures.

“We’ve reached the point where the most potentially exciting launch that people are looking at is Kanye trying to launch a swastika coin,” says Khan, in reference to now-deleted X posts made by an account associated with the artist Kanye West. “That’s how terrible this space is.”

Until last year, launching a memecoin was relatively expensive and technically burdensome, which meant few came to market. Only Dogecoin—the original memecoin—and a handful of derivatives had any sort of longevity.

That equation was reversed with the arrival of Pump.Fun, a platform that makes it simple for anyone to launch a memecoin at no cost. Since Pump.Fun launched in January 2024, many millions of memecoins have flooded the market, among them the coins modeled after Haro.

In a statement provided to WIRED, Pump.Fun spokesperson Troy Gravitt described Haro’s death as a “tragedy,” but explained that the coins made in his image, though “clearly in poor taste,” do not violate the platform’s terms of use. “There was no content associated with the token that would have identified it as either illicit or explicit,” says Gravitt.

Betting on memecoins is lionized in certain online crypto circles, where traders are euphemistically described as charging headlong into “the trenches.” But behind the combat metaphor is an implicit recognition that the odds are stacked against the individual “trencher,” particularly given the prevalence of rug pulls and alleged collusion between the insiders behind certain high-profile memecoin launches.

“Everyone assumes that crypto is where you come to become rich, no matter how dumb you are. I think it’s the exact opposite,” says Khan. “There are these layers of insiders … retail traders are always exit liquidity.” In other words, regular people buying into coins allows insiders to cash out at a profit.

The new cultural prominence of highly volatile memecoins, which offer the prospect both of outsized gains and losses, is also likely to have compounded the risk for people predisposed to problem gambling or trading, researchers say.

“People have enormous capacity to make money very quickly. The appeal of making money rings so much louder than calls of danger,” says Benjamin Johnson, a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland specializing in the public health implications of digital technologies. “Adding to the attraction with memecoins is that you’ve got these online communities where people really congregate. It becomes an emotional attachment to these assets … It creates a perfect storm.”

Though academics have not identified a direct association between crypto trading and heightened psychological distress, the externalities of crypto trading—namely, the likelihood of losing money—are shown to have a negative impact on mental well-being. And the vast majority of memecoins released on Pump.Fun wind up practically worthless.

“If you are really into day trading, it is definitely something that is likely to cause people mental stress or psychological distress,” says Atte Oksanen, a professor of psychology at Tampere University, who has conducted multiple studies on the mental health implications of crypto trading. “Financial problems cause a lot of stress, which can escalate.”

Meanwhile, the glut of memecoins entering the market through Pump.Fun—among them coins issued by celebrities like rapper Iggy Azelea—has led coin creators to take increasingly elaborate, sexually degrading, and sometimes dangerous measures to attract attention to their coins. One guy ended up catching on fire after a memecoin promotional stunt went awry, leaving him with serious burns.

The launch of US president Donald Trump’s memecoin in January pushed the fight for attention to new extremes. The inevitable effect has been that only the most depraved and provocative concepts—like the MistaFuccYou coin, based on a suicide—so much as register in the hive mind of memecoin traders. And even then, only briefly.

“The president of one of the most powerful countries in the world launches a coin. How much further is there to go?” says Khan. “Then if you hit the top of the market, how quickly will all of this vaporware actually end up nosediving?”

The calculus among memecoin traders is captured on Pump.Fun in the comment section for the MistaFuccYou coin. “This token shows how fucked the trenches are rn, and is highly unethical,” wrote one user, before implying that others should invest.

In the process, people like Haro—whose X feed is a kaleidoscope of memes, practical jokes, guns, women, weed, and crypto—are effectively erased; quite literally commodified into an incomplete and cartoonish version of themselves.

A fundraising page set up by Haro’s family to help cover the funeral costs paints a more three-dimensional picture: “Arnold was a bright, kind, and hilarious soul who brought light to those around him,” reads a description written by a family member. “He had a gift for making people laugh, spreading joy, and offering unwavering support, even when he was struggling himself.”

If you or someone you know needs help, call 1-800-273-8255 for free, 24-hour support from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also text HOME to 741-741 for the Crisis Text Line. Outside the US, visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for crisis centers around the world.

[bumblebeeappletree]

We met Elisabeth when we visited her horticulture class at Footscray High School. Her love of plants continues at home, where she has an impressive collection of indoor plants.

At just 16 she already has about 150 plants in her room at home in Melbourne’s inner west. Elisabeth particularly loves anthuriums or flamingo plants.

For optimum plant growth she has installed full-spectrum grow lights. She also keeps her room at 80% humidity, ”which can get a little bit much,” she admits.

Elisabeth buys plants from collectors interstate and does a lot of propagation.

One is Philodendron ‘Dean McDowell’, which she points out has extra-floral nectaries that produce necta; in the wild this farmed by ants which, in turn, guard the plant, forming a mutually beneficial relationship.

A favourite plant is Anthurium warocqueenum, which has long, velvety leaves. She ordered this plant from Far North Queensland and it inspired her to create a vertical garden, because it need humidity and something to climb on.

The garden was built out of an old laundry sink and a piece of PVC foam board covered in two layers of horticultural felt; the plant roots sit between the two layers with no actual substrate. The roots attach to the felt, which absorbs liquid fertiliser from the sink and so provides all the nutrients the plants need to grow. The sink can be wheeled out to hose down and eliminate any mineral buildup.

Elisabeth was encouraged by her parents to join local planting days as a small child and grew to love colourful flowers and succulents as she got older.

A birthday gift of a Monstera deliciosa one year kick-started her collecting bug.

She now has a spreadsheet of all the plants she has, which has helped her learn the scientific names and work out what she wants to collect.

Elisabeth shows how she repots an anthurium she has propagated, first soaking it for a few hours in liquid fertiliser to reduce transplant shock, then removing any old substrate from the roots. She then put the rootball in a pot and gently backfills with growing mixture.

Her preferred substrate is a mix of LECA (lightweight expanded clay aggregate) and mineral blend designed for succulents - this reduces the risk of mould and ensures there’s no fungus gnats, which can live in potting mix. She sterilises the mix before using it; this can be done with boiling water, steam or in the microwave.

Filmed on Boon Wurrung & Bunurong Country in Newport, Vic

[darkmaga-returns]

By Charles Hugh Smith

OfTwoMinds.com

December 18, 2024

All three pillars propping up workforce spending are cracking. Plan accordingly.

Karl Marx and Henry Ford both understood the key pillar of an industrial economy: the workforce has to earn enough to buy the output of the economy. If the workforce doesn’t earn enough to have surplus earnings to spend on the enormous output of an industrial economy, then the producers cannot sell their goods / services at a profit, except to the few at the top as luxury goods–and that’s not an industrial economy, it’s a feudal economy of very limited scope.

Marx recognized that capitalism is a self-liquidating system as capital has the power to squeeze wages even as the output of an industrial economy steadily increases due to automation, technology, etc.

Henry Ford understood that if his own workforce couldn’t afford to buy the cars rolling off the assembly line, then his ambition to sell a car to every household was an unreachable chimera. (There were other factors, of course; the work was so brutal and mind-numbing that Ford had to pay more just to keep workers from quitting.)

If we say the three pillars holding up the economy, the conventional list is: 1) consumer spending (i.e. aggregate demand); 2) productivity and 3) corporate profits. These are not actually pillars, they are outcomes of the core pillar, wage earners making enough to buy the economy’s output.

As the statistics often cited here show, the purchasing power of wages has been declining for almost 50 years, since the mid-1970s. This means the workforce’s surplus earnings have bought less and less of the economy’s output.

There are three ways to fill the widening gap that’s opened between what the workforce has to spend as surplus earnings and the vast output of the economy: