#why would tree worshippers develop PAPER

[toothlessloveshiccup]

We see in AC that paper books are a new thing... but that's not a shock, because, and I want to make this very clear

Why would a species that worships trees develop paper, CONNOR?!

I don't mind if you don't answer this, because I was planning on doing a read-through soon anyway, but I have a bad memory so I wanted to confirm something for a project I have started working on; do you think the Andalites would have eventually gotten as advanced as we see in the animorphs series if it were not for the Ellimist?

My current impression is that the Andalites canonically have biological advantages when it comes to their capacity for advanced technological and social development, as they have those internal clock things or whatever and probably some other stuff as well that I can't really think of. Based off of this it would seem that the Ellimist may have gave them a jump start when it came to developing technology and complex civilization like we see in the chronicles, but the Andalites (with enough time) would have probably developed to that point eventually anyway, assuming there's no weird extraneous outside factors. (and I'm pretty sure they developed spaceships and stuff after the Ellimist left, so it's not like they're exactly reliant on them)

It's been about a year or two since my last full read through the series, so I could be 100% off on this, but to be perfectly honest it seems like the Andalites would have been at the point they are anyway in about the same time frame, even if the Ellimist never pretended to be one of them.

Yeah, I don't think we know for sure either way, and I think canon supports either interpretation. The andalites seem to advance slower than humans (according to Ax, anyway) so I think that's an argument against it, but they also have a lot of "impossible" sci fi tech so that's an argument for.

[tasteofswallowedwords]

Mere Speculation

Part Two

Pairing: Jughead x reader

Warnings: Mentions of death

Summary: Jughead grows ever more suspicious of the new girl

 Part One

Jughead rushed down the hall, anxious to meet with Betty to discuss the paper. He had been off his game lately. He never could concentrate on writing at the drive-in: too many memories, and too much clutter. He found he couldn’t write in school. There wasn’t a room there that didn’t remind him of being picked on or laughed at. Pop’s had been his haven, his home away from home. With (Y/N) there, however, his novel was the last thing on his mind. He hoped discussing the leads in the murder mystery with Betty would spark some inspiration. 

He rounded a corner and rushed straight into (Y/N). Her bag fell from her shoulder as she tried to keep her balance. Jughead instinctively reached out to take her by the elbows, catching her. Her hair smelled like honey.

The messenger bag hit the floor and the contents spilled everywhere. (Y/N) groaned and practically deflated in his arms. She crouched down and set to work gathering her books. Jughead knelt beside her to help. 

“You don’t have to do that,” she dismissed, not unkindly.

“It was my fault,” he replied.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Something about her tone caught his attention. He glanced up to see her staring at something down the hall: Cheryl Blossom stalking away from them with her usual gang of worshippers. Jughead returned his gaze to (Y/N). She was hurriedly packing her bag, glancing from her books to Cheryl and back again, a determined set to her jaw. He felt his brow crease in confusion. What connection did (Y/N) have to the remaining Blossom twin?

“Really, I’m sorry. Wouldn’t want you to think the creepy murderer guy is out to get you or anything.”

That got her attention. “What? Are you upset about that?”

Jughead stared at the books in his hands. She continued, “Look, I didn’t mean it like that. I was kidding. It’s just- I heard you guys talking about me and I got a little angry. All this speculation about why I’m here... I mean, you could’ve just asked me.”

She finished packing up and stood quickly, searching the hall for Cheryl again. Jughead stood too, slowly holding the few books he had gathered towards her. He didn’t bother hiding the suspicion from his face; she wasn’t paying any attention to him anyway.

“Why are you here?” he asked carefully.

She laughed, “That’s a long story.” With that, she took the books, thanked him, flashed a smile and left, heading through the door Cheryl had walked through moments ago.

With thoughts whirring through his head, Jughead turned slowly back towards the room used for the paper. He caught a glimpse of a small, black book lying beside the lockers. (Y/N) had dropped it, and it had flown farther than the other books. She’d been so preoccupied with Cheryl Blossom she hadn’t noticed. Jughead shoved it in his pocket and walked on.

  ***

  At lunch, Jughead sat at a table outside with Betty and Kevin. Archie had taken to practicing music at lunch, and Veronica’s whereabouts was anyone’s guess. He noticed (Y/N) sitting with her back against a tree. She had her headphones in, nose in a book as she ate, completely oblivious to the world. Betty caught him looking and rolled her eyes. She stood before he could protest and walked over to (Y/N), inviting her to sit with them.

“Wait, has hell frozen over?” Kevin gasped while the girls were still out of earshot. “I never thought I’d live to see Jughead develop a crush.”

Jughead glared at him as Betty returned to her seat and (Y/N) sat beside him. His thoughts were occupied with the notebook in his pocket. He hadn’t yet had a chance to look inside, but it seemed she hadn’t realised it was missing.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Kevin,” he reached his hand out, and (Y/N) shook it.

“(Y/N) Tate,” she smiled.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Kevin said grandly.

She giggled, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“You know, I’ve never seen anyone capture Jughead’s attention quite like you have,” Kevin continued.

Jughead felt his cheeks blaze, but he stared at the food in front of him.

(Y/N) laughed, diffusing the awkwardness. “You’re crazy,” she dismissed. “From what I can tell, he has eyes only for his laptop.”

“He is right here,” Jughead said through gritted teeth, though he appreciated how she steered the conversation to avoid his embarrassment.

“Oh, we know. How could anyone miss you in that hat?” she said slyly.

He felt his mouth twinge in the beginnings of a smile, which he quickly stifled. “What’s wrong with my hat?”

“Nothing,” she smiled, holding his gaze. “It looks good on you.”

It would have been a completely innocent comment if her eyebrow hadn’t flicked flirtatiously while she said it. His heart lurched.

“Betty, I think we should interrupt this before they start aggressively making out in front of us,” Kevin said.

They laughed, but both Jughead and (Y/N) blushed slightly, their hearts beating faster than normal.

The conversation continued easily. Although (Y/N) was shy, she had an easy way of making them laugh. She deflected any question to do with her old school, or what brought her back to Riverdale. Jughead found that he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She fidgeted with her hands, which was the only sign that she was nervous. Her right hand was covered in graphite; she must’ve been in art class shortly before. When she laughed, she would always bite her lip after, as if she’d laugh forever if she didn’t physically stop herself. Her hair was down, but she had several hair ties around her wrist. When she smiled at Jughead, there was genuine warmth in her eyes, and always a hint of a blush as she looked away from him.

(Y/N) noticed a lot about Jughead, too. She admired the wave of black hair always threatening to fall over his right eye. When she looked in his eyes, she tried to work out the exact shades of blue she would use to paint them. She inspected the curve of every one of his features, so she could draw him from memory later, but she’d find that her drawing just didn’t do him justice.

  ***

  Jughead collapsed onto his bed at the drive-in. He had an hour before he was supposed to meet his friends at Pop’s, and he was going to spend every minute of it combing through (Y/N)’s notebook. He opened it at the first page and realised it wasn’t filled with words, but sketches. Drawings, like the one he had seen in the diner the previous night. Each one had a date written in the bottom right-hand corner.

And they were amazing.

There was one of the front of a café, showing people milling about inside through the windows, while people sat at tables outside, deep in conversation. One page detailed an old couple sitting at a park bench, holding hands. Jughead could see the joy on their faces. He imagined (Y/N), sitting in a park and spotting this couple, how she would have smiled to herself and rifled in her bag for this notebook, quickly sketching the scene so she would never forget it. He only realised he was grinning when his face began to hurt. He flicked through the notebook, page by page, until one drawing caught his eye.

(Y/N) had drawn Jason Blossom.

Jason sat on a windowsill, one foot up on the ledge, elbow resting on his knee. (Y/N) had drawn him as if he was staring right out of the page. It was beautiful. And haunting.

Jughead flicked through the book, faster now that he had something to look for. Several people featured in the book more than once: two girls and a boy, always wearing school uniforms, and Jason. Jughead stopped when he reached the last sketch of Jason, sitting cross-legged on a bed. The date read 7/2. Just two days before Jason went missing.

(Y/N) had some explaining to do.

Part Three

[knight-otu]

Toady’s Devlog for 09/13/2020

Toady One, from the Dwarf Fortress Development Log:

Thanks to everybody that dropped by and asked questions at the online meetup-panel PAX thingy yesterday!  Tanya and I will also be on a procgen panel at 3:00-4:00 PDT on Tuesday the 15th.  That one will be differently interactive, since the video is pretaped, but we'll be in the channel on the PAX discord interacting in what I, well, it's like interactive commentary on a movie?  I have no idea what it'll be like, since we'll be talking in the video, and people will want to pay attention to that, but we'll also be able to clarifying/chat in the discord while the panel is playing.  No idea how that'll shake out, ha ha, but I'll be there.  I have another obligation right after, so I'll have to duck out at 4:00.           Also, after the latest Future of the Fortress and today's PAX event, there was a bit of confusion/concern about the "deadline."  This was in the context of a FotF reply where I mentioned wanting to work toward the original contract date as hard as I could so that we could still meet it with as few delays as possible, even though the whole 2020 situation means there'll likely be some flexibility if we need it.  I also tend to treat deadlines on paper somewhat seriously, perhaps as a habit of my schooling, even if it's not apparent with all the 26 month releases of the past, ha ha.           In any case, my response was interpreted by a few people as Kitfox pressure, which it isn't - if there's any Kitfox pressure it is of the form "Tarn, please take a weekend off!"  And you shouldn't be upset by that either!  I should take a weekend off sometime.  This weekend might kind of count, just because the air is so smoky I had some trouble sleeping so I haven't done much useful.  All will be well.  But yeah, my primary perspective on release deadlines and stuff, just to remind people, is all about healthcare.  Healthcare is cool.  We're not rushing anything (we spent the first year+ on the villains after all), and we'll take the time we need, but we're also trying to get the game together as quickly as we can.           Speaking of which, over in Dwarf Land, there's been various progress.   The main thing we talked about over on Steam News was the new zone interface.           Zone (starting the painting process)           I removed the border here with the rest of the buttons and the minimap since we haven't finalized various layout decisions there.  Here we have a rectangle paint and a free-draw which gives you the same feedback from the Classic version, in term of which zone types are supported by the selection.  I still need to do the wall-sensitive flow tool.  We're trying to include a bit more help - there are even tooltips!  You'll see a few below.           Zone (selecting type after painting)           There are still five Tarn-icons in this image, complete with default MS Paint colors...  it probably won't take you long to spot them, ha ha ha.  Meph cooked up the rest.  It shows an icon representing the type of zone over in the graphical area as well - this even reflects the level of temples and guildhalls.  Zones are only visible when you are in zone mode, as in Classic.  Once selected, the zone types like gather and pit/pond etc. also have option icons (like tree/shrub/fallen, etc.), but they are also still Tarnish... five may be the cap you can handle there.  We'll stay safe!           Zone (setting location)           The extra space on this one is used for the list of existing locations that you can assign.           Zone (setting temple type)           I couldn't capture my mouse cursor on this one (the various alt/etc. modifiers to PrtScr didn't do it for whatever reason), but it's over the True Stick-Fellowship, a human-loaned religion - the list is chronological currently, which is why Utag (the loaned deity) shows up later in the list.  It would probably be helpful to show the number of worshippers and current temple status in the main list without requiring the tooltip.  Lots of improvements to be had as we go.           Zone (now a temple)           Utag is into hospitality, so we get lunch.           Multiple zone selection           This is the mouse version of "v: next" from Classic zone mode.  You can click on a tile and it gives you the zone there.  If there's more than one zone, you can flip between them with the arrows (or just click somewhere without overlap, if there is such a tile.)           Zone (repaint tool tip)           Here the cursor was over the little repaint rectangle there (which is a Tarn icon, so not remotely final).  Zone repaint is exciting!  Zones can even be transported to entirely different places if you draw one rectangle and remove the original (in whatever order, as long as you don't click "Accept" while the zone is empty.)           Visible zone suspension           Here's another handy benefit of the tiles, though perhaps I could have reddened my ASCII as well!           On top of the continuing PAX event, there's various tumult over the next several days, but hopefully we'll settle back into the rhythm of things again soon and have some more work to share.

[its-lifestyle]

Kaboom! Puffs of white smoke spiralled upwards into the night sky, a sign that the Nine Emperor Gods have arrived. Down by the river, a small group of devotees and mediums was engaged in a divinity ceremony to receive the deities.

At the top of a slope, a bigger group of devotees awaited. All were dressed in white and in kneeling position, their heads bowed and hands clasped in prayer, holding joss sticks and incense papers.

“I climbed a tree and caught a glimpse of the ritual when I was a teenager,” said businessman Sam Wong, 58, from Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. “It was the closest I could get to witnessing the ‘welcoming deities’ ceremony but saw nothing except the smoke and throngs of devotees.”

Wong was reminiscing about the exciting times when many people came from near and far to celebrate the Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Ampang New Village, Selangor. Decades later, this dramatic scene remains vivid in his memory.

Devotees carrying the sedan chair and swaying it during the Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Ampang New Village, Selangor.

Many people say that the ceremony to usher the high-ranking star lords from the riverside or the seashore was – and still is – shrouded in mystery. Every year, the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, which takes place Sept 29-Oct 7 this year, is celebrated from the first to the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.

Wong said, “In those days, word has it that if a tortoise is found by the river, the devotees would take it back as they believe it to be a manifestation of the deities. Now I think that it is probably an invisible tortoise, a symbol of divinity.”

Contractor HS Ho from Kepong, in his late 50s, said that according to some people, the welcoming party would probably collect a rock back if there was no tortoise in sight. “I heard that sometimes they pick up a fish too, or whatever they can find by the river,” said businessman TC Kok from Ampang.

Kok added that devotees, dressed in white, would take part in a street procession and walk 4km from the temple in Ampang New Village to a river in Lembah Jaya.

Red and yellow tortoise buns with auspicious words are popular items snapped up by worshippers during the Nine Emperor Gods Festival in Tow Boh Keong temple in Ipoh, Perak.

Each year, the devotees would head to a spot by the river to pick up the deities as they believe that the latter arrive via the waterways. But in recent years, said Kok, the venue has shifted slightly due to a development project nearby.

Wong, Ho and Kok are childhood friends who went to the same school together. During their teenage years, the festival was one of the most exciting highlights in their lives.

Ho shared, “I used to sell red flour tortoises and joss sticks to make a fast buck as a school boy.” Even now, he would occasionally stop by the Kew Ong Yeah temple in Ampang New Village for old times’ sake.

Ritual by the waters

Wong Kin Tack. Photo: The Star/Majorie Chiew

There are about 80 registered Kew Ong Yeah temples in Malaysia, with the oldest one being the 160 year old Nan Tian Kong temple in Ampang New Village.

Wong Kin Tack, 85, chairman of the temple, said, “In Ampang, a procession of hundreds of devotees and 10 mediums will leave the temple at about 7.30pm on the eve of the festival to welcome the Nine Emperor Gods. From 10 years ago, lion and dragon dance troupes have also joined in.”

When asked if anyone from the entourage picked up objects by the river, which are symbolic manifestations of the deities, he replied, “No such thing.”

“At the riverside, there will be chantings and burning of sandalwood incense (to invite the deities to descend into the urn). The urn bearer will throw a pair of wooden moon blocks (seng pui in Cantonese) to ask for permission to leave.

“If the answer is yes, (when one block faces up and the other faces down) it means the deities have arrived and are ready to depart. The devotee will then place the sacred urn in the sedan chair for the journey to the temple,” explained Wong, who has been temple chairman for 33 years.

According to him, there will be three sedan chairs carrying deities in the procession. The heavier one bearing the Nine Emperor Gods will not be swayed while two other sedan chairs carrying other deities will be.

During the sending off of the deities at 3am on the 10th day, Wong said an earthern pot would be set adrift in the river to bid farewell to the gods.

A prominent activity associated with the festival is the walking-on-fire ritual, believed to ward off bad luck. The Ampang New Village temple does not allow women to take part in the activity as only men are allowed. Fine salt and rice grains are sprinkled on burning coals to lower the heat.

Mediums would carry bags with cloth talismans when walking on the fire. For a donation fee of RM100, devotees can obtain these talismans for protection.

Meanwhile, devotees of the 48-year-old Leng Eng Tian Khiew Ong Tai Tay Temple in Sungei Way, Petaling Jaya, would welcome the Nine Emperor Gods from Morib, Selangor, each year.

Datuk Yap Yip Leong, 48, honorary advisor of the temple, explained that a lorry will load a wooden sedan chair for the deities, adding that 30,000 people visited the temple during the festival last year.

When the welcoming party reaches the seaside, three mediums, temple committee elders and the sedan-bearing devotees would walk 1.5km from the beach out to sea. The tide would have receded by the time the ritual begins about 11pm on the eve of the festival, said Yap.

“Three mediums would lead the welcoming delegation, walking out to sea until the waters reach chest level, with the sedan chair bearers and temple elders following closely behind,” he said.

Worshippers during the Nine Emperor Gods celebration in Ampang New Village, Selangor.

The mediums would begin their chantings to invoke and welcome the deities. When the yellow flags are waved, it is a sign that the deities have arrived. The sedan chair bearing its divine guests would be loaded onto the lorry to head back to the temple.

On arrival at the temple, the devotees would carry the sedan chair into the temple’s inner chamber.

Staying faithful 

Datuk Yap Yip Leong. Photo: Datuk Yap Yip Leong

While many devotees observe vegetarianism throughout the nine days, Yap, a past chairman of the Leng Eng Tian Khiew Ong Tai Tay Temple, said some devotees would start their vegetarian meals earlier to purify themselves, from the 15th day of the eighth lunar month right through the festival.

A lantern would also be hung on a 9m bamboo pole erected in the temple grounds. It is believed that the pole is to facilitate the coming and going of the heavenly deities during the festival.

On the third, sixth and ninth day of the festival, at about 1pm, there will be a ritual to pray to Heaven and the Underworld to pay respects to the generals and implore them to grant peace and safety during the festival.

Other activities include nightly luck-changing ceremonies, crossing the staircase of knives (only for male members of the temple) to promote good health, and dipping of hands in hot oil.

On the ninth night, at about 11pm, the deities would be sent back to sea in Morib and on the 10th day, the temple would pray to the Jade Emperor in Heaven to thank him for a good festival.

Madam Choong, an octogenarian from Petaling Jaya, has been a faithful worshipper of the Nine Emperor Gods for the past 50 years. “This year, I will stay in the Ampang New Village temple on the eve of the festival and leave on the morning of the 10th day,” she said.

Some 80% of people who stay in the hostel at the temple during the festival are women. “In my younger years, I used to follow the procession by foot. Since several years ago, I have not been able to walk that much,” she said.

The Nan Tian Kong temple in Ampang New Village is thronged by devotees offering their prayers to the deities every year during the Nine Emperor Gods Festival.

Klang businessman Sia Lin Jian, 50, is also a loyal worshipper. Originally from Xiamen, China, Sia is in Malaysia to work on projects that beautify Chinese temples. “I would go on a 15-day vegetarian diet during the festival and visit different temples in the Klang Valley each year to pray for peace and prosperity,” he said.

Regularly, he would take part in the fire-walking ceremony to “get rid of bad luck”. “Usually, a thick layer of salt would be sprinkled on the coals. One’s feet would feel a warmth glow when crossing the hot coals,” he said.

Devotees need to purify themselves by going on a strict vegetarian diet before they walk on coals so that their feet do not get burnt. It is a test of their faith, and it is this faith that serves as a cornerstone of this cherished festival.

from Family – Star2.com https://ift.tt/2m7MpM9