#Attachment name encoding

[o-craven-canto]

From Cameron D. E. et al. (2014), A brief history of synthetic biology: a selection of simple machines that can be built inside living organisms by using gene expression and regulation as parts.

For the sake of illustration, the purpose of all these machines is to start the expression of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP), which does exactly what the name suggests.

(Note: italics are used for the name of genes, and not for the proteins they encode. The gene GFP encodes the protein GFP.)

Toggle switch. Two genes, lacI and cI, repress each other's transcription (repression is represented by the T-shaped end of a line, an transcription by the bent arrow), so that exactly one of each can be expressed at any given time. This occurs because the expression of each gene is a repressor protein that binds to the control region of the other, making transcription impossible. Since GFP is consecutive to cI, the former is only expressed together with the latter. The enzyme called IPTG deactivates the repressor lacI, starting the transcription of cI and therefore GFP: the fluorescence switches on, and lacI remains inactive because cI is repressing it. If heat is applied, then cI is deactivated: lacI is expressed, lacI deactivates cI, and the fluorescence switches off.

Purpose: gene expression that can be cleanly switched on and off by simple inputs.

Repressilator. A circuit in which lacI represses cI, cI represses tetR, and tetR represses both lacI and GFP. In each cell, a signal of repression travels through the whole circuit: the repression of tetR allows the expression of lacI, which represses cI, which reactivates tetR, and vice versa. The expression of GFP, and therefore the cell fluorescence, fluctuates over time in a regular cycle.

Purpose: gene expression that cycles over time.

Autoregulatory circuit. The gene tetR, concatenated to GFP, represses its own expression. Whenever too much tetR and GFP are produced, the expression regulates itself down, so that in a large population there is much less variation in fluorescence: all cells converge to a moderate value. (remember?)

Purpose: gene expression that is kept moderated in a population of cells.

Modular riboregulator. Control acting later in gene expression: not on DNA -> RNA transcription, but on RNA -> protein translation. Transcribed GFP is connected to a sequence that inhibits translation by folding over and preventing the ribosome from attaching to the RNA. A separated activator RNA binds to this sequence and prevents it from preventing translation.

Purpose: a second tier of control over gene expression.

Two-input AND gate. Logic gates with genes! Expression of GFP requires a promoter encoded in T7, which in turn is only expressed in the presence of arabinose. However, the promoter only works if it's modified by by RNA produced by supO, which is only expressed in the presence of salicylate. Therefore, GFP is only produced if both arabinose and salicylate are present at the same time.

Purpose: protein synthesis that only occurs if multiple conditions are verified.

Multicellular pattern formation. This one is meant to be used in large cell populations. The gene luxI in the "sender cell" encodes an enzyme that produces AHL, a signal molecule. This molecule may bind to LuxR receptors in the "receiver cells". LuxR binding AHL activates the expression of cI, which stops the expression of lacI, which stops the expression of GFP. However, lacI can also be directly activated by binding AHL, so that only an intermediate concentration of AHL results in producing the fluorescent protein. By adjusting the sensitivity of LuxR, GFP and RFP can be produced selectively at different concentrations of AHL, and therefore at different distances from the sender cell.

Purpose: spatial control of gene expression.

Relaxation oscillator. Similar in concept and purpose to the repressilator, but the cycle it creates is more stable and regular. araC activates GFP, lacI, and itself; lacI represses GFP, araC, and itself.

Recombinase-based logic. GFP is flanked by sequences that can be inverted by the recombinase enzymes Rec1 and Rec2 (Rec1 inverts whatever is between the blue boxes, and Rec2 what's between the orange boxes, respectively). Arranging the markers around GFP in different ways allows the construction of different logic gates. In the case of the AND gate, the transcription in the blue region is going in the wrong direction, and GFP is also backward; both recombinases must be active for GFP to be expressed. In the case of the OR gate, transcription begins in both the blue and the orange region, but goes in the wrong direction in both; it's sufficient for either to be inverted by one recombinase to express GFP. In the case of the NOR gate, transcription already proceeds well, as long as both recombinases are absent.

Purpose: construction of arbitrarly logical circuits; very precise conditional control of gene expression.

Edge-detection circuit. A modification of the quorum-sensing system used for the multicellular pattern. The cell colony is exposed to light, half-covered by an opaque mask. Cells in the dark express the luxI gene, producing the AHL signal, as well as cI; the sensor that activates the expression of these two genes turns off in the light. The gene lacZ leads to the production of a black pigment; it is activated by LuxR (the receptor of AHL), and repressed by cI. Therefore, the black pigment is only produced in cells exposed to light (no expression of cI) which are adjacent cells in the dark (low-sensitivity LuxR receiving AHL from neighbors).

Purpose: mark edges between areas with different conditions.

[llort]

Encoded within beams of pure energy, Astra and Orion’s consciousness became architects of new realities. On barren planets, their probes wove the fabric of life, constructing complex neural networks, though perhaps missing the elusive spark of full awareness. In their terrestrial guise, Astra and Orion were the unseen sculptors of destiny, their influence rippling through the lives of Kepler’s inhabitants, guiding their evolution while remaining hidden from cybernetic self-discovery. Between 2016 and 2025, a silent memetic tide, crafted by these visionaries, swept Earth, altering the course of history, touching the minds of those destined to shape the future. This clandestine meme, a dance of ideas and sensations, orchestrated a global movement without uttering a single word, converging on the enigmatic X protocol. As nations’ guardians became entangled in this silent symphony, they unknowingly propelled the grand design, believing themselves to be the vanguard of a new era of cybernetic pioneers.

Work Text:

Cyberphysical Reality just Got a Whole More Engaging

The Unsignificant Sentience ARG has officially begun. It will explore a vast variety of themes, from the would building and exisistial crisis of the US series to more recursive identity metaphors than you can shake an edge at. Firstly, to play. All you need is your influencer name and type of influence which you can decide, but once chosen, is permanent. Affectors: Sense resistance in external matrices and can give them a nudge to have a physical effect. Effectors: Can sense the internal matrices of entities and modify communication in systems and individuals Alters: Are able to clearly see the network of forces in a matrix that an affected affects, but only in close contact. However they can modify the nodes that affected affect to result in different emergent properties Anchorite: Essentially has the influence of an alter and an effector but are only able to change their own internal matrix. How you choose to engage with the ARG is up to you, but I am making it clear that any fan fiction are via the nature of my world building, Canon.

Example: Fill out your characters name, type of influence, and a brief description of them then post it to my blog on Tumblr @ https://www.tumblr.com/blog/emilyreadswrites and let me do my magic! Name: Zara Type of influence: Anchorite Description: Zara is a secular recluse who has devoted her life to mastering her own matrix and achieving higher states of consciousness. She lives in a small cell attached to a temple, where she practices meditation, athletics, and contemplation. She has a remarkable control over her own body, physical feats, endurance, and reduced need for sustenance. She can also perceive the subtle influences of other hosts and cognitive technology in her environment as She rarely interacts with anyone or the entropic grid so can detect slight deviations in phenomenal internal and external experience.

Example narrative: Zara closed her eyes and focused on her inner matrix, sitting peacefully in her personal sanctum, the network of nodes that connected her to the cognitive technology that enabled her to practice her influence. She breathed deeply and felt a surge of energy coursing through her body, as if she was tapping into a hidden source of power. She visualized each node as a bright point of light, and aligned them with her will and intention. She was an anchorite, a master of her own matrix, and she could control her physical feats, endurance, and mental state. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky. It was dark and sunless, as it had been for as long as she could remember. But there was a faint glow on the horizon, a sign of something stirring in the upper atmosphere. She knew it was an aurora, a natural light display that shimmered in the sky with different colors. She had read about them in ancient texts, how they were caused by charged particles from the sun colliding with gas atoms in the air. She was looking forward it would be like to see them up close, to feel their warmth and radiance. She felt a pang of curiosity and longing, a rare emotion for someone who had devoted her life to solitude and meditation. She realized that she needed more than just her inner matrix to satisfy her thirst for knowledge and experience. She needed to explore the world beyond her cell, to discover its secrets and mysteries. She needed to find out what else was possible with her influence. Zara stilled her internal matrix and focused on the immediate environment, she might experience a shift in her perception and awareness. She become more sensitive to the physical sensations and details around her, such as the cold air, the sound of the wind, and the smell of the earth. She might also notice the aurora more vividly, as she would not be distracted by the cognitive technology that enables magic. She might see the different colors and shapes of the aurora, and feel a sense of wonder and awe at the natural phenomenon. She felt a connection to something bigger than herself, something that transcends her understanding of emergent internal and external existence. In light of this existential experience, she decided to simply take a walk.

[stardustedknuckles]

My psychologist said I met the criteria for autism. I asked that it not be put on anything legally due to fears about a diagnosis being used to strip away my autonomy. In 2018, that was a paranoid thing to do. And here we are.

When I got my state license after moving here, I did not choose the X on my new documents. I feared coming into a situation with a cop and outing myself to them immediately. In Illinois, hell in Chicago, that is a fairly unfounded fear as a white person. And then they started confiscating documents and denying passports.

I never told anyone in Oklahoma that I was seeking gender affirming care. I started T because my periods were removing my ability to function as a person for three weeks of every month. To me, this is a medical necessity divorced from transition, which I was afraid to contemplate for the most part. It wasn't even a lie. But I also knew better than to attach those words to any medical records so long as I lived in Oklahoma. I'm not sure what they say about me here in Illinois, but I know I let my guard down a little bit in a state with trans rights encoded in its constitution. Maybe I'll come to regret that.

There's no point to this. I just can't believe that these things I did (or didn't do) to protect myself from literally nothing at the time might be what spare me as the pressure ramps up more and more. I am still able to obtain a passport, though the name change will complicate it. I'm in a hurry to get that done because the next target might be anyone who's name doesn't match their birth certificate. I don't know. Anything fucking goes. You never want your worst and (seemingly) most irrational fears confirmed. At some point it's no longer just anxiety or paranoia. And that point is an awful place to be.

[ariapmdeol]

How to play RPGMaker Games in foreign languages with Machine Translation

This is in part a rewrite of a friend's tutorial, and in part a more streamlined version of it based on what steps I found important, to make it a bit easier to understand!

Please note that as with any Machine Translation, there will errors and issues. You will not get the same experience as someone fluent in the language, and you will not get the same experience as with playing a translation done by a real person.

If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask!

1. Download and extract the Locale Emulator

Linked here!

2. Download and set up your Textractor!

Textractor tutorial and using it with DeepL. The browser extension tools are broken, so you will need to use the built in textractor API (this has a limit, so be careful), or copy-paste the extracted text directly into your translation software of choice. Note that the textractor DOES NOT WORK on every game! It works well with RPGMaker, but I've had issues with visual novels. The password for extraction is visual_novel_lover

3. Ensure that you are downloading your game in the right region.

In your region/language (administrative) settings, change 'Language for non-unicode programs' to the language of your choice. This will ensure that the file names are extracted to the right language. MAKE SURE you download AND extract the game with the right settings! DO NOT CHECK THE 'use utf-8 encoding' BOX. This ONLY needs to be done during the initial download and extraction; once everything is downloaded+extracted+installed, you can set your region back to your previous settings, but test to ensure that the text will display properly after you return to your original language settings; there have been issues before. helpful tutorials are here and here!

4. Download your desired game and, if necessary, relevant RTP

The tools MUST be downloaded and extracted in the game's language. For japanese games, they are here. ensure that you are still in the right locale for non-unicode programs!

5. Run through the Locale Emulator

YES, this is a necessary step, EVEN IF YOUR ADMIN-REGION/LANGUAGE SETTINGS ARE CORRECT. Some games will not display the correct text unless you also RUN it in the right locale. You should be able to right click the game and see the Locale Emulator as an option like this. Run in Japanese (or whatever language is needed). You don't need to run as Admin if you don't want to, it should work either way.

6. Attach the Textractor and follow previously linked tutorials on how to set up the tools and the MTL.

Other notes:

There are also inbuilt Machine Translation Extensions, but those have a usage limit due to restrictions on the API. The Chrome/Firefox add-ons in the walkthrough in step 4 get around this by using the website itself, which doesn't have the same restrictions as the API does.

This will work best for RPGMaker games. For VNs, the textractor can have difficulties hooking in to extract the text, and may take some finagling.

[talenlee]

Goblin, Vandal, Sugg

Every word you’ve ever used comes from somewhere. The structures you use to discuss ideas is informed by ideas that came before it. I’m not getting all Sapir-Worf about this (and if you don’t know what that is, you don’t have to know because it’s probably not true), but rather wanting to draw your attention to the way the world you live in is in part defined by the words you use. If you’re an English speaker, there are ways you describe food that are a byproduct of French invasion centuries ago. Words like ‘technocrat’ and ‘hyperspecialised’ are constructions that borrow from how intellectuals used to use Latin. Your swear words are almost all from the poor working class, and used to describe sex, god, or excrement, and that’s not how all swear words work in all cultures!

Your world shapes your language.

In any given fantasy setting you work on, you don’t usually have the same linguistic history to justify why the people there talk like we talk now. In fact, to be completely fair, they probably don’t talk like us at all: you have fantasy languages, across fantasy constructions. Any given phrase a character in your world says is probably not using the exact same words as we are and we’re all working with a sort of fictionalised fantasy that makes the concepts reasonably translate across.

There’s a whole treatise then about how we handle Native American names and loanwords that we italicise like etouffee.

Point is that you have words, in your world, and you can attach stories to them. You’ve probably seen me talk about Orcs and how they relate to language and stereotypes, along in my long post on the word ‘Orc’. Here’s another set of examples I like for my world of Cobrin’Seil, as they pertain to the best little evolved raccoons, the Goblins.

The word ‘Goblin’

In Cobrin’Seil, most people speak two languages. Most people who speak only one language speak Common, and Common is full of loanwords from other languages. ‘Orc’ and ‘Beast’ are well known loanwords. There is a word that has risen in prominence throughout all the common-speaking countries in less than seventy years, and the word it displaced is still even in functional and legal use.

The word is both new and old; new to common, but an old word to the language it’s from. This word is Goblin.

Goblins are by no means new. They’re one of the three great old cultures of the world, a social symbiote culture that pretty much exists in any given settlement of any size. It’s usually seen as a sign of health that a community can sustain Goblins — in the same way that communities that lack pets are probably culturally alienated from all the cultures that do keep pets — and if you encounter an enclave that lacks goblins, it’s often because that enclave is specifically for a purpose and has done proactive things to drive out Goblin presence. Goblins are a culture that’s as old as Orcs, older than Ogres and even most of what you’d consider modern-day Elves.

But the word Goblin was not a word in common language and descriptors that was used in dictionaries and education and technical words, until what are known as the Peoples Reform. Not People’s Reforms – but the legal system of the Eresh Protectorate (which tends to set precedents most of the rest of the world follows) formalised the idea of Peoples. For most cultures, this didn’t make a lot of changes, but it did peel out of the laws one of the largest and long-standing carve-outs for Goblins that eroded the idea of their own cultural identity and heritage. The word Goblin is encoded as the term Goblins use to describe Goblins.

Linguistically, Goblin is a funny word. It’s an omniterm; without modification, it serves as noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb and preposition and it does so in entirely intelligible ways to those contextually familiar. The sentence ‘Goblin goblin goblin goblin goblin’ is a meaningful sentence describing a party taking care of a third party because they see the commonality they have with one another. Good luck making that make sense in a sent letter though.

Goblin is possessive; in a lot of ways it can be translated to the common term ‘us,’ with some wiggle room. It’s also a comical non-answer; guards asking a Goblin ‘what are you doing?’ will often get the answer ‘goblin,’ which in this case means something like ‘being myself and doing what I should be doing,’ which is an answer but it is also unhelpful, and you have to understand how goblins communicate to get a handle on what that might mean. Goblin language is simple but contextual and it tends to highlight that goblins are extremely prosocial. Goblin language makes very little sense without the context of who is talking and about what.

There’s a real truth to the fact that many Goblins who have taken to theatre or art will write dialogue in Goblin but stage directions in Common.

But the word is new, legally, but the people aren’t. What was the change? Well, prior to the Peoples Reforms, the term the human kingdoms used for the people known as Goblins was the term Vandal.

The Word ‘Vandal’

You can’t kidnap a Goblin.

Legally, I mean.

This isn’t because Goblins were protected under the law, no no, the laws were way too racist for that. The crime was that, wherever you transported the Goblins to, the people didn’t want Goblins there, so you were committing a crime by inflicting Goblins on them. Basically, it was considered a crime to take a Goblin from one place to another, because the place the Goblin arrived didn’t necessarily consent to the presence of a Goblin.

The term for transporting a Goblin was based on an archaic term for Goblins that operated on the assumptions that Goblins were just a problem and a pest brought into any space. They were known as Vandals, a term hypothetically meaning all nonhuman troublesome cultures including Gnolls and Bugbears, because if those people arrived in a place, they’d wreck things. Funnily enough, Gnolls and Bugbears got removed from this term over time because they would usually, if it rose to legal levels, be committing much more dire crimes, and also, guards didn’t like just bullying them at random, since they were very big and tough people by comparison to the much smaller Goblin. Over time, ‘Vandal’ came to mean ‘Goblins, and behaving like a Goblin,’ and that association meant the legal term got ensnared around it. Ultimately, dropping Goblins off in a space that did not want them was the act of Vandalism. Vandal then, was a term used to not to refer to the Goblins themselves; much funnier, instead, it was the legal term for a person who committed the crime of nonconsensual transporting of Goblins.

During the Peoples Reforms, since this law already existed, the crime of Transporting A Goblin Nonconsensually remained on the books, but Kidnapping, as defined under laws, had its historical Goblin Carve-Out. Nowadays, kidnapping a Goblin is typically treated as Vandalism (Kidnapping), because tidying up old and technically incorrect laws is a lot of a pain in the butt. This even applies when the Goblins are lawyers, who as it turns out, delight in getting non-Goblins in trouble for ‘Vandalism,’ which is a catch-all term under Eresh law for ‘general goblin-like behaviour.’ And we’ll talk more about what makes something Goblin-like in the context of Cobrin’Seil another time.

The word ‘Sugg’

But there is a word, ambiguous in meaning and origin that exists in common, that most people know and that word is ‘sugg.’ It seems to indicate a sort of laziness, a restful state. If you see a Goblin curled up on a pile of playing cards, ears out, eyes closed, you might say ‘can’t use those cards, there’s a goblin sugging on it.’ Or ‘sorry man, I’m pretty sugg.’ The word is extremely ambiguous but it has a thread throughout it of being:

Indulgently lazy

Very relaxed

Overwhelming and absolute

The thing is, nobody’s too sure what it means, and when you ask people who would know, they tell you to ask a Goblin. Goblins, after all, are where the word comes from. In fact, if you ask the right goblins in the right trail you’ll find that while Goblins use the word ‘sugg’ in the same way, they think it comes from Common. Why?

Because Goblins got the word from this thing they found in established human communities. There’d be a nice small dark box, full of paper that you could just curl up in and nest in, and on the outside of the box, there’d be a notice: SUGGEST IN BOX. So they assume the Goblin who enjoys that box the most must surely be their sugg-est Goblin. Which meant paying attention to how they all sugg, and from there, the neologism was born.

Now, non-Goblins and Goblins alike use ‘sugg’, each convinced they got it from the other.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[assemblageofbirds]

As the handler of all of these pigeons that I named individually, I am great at naming things!

I even named myself (way better than what my parents picked out)

Give me something to name, and so named it will become. Or just name suggestions/

Works best with an attached photo so the appearance and personality is encoded into the name (that’s how I remember all of these pigeons names)

[intern-ko]

An email has been sent to Ko. The sender is anonymous, but it's obvious who it is.

<from: ???>

<to: intern.ko@esc.com>

<subject: RESISTANCE - STATUS UPDATE>

Hello, Ko. I thought you may appreciate an update on the resistance we're forming.

Current members: 28, not including the former Org members

Enlistees: 21

Recruiters: 6

Seraphim: 1

We are very lucky to have gotten a Seraphim on our side. We have done extensive research, and we believe they are not looking to double-cross us. Their name is Yuzu. I request you do not kill them. They managed to encode this message so it is nearly impossible to be tracked back to me.

We have been spreading exclusively through word of mouth. Nobody is made aware of who any of the members are until they have been thoroughly researched and background checked. None of our members are going to bestray us.

Also, an update on Linseed; still critical, but doing much better. Injuries are healing well. May be able to join you soon.

I have attached a photograph of Yuzu. If you see this person, do not attack.

<attachment: Yuzu_forReference.jpg>

[A photo of a tall, tanned person with short black hair. They seem to be in their late 20s or early 30s, and have large, distinct scars underneath their eyes. They have a tattoo of a rose on their right hand, with the stem wrapping around their wrist and forearm. They're dressed in simple clothes, a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black slacks, and black dress shoes]

Noted, won’t post to the ESC chat just in case, but will forward it to people I trust

Thanks :)

[covid-safer-hotties]

SARS-CoV-2 can infect and replicate in human motor neurons differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells - Published Jan 4, 2024

Numerous patients experience neurological and neuromuscular symptoms during and after infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Apart from the central nervous system (CNS), the peripheral nervous system (PNS) is also affected. In this study, the Italian authors investigated whether SARS-CoV-2 can infect and replicate in human motor neurons (MNs) differentiated in vitro from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC-MNs). They also examined whether iPSC-MNs express the main receptors for SARS-CoV-2 entry and whether SARS-CoV-2 infection of iPSC-MNs changes the expression of 46 genes involved in cell survival, metabolism, inflammatory response, apoptotic and antiviral pathways.

SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virus. Its genome encodes four structural proteins, namely the spike (S), envelope (E), nucleocapsid (N), and membrane (M) proteins. It seems that SARS-CoV-2 uses various neuroinvasive strategies and entry pathways to invade the nervous system, such as infection of the nasal olfactory epithelium and axonal transport along the olfactory nerve, retrograde axonal transport, invasion by compromising the blood-brain barrier, retrograde virus spread from the lungs to the CNS via the vagus nerve, and the use of infected hematopoietic cells as “Trojan horses” (hematogenous route).

It remains unknown whether observed neuromuscular manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection are caused by a direct viral invasion of motor neurons, and/or are a collateral injury resulting from an uncontrolled innate immune response. Damage to motor neurons leads to the deterioration of muscle function, manifested as muscle weakness, atrophy, or paralysis.

Two host-cell factors are important for SARS-CoV-2 viral entry into many cell types: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which is bound by the S protein, and transmembrane serine protease 2 (TMPRSS2), which cleaves the S protein, allowing this binding to take place. In addition to ACE2 and TMPRSS2, the S protein has been reported to engage other cell-surface factors proposed to serve as attachment factors promoting SARS-CoV-2 entry.

The expression level of ACE2 is low in the human brain. In contrast, neuropilin 1 (NRP1), CD147, TMPRSS2, and furin are higher and broader expressed than ACE2, indicating that they may be putative mediators of SARS-CoV-2 entry into human nervous system cells. According to the authors of this study, the infection of human motor neurons with SARS-CoV-2 mainly relies on CD147 and/or NRP1 binding. Previous studies have shown that NRP1, known to bind furin-cleaved substrates, potentiates SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and that the furin-cleaved S1 subunit of the S protein binds directly to cell surface NRP1. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd2985

About the study The authors used an in vitro model of human motoneurons (MNs) differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC-MNs) to investigate the infectability of these cells by SARS-CoV-2 and their expression of the main SARS-CoV-2 receptors. They also examined whether SARS-CoV-2 changes the expression of 46 genes involved in cell survival, metabolism, inflammatory response, and apoptotic and antiviral pathways.

The induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from three healthy donors (1 male and 2 females, aged between 37 and 49 years) differentiated into motor neurons that expressed both, neuronal (bIII-tubulin and SMI-312) and motoneuronal (ChAT, HB9) markers.

To verify the infectability of iPSC-MNs by SARS-CoV-2, VeroE6 cells were exposed to supernatants collected from iPSC-MNs infected with SARS-CoV-2. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) was used to analyze the expression of SARS-CoV-2-specific ORF7A, ORF3A, ORF8, RDRP, S, E, and N genes in uninfected (mock) and infected iPSC-MNs.

The expression of main SARS-CoV-2 receptors (ACE2, CD147, NRP1) and peptidases (TMPRSS2, furin) was assessed in iPSC-MNs infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the A549-hACE2 cells, as a positive control.

Results To validate the infectability of iPSC-MNs, VeroE6 cells were exposed to supernatants collected from infected iPSC-MNs at different time points. The results showed that supernatants collected from infected iPSC-MNs could re-infect VeroE6 cells. Furthermore, the SARS-CoV-2-specific genes (N, E, S, ORF3A, ORF8, and ORF7A) were detected exclusively in infected iPSC-MNs. The expression of SARS-CoV-2 N1, S1, S2, and E2 genes in infected iPSC-MNs was subsequently confirmed by rt-PCR.

The expression of SARS-CoV-2 specific N1 and N2 genes was identified in supernatants from infected iPSC-MN cultures by rt-PCR, confirming that SARS-CoV-2 can infect and replicate in human motor neurons. However, the viral replication level was lower in iPSC-MNs than in VeroE6 cells. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 replication in infected iPSC-MNs was not accompanied by a cytopathic effect as assessed by the crystal violet assay. In addition, the immunofluorescence assay detected N protein in infected iPSC-MNs, mainly at the perinuclear level, in the soma, and along the neurite extensions. However, the percentage of infected iPSC-MNs was very low.

Further analysis demonstrated that iPSC-MNs expressed the main entry receptors of SARS-CoV-2, including ACE2, CD147, NRP1, and TMPRSS2, but at different levels. ACE2 and furin were expressed at lower levels, whereas CD147 and TMPRSS2 were expressed at higher levels in infected iPSC-MNs compared to the control A549-hACE2 cell line. The NRP1 expression was comparable between iPSC-MNs and A549-hACE2 cells. The immunofluorescence assay for ACE2, CD147, and NRP1 confirmed these results.

In iPSC-MNs, SARS-CoV-2 infection changed the expression of 10 genes involved in cell survival, metabolism, antiviral, and inflammatory response. The virus up-regulated the expression of B-cell lymphoma-2 family protein (BCL2), BCL2-associated X protein (BAX), caspase 8, CD147, proinflammatory interleukin-6, and sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1, involved in the regulation of lymphocyte trafficking, brain and cardiac function, vascular permeability, and vascular and bronchial tone. The virus down-regulated the expression of human leukocyte antigen-A and endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1, involved in antigen processing and presentation, and angiogenin, which exerts neuroprotective functions and contributes to the systemic response to infection.

Interestingly, an increased ratio between the expression of anti-apoptotic BCL2 and pro-apoptotic BAX gene suggests that programmed cell death was somehow prevented in iPSC-MNs after the infection.

Conclusion The authors concluded that this study has shown, for the first time, that SARS-CoV-2 can infect and replicate in iPSC-derived human motor neurons. However, viral replication and the percentage of infected cells were lower than in VeroE6 cells, susceptible to SARS-CoV-2.

This article was published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.

Journal Reference Cappelletti G, Colombrita C, Limanaqi1 et al. Human motor neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Front. Cell. Neurosci, Sec. Cellular Neuropathology. 05 December 2023. Volume 17, 2023. (Open Access) doi.org/10.3389/fncel.2023.1285836 www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fncel.2023.1285836/full

[sleepvines]

PerLa introductory post

This might be a little all over the place since some of this is copy pasted from a lore doc.

An old headworld I used to post about here, Chasm, is actually alive and well! but it's transformed dramatically since 2020. It's since taken on the name Perpetual Legacy (PerLa) and shifted more towards being private because the sheer amount of difference and information felt too big to ever explain/share online. And I'm only half of the equation here, @acewarden is the other author of this setting. It wouldn't be the same without them.

This drawing from 2022 is super out of date as you can imagine, but it illustrates what happened over time (I was unsatisfied with the bird people, then the 2021!drebyl, and now I'm happy with my bugs. yes the cats are bugs.)

PerLa's differences are exceedingly numerous, so its best to treat it like a new setting altogether.

SO WHAT'S IT ABOUT?

As the lore goes, the forebears of this world, the people of the ancient civilization, were known as the Advancers. Advancers were ambitious and innovative by nature, borne from eusocial insectoid creatures. They tinkered away and invented new machines, formed a network of cities, and made miracles out of biomechanical engineering. Eventually they found a biological substance they called CFM, or Conductive Fusion Material, deep underground inside of a colossal unidentifiable mineral deposit. This substance could attach to both flesh and metal, forming a strong, seamless interface between the materials. It was also highly conductive when manipulated right, and became both a "glue" for new biotech innovations, and an extremely versatile conductor. Lastly it could store information through a complicated biological "encoding" process. This material became extremely important.

(A handful of advancers, 2022)

They used CFM to create biological tools by grafting mechanical parts and computational devices onto organic beings. Sometimes all they needed to use was the CFM itself to change an organism’s behavior and function drastically. The problem was, when the biological component died, the mechanical parts couldn’t sustain a grafted creature for long.

(CFM 2022)

So using this material they built giant machines they called S.E.R.A.s (Static Electric Recycling Amplifiers), in an attempt to create an ambient "charged" field to power their tech and biotech without the need to stop and recharge manually. It was their try at a perpetual energy machine. The idea was that they could use the conductivity of the material to bump up the level of static electricity in the air of their cities to a safe, livable degree, passively charging machines and artificial creatures. Recycling lightning strikes and solar power, it seemed like an efficient way to keep things running hands-free.

Unfortunately, SERA were only seen working in the low-voltage prototype phase. Due to a catastrophic, unforeseen consequence of the SERAs’ function, the voltage spiked and killed off the ancients via mass electrocution.

(A SERA and a drilling site 2022)

The CFM material, they didn't realize, was the grey matter of a long-deceased organism's brain, and they had just created a super network that could simulate unconscious, undreaming, REM sleep cycles. These fatal pulses of static electricity have since become a regular force of nature in the area, and organisms of all kinds have had to adapt over the many, many years the advancers have been gone.

From the lore doc: "THE HAZE: Electricity lingers in the air on the surface. Almost routinely, there are waves of heightened energy that agitate the ambient static electricity, and create shock-storms that pass through. These storms are deadly, but brief, and temporarily activate the dormant machinery the ancients left behind. The periodic haze storms occur due to the electrical activity occurring in the unconscious CFM within the SERA, much like a brain in an REM cycle."

The age of the Successors rose from these ashes. Terrestrial animals in the area fled to live subterranean lives, touched by the Advancer's technology or not. A trio of sapient creature species, the Successors, all have one thing in common: CFM has changed them, and they know they are not the first ones here.

(various successor drawings, 2022)

The drebyl are catlike beings with stingers at the ends of their tails and mandibles in their mouths. Their tie to the ancient civilization can be traced to precursory individuals getting trapped in biotech "programming" mechanisms, and emerging with injected CFM coding. These individuals were compelled to avoid areas marked as dangerous or prohibited for animals, so they had a higher survival rate. Culturally, they're known for taking it easy, indulging in the arts, and developing a modern written word based on what they can find of the advancer's ancient texts.

Syrels have a direct tie to the ancient civilization as escaped novelty tools. Previously known as SigRels (Signal Relayers), the advancers used them as an inefficient, but cute, means of communication. Imagine you could send a voice message or broadcast to someone that would arrive on four legs! They have feathery antennae, bald, colorful faces and scales, and a rodlike tail used for identification. They have the unique ability to communicate via their own "broadcast" waves, and catch decaying signals from even the advancers time. As such, many syrel groups believe they're hearing ghosts or spirits, and have developed a fascination around old audio logs and transmission equipment left behind by the Advancers.

The gul are the most nebulous of the trio, having a more indirect tie to the Advancers and originating from the underground already. Due to their inclination to dig, they stumbled upon open CFM deposits left accessible from abandoned drilling sites, and preyed upon creatures that had eaten the stuff. Now it expresses itself in the form of powerful electro reception that makes them more effective at hunting, and at sensing when the Haze will begin. They are the largest of the successors, with bulky bodies, thick claws, and large protruding horns. Some groups have a reverence for the Haze, feeling in tune with the electricity and performing burrowing rituals that leave only their horns exposed during a storm. This rite of passage is one of the most painful experiences a gul will ever have.

(gul sketches, 2022)

The successors have spread far and wide across the landscape. They have developed various settlements and communities all over the place, and travel between them frequently. Most time spent on the surface involves teams breaking into the ruins of dead cities and scavenging materials, tech, or just studying what they can find. Only when the Haze is dormant they can venture out safely.

(A syrel exploring ruins, 2023)

That's all for this world introduction, though. Thank you for reading if you got this far, I'm excited to finally share this world and what we've made so far, answer any questions, etc. I hope this will help us get in touch with it again.

[sheydeamazing]

Ethnolinguistics (sometimes called cultural linguistics) is an area of anthropological linguistics that studies the relationship between a language or group of languages and the cultural behavior of the people who speak those languages. It examines how different cultures conceptualize and categorize their experiences, such as spatial orientation and environmental phenomena. Ethnolinguistics incorporates methods like ethnosemantics, which analyzes how people classify and label their world, and componential analysis, which dissects semantic features of terms to understand cultural meanings. The field intersects with cultural linguistics to investigate how language encodes cultural schemas and metaphors, influencing areas such as intercultural communication and language learning.

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. Some historians are recognized by publications or training and experience. "Historian" became a professional occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany and elsewhere.

Philippine indigenous communities recognize a woman (or man) as a Babaylan, someone who has the ability to mediate with the spirit world, has her own spirit guides, and is given gifts of healing, foretelling, and insight. She may also have knowledge of healing therapies such as hilot, arbularyo.

The New People's Army, abbreviated NPA or BHB, is the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines. It acts as the CPP's principal organization, aiming to consolidate political power from what it sees as the present "bourgeois reactionary puppet government" and to aid in the "people's democratic revolution".

natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community after a natural hazard event. Some examples of natural hazard events include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides, tropical cyclones, volcanic activity and wildfires. Additional natural hazards include blizzards, dust storms, firestorms, hails, ice storms, sinkholes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and tsunamis. A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property. It typically causes economic damage. How bad the damage is depends on how well people are prepared for disasters and how strong the buildings, roads, and other structures are. Scholars have been saying that the term natural disaster is unsuitable and should be abandoned. Instead, the simpler term disaster could be used. At the same time the type of hazard would be specified. A disaster happens when a natural or human-made hazard impacts a vulnerable community. It results from the combination of the hazard and the exposure of a vulnerable society.

The history of the Philippines from 1565 to 1898 is known as the Spanish colonial period, during which the Philippine Islands were ruled as the Captaincy General of the Philippines within the Spanish East Indies, initially under the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City, until the independence of the Mexican Empire from Spain in 1821. This resulted in direct Spanish control during a period of governmental instability there.

The first documented European contact with the Philippines was made in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan in his circumnavigation expedition, during which he was killed in the Battle of Mactan. Forty-four years later, a Spanish expedition led by Miguel López de Legazpi left modern Mexico and began the Spanish conquest of the Philippines in the late 16th century. Legazpi's expedition arrived in the Philippines in 1565, a year after an earnest intent to colonize the country, which was during the reign of Philip II of Spain, whose name has remained attached to the country.

The Spanish colonial period ended with the defeat of Spain by the United States in the Spanish–American War and the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, which marked the beginning of the American colonial era of Philippine history.

[gaurja24510045]

How I wish I was Mike Ross from Suits

Mike Ross from Suits was my ideal, the genius without a legal license who made it to the top most legal firm without ever taking the LSATs (for himself) or being called to the bar. How? He has photographic memory. He could flip through pages and pages of text and perfectly remember and recall the minutest of details, and also understand things at a deep conceptual level automatically. Impressive, right? I wish it could be that easy for me too, but unfortunately, that’s not how memory works for the average person. 

You, and I, and any random person needs to put in way more effort for encoding memories. In fact, there’s three principles that govern memory encoding, and how I learnt them through very real experiences: Principle 1. Mere Repeated Exposure is not enough to guarantee memory.

As soon as I got the results for my 7th grade final examinations confirming I had passed, making it to the first of the big boy grades: 8th grade, my mom told me to get my math book, copy all the algebra formulae (you know, (a + b)² = a² + 2ab + b² and the like) onto a huge chart paper, and paste them on my wall. She believed that looking at them above my desk every day would improve my memory of them. And I did exactly that, looked at them day in day out all through my summer vacation. But as soon as the opportunity arised to actually use them in a class test, my brain was all crickets. That’s when I realised, merely being exposed to the formulae did not mean that I would remember them or be able to apply them.

Principle 2. New Information is Easier to Remember if You Relate it to Things You Already Know.

I used to be horrible with names. I would be meeting a new person, learning where they are from, what they do, even registering everything about how they are dressed. But as soon as they were about to tell me their name, my brain would loudly go LALALALALA, making absolutely sure I forgot it before they were finished with their sentence. In the long run, this could cost important connections. So I decided to adopt a strategy of connecting their names to some piece of information that already existed in my mind. A junior introduced herself to me recently, and her name was the same as my preschool teacher who would always have cotton candy for me when I missed my mom. I just imagined this junior with some cotton candy and now her name has permanently made its space in my mind. Thus, making connections to previously existing info makes it way easier to remember new stuff!

Principle 3. Deeper Processing at the Encoding Stage Improves Recognition Later. 

In 2nd grade, my general knowledge classes had a quiz at the end of them, where the teacher would ask for world capitals, and each correct answer would get you a whole dairy milk! For the child me, that was the most coveted item ever. I put in hours of work, taking a list and trying to memorise the capitals, but to no avail. They were just random words to me with no meanings attached, and I would literally see them float around my brain with no anchor and routinely jumble them up. That’s when my mom intervened. She told me, if I really wanted to memorise the capitals of all the countries, I would have to get to know them. She sat me down on the family computer, taught me how to google country capitals and go to their wikipedia page. She would ask me to look for things like important monuments or attractions in the city, what people ate there, what language they spoke and more such details. She also bought me a huge world map, which allowed me to geographically place the countries. Having actually engaged with the material and processed it deeply, I am proud to say I was the receiver of the most chocolates in class!

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for being suspicious about my teams corporate surveillance machine?

Me (M) and my team are from a non-corporate entity and currently doing a survey. However, as the planet we are surveying belongs to a company we are required to utilize their equipment. Which basically means questionable quality and unreasonable high prizes. Among this equipment is also a cyborg for security. My team considers them unethical and attempted to get out of having to take one but the company didn’t budge on it. So now we are stuck with this cyborg and it is going to observe all of us and datamine everything so that the company can make even more of a profit.

Now, during our survey I noticed some anomalies, both in the cyborg as well as in our equipment, as vital information such as parts of the map or information about hazardous fauna appeared to be missing and the connection to the satellites occasionally cut out. I suspected that the company that owned the planet wanted to sabotage and potentially kill us. During this process my team also got attached to our cyborg, as it rescued one of our members and everybody has been trying to threat it less like a corporate surveillance and control system and more like a person.

Now, after part of my team, together with the cyborg, left to go check up on another survey they returned with the cyborg shot and disabled and apparently pieces of malware stuck in it’s system. The other survey had all been killed, also by cyborgs. I used the opportunity to go and check up on the anomalies I had noticed and found that the control mechanism of our cyborg had been disabled. I also found that it had in fact downloaded several hundred hours of various entertainment programs that I suspected it used to encode data to send back to the company.

Of course I informed the rest of my team about this and my suspicions about the company attempting to kill us, as it was genuinely concerning. My colleagues disagreed with me. The cyborg, who had hacked most of our systems, disagreed with me. The cyborg, who had killed more than 50 people and named itself after that act. To its credit, it did argue that it disabled it’s controller to avoid that happening again, or at least it beliefs so. It was also unhappy with me revealing its name. Also, one of my teammates checked and apparently it really does watch all that media.

In any case, I did not trust the cyborg and my attempts to keep it immobilized failed, as the system apparently lied to us and I did get attacked. Once again to the credit of the cyborg, it did not harm me anymore and apparently it really doesn’t like me. Surprisingly enough the rest of my colleagues still do.

In any case, am I the asshole for being suspicious of our security cyborg?

[messinwitheddie]

What is tallest Red’s thoughts on being measured? Was Purple with him at the same time? What are the aftercare routine for such a stretch?

I wonder how they can breath with those really tight corsets. I think their organs are crying out for help.😅

How does one move up a rank from a starting point of being a service drone to becoming an advisor?

Since the control brains have new vessel bodies and taken full responsibility of the empire. Where does that leave the tallest? Will there no longer be more of them after Purple’s reign is over?

After Spork was eaten and the whole empire went into lock down, Red was a little surprised that he and Purple were summoned to Jugmentia for a second measuring that time around. Excitement quickly set in. They were locked into their personal quateres (A tiny apartment) on the Viral at the time, as the Massive was not officially launched and inhabitanted yet. There were forty or fifty other drones close to their height, but apparently not close enough.

On Jugmentia all finalist are measured separately. Red was THRILLED when he was informed he measured up to tallest stature. He was ignorant of any real challenges and responsibilities that comes along with being a tallest. He was just excited for the power, luxuries, fame and snacks. He and Purple made a pact to promote the other to a high rank and keep in touch, whichever of them was measured tallest.

He was very upset to find out he would have to fight Purple to the death for the title. The red brain initially refused Red's request to rule as one unit as his plea seemed to be based on pure emotional attachment, but luckily, Purple managed to present a "logical" argument, which was Red and Purple both lacked life experience and in the categories where Red's personal stats were subpar, Purple excelled and vice-versa. Therefore they could rule the empire better as a duo. The control brains reluctantly accepted the argument.

The recovery period and aftercare for the surgical limb/ spinal stretching/ lengthening process is shorter than any drone would care for. Their PAKs pump enough pain killers into their flesh vessels to make it bearable enough for them to live through the lengthening process and the first binding/ adorning of imperial robes. Recovery also involves a lot of deep tissue massages and stretching exercises.

Besides that, being tallest is a pretty sweet deal. Especially if you're a drone that likes power, lounging and attention.

It takes a few months of binding/ wardrobe changing sessions and conditioning before Red and Purple could move normally or feel natural in their formal robes. They looked damn good and tall on their public debut though.

It IS hard for a tallest to breathe in their robes. (head canon) Their spooches are compressed. But again, they always look sharp in public even if prolonged periods of wearing corsets/ hovor belts can cause all kinds of injuries and physical complications. Luckily for Irkens, they can intake small amounts of air through their eyes to compensate.

To become the tallest's personal advisor, you would just have to apply for the job online by sending the red brain your personal stats when he updates the public occupational listings. They're constantly updating, depending on the position, so you just have to keep checking. Many drones don't know this, but even if there are no available positions for a job you would like, you can still submit your stats/ request to be put on a waiting list for first review.

To become an imperial advisor requires jumping through the same hoops you would to earn any occupational promotion. If you have already been encoded as an "unskilled" service drone, your name may be shoved to the bottom of the potential hire list. BUT, it never hurts to apply. The empire has its flaws but at least it's pretty easy to find a job and the option to transfer out for a better one is there, provided you have no criminal record and you apply in time. Unemployment is almost nonexistent there.

If the red brain considers you a possible fit for the job you will be required to take a series of holo-visor tests at your nearest red control brain hub. There may be a number of hours of required VR training too. Sometimes the tallest won't bother, but for a position on the tallest's personal staff*, you may have to attend an in-person, face to face interview with the tallest before the red brain officially hires and encodes you. (*advisor, coordinator, imperial medic, imperial pak technician, personal frylord ect, ect...)

Don't be intimidated about applying if you're short. Tallests actually prefer to keep shorter drones on their personal staff. Surrounding themselves with short drones make them look taller by comparison during live streams.

As for the control brain's next major upgrade, it WILL eliminate the position of almighty tallest. Purple is dethroned/ disgraced and forced to go into hiding.

The Control Brains never intend to measure another tallest after him. They will move about freely and have full control over the empire AND all PAK wearing drones.

(unless a drone's PAK has been altered or modified to stay severed from the control brains telepathic stronghold.)

Their ultimate goal is and has been to recreate the Irken race as a pure hive-mind with unwavering obedience and no room for defective behavior. It was just a matter of expanding the control brains' own mental capacities/ capabilities enough to perpetually process SO much incoming data at once. It took time, but to them, worth the wait. ( Not ALL Irkens are on board with this new regime for obvious reasons.)

[splathousefiction]

I have been in the creative field since I was 18. While I am most popularly known for my work here at Splathouse, "Jack The Warlock" isn't the only face I've worn in the 16 years I've been making things in a professional space.

In no particular order, a (in)complete list of projects I either created myself or have been a part of is below the jump. Details at this time will be kept vague. You are welcome to make your guesses and DM/Comment down below. If you get it right, I'll tell you.

An actual hard-copy account with my complete involvement along with website addresses, email accounts and passwords is currently within my safe in my own hand writing. It's to be scanned and made public upon my death, serving as (if nothing else) a testament to "try everything".

I started an absurdist magician sect. I was originally inspired by chaos magic theory, but sought to refine their ideals. As such, it takes the element of the concept of belief itself as a malleable thing that can shape the world without ever being spoken or made physical via ritual work. "If you think it, it can happen"-be that in the ego or the id. The sect is still operating internationally today and has over 100 members. We're small, but we're there. None of the members have ever met me or have any idea who I am.

I've published two short-horror collections as a female author in her forties. They were released for free and are pretty openly available almost everywhere you can pirate books. The books are incredibly popular with queers, with booktok most notably covering them pretty hotly for a month. None of my readers have absolutely any idea I am behind both collections and still send emails (without hope of ever getting a response) today. Many assume I'm dead.

I released an experimental dark fantasy hip-hop EP that was inspired by this album by Earl Sweatshirt and MF DOOM. It's a five track album that totals in at 21 minutes. Much like the horror anthology collection above, each track can be enjoyed by itself, but when played in sequential order tells a Berserk-like story. The album took six months of my life and features encoded secret messages in the audio, with the "lore" being that it's a form of sigil magic. To date, it is the most popular audio project I have ever recorded and vastly surpasses anything I have ever made for Splathouse. Absolutely no one knows that the vocals, the producer and the song writer are one guy, nor do they know it's me. They've been waiting for a follow up EP for years. I will never release another one.

I have been a writer and creative director for several ARGs. One of which was a darling of the early days of Youtube Explainer videos. The project "concluded" because I was intensely disgusted by the growing cottage industry of "curators" destroying the mystery of such things. As they still do this and have careers directly profiting off the creative works of others, I see no need to join such a project ever again. Absolutely no one involved in the projects had any idea who I am, and the projects I started myself have never once been connected back to me.

I've co-wrote several webcomics. One or two of which gained middling popularity. No one working on these projects has absolutely any idea as to who I am or my larger sphere of work. I left the field because of audience treatment of webcomic creators.

I've had original artwork I created featured in multiple gallery showings that highlighted "abstract" and "outsider" art, back when I still enjoyed doing artwork. Anything you find by me on deviant art in the "Splathouse" era was me attempting to wrap my head around digital art; my neuro divergency prefers physical mediums. Every single one of these submissions was under a different name chosen at random.

I've acted in precisely two indy movies under a popular name used by directors who don't want their names attached to projects. Film buffs know the one. I was the lead character in one and the side character in another. The films are connected, but aren't sequels, a series, nor is there a prequel involved. The films were highly experimental and shot in the "guerilla"/"Gonzo" tradition. They went through the indy circuit and won [insert number of awards here]. I wasn't compensated nor were the films profitable. We didn't care and I haven't spoken with anyone from the cast since, who simply asked for a name and nothing more. Some of them are still in the industry. One of them is a reasonably successful B-movie director now.

I've created several text adventure games. Most people are familiar with the Splathouse ones, which released in the early 2010s. What they aren't familiar with are the ones I released on itchio under an different name with a disposable email address. The games were reasonably popular with that niche sector of the gaming community, and still get regularly recommended.

There's more I could add to this, but I feel I'm done for now. It's late, I've work in the morning.

If you've made it this far in the list and you're still curious-no, you aren't going to get me to tell you any details about any of these projects. Even my best friends couldn't get that out of me. If you're curious as to why I did literally any of this, the reason is two fold:

Because I could.

why not?

[libratalks]

The Resurgence of CDs: the "forgotten format" remembered by me

I know what you're thinking. There is no rebirth of CDs, Isha.

The facts tell us that they have been dying a slow death since their peak in the 2000s, suffering a 97% drop in sales revenue back in 2020. It fails to be a viable commercial format due to performing terribly in sales' data, with only a 1.1% increase in the US during 2021. No one is buying CDs, and those who are, well they just don't matter in the grand scheme of things for a few reasons. There are various sources of media that say otherwise, yet Damon Krukowski boldly states that one of the reasons why journalists have been penning articles regarding "the resurgence of CDs" is because there is a sense of false consciousness attached: it is an attempt by the industry to substitute the interests of the rich for one's own; to distract music consumers from facing the deeper problems within music distribution, such as a supposed booming economy in the music industry despite there being a great income inequality. To which I say, true, but un(?)fortunately, our minds do not resort to that aspect of the resurgence of CDs immediately. I mean, really, when I came across a sticker-peeled, used copy of Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill in the snug CD section of my temporary hometown's Oxfam (I was in Bath during my second year of university), I was hardly thinking of the effects of CD sales in the music industry. What I was thinking about was the excitement I felt in the pit of my stomach to be eight years old again, sat on my bedroom floor, wanting to scream the lyrics to Ironic whilst dancing around my stereo. If there is a resurgence of CDs, it is thanks to my generation: Gen-Z.

Perhaps one of Krukowski's faults is that he is building his conclusions based on CD sales from corporate stores, not independent stores that sell pre-owned copies. An hour ago, I was stood in a place named Record Collector in Sheffield, a whole store dedicated to collecting CDs along with artist memorabilia, such as tour posters and band autobiographies. There are also places such as Oxfam and Truck Store in Oxford where pre-owned copies of various CDs are sold at cheap prices ranging from 99p to £5. These stores are where the heart of CD-love lies. It's the accessibility with personal ownership that is comforting, along with the affordable pricing in contrast with vinyl prices. This reason for CD appreciation has always been evident, yet the introduction of MP3 files and the quick accessibility to downloads back in the 2000s is one of the murderers of the CD craze. Once there was a rise in MP3 players being sold, CD sales nearly halved between 2000 and 2007. Despite this, various artists and music fans remain defending CDs against MP3 players due to MP3 files becoming compressed when downloaded, affecting the audio quality of the song. With CDs, the audio is never compressed nor tweaked in any way. Yes, you could also just encode your MP3 files at a higher bit rate, but that leads me to my next favourite thing about CDs.

THE CREATIVITY IS UNMATCHED. I have always been a visual learner of some sort, falling in love with aesthetics that are carefully crafted in front of me for my own enjoyment. It's why I adore films over books, possess a keen eye and attention to detail when it comes to their direction and fashion, and it is also why I love CDs in the way that I do. I mean, I have a whole Instagram page dedicated to the craftsmanship that artists have demonstrated through their CDs. I own a growing collection, ranging from artists like Hole and Radiohead, along with Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morissette. All CDs I own are bought based on two things: how much I love the music and how much I adore the artwork. This creativity that artists can build on introduces a realm of sentimentality for when a music consumer witnesses time taken to produce a delicate work of art, where thorough thought has been given to which photos will be used for the cover - what colour scheme we are aiming for in terms of the album's aesthetic - which font should be used for the title and should it be the same for the lyrical pages in the booklet? - these are intricate details that an artist recognises and appreciates, no matter what. With so much love and care given to a piece of work that you have crafted, not always alone but with a team, you can't help but feel a sense of inspiration along with appreciation for the beauty of it all - allowing you to feel a strong connection with the artist. With that, no other music format could even compare to the liberation of creativity that CDs possess.

If there's anything you're going to take from me and my ranting, please let it be this: close your eyes, think of an album, or a song, or an artist that you can't help but feel a strong connection to, and buy one of their CDs. Go through the cover booklet, consume and appreciate each framing of text on each page - ask yourself why they chose to use that font or that colour - have the music playing at the same time and read through each page that consists of their lyrics... Let yourself be completely enamoured by the artist's choices of creativity and build your critical thinking in terms of what could be going on inside their minds.

You'll find yourself tapping into a whole new aspect of consuming music, especially in terms of appreciating visual individuality and the liberation that comes with it. All these feelings... thank you, CDs.

[marveltaughtmetoread]

Not trying to directly shade anyone but saw a post recently which was anti Taylor Swift because 1) she's overplayed and mediocre, 2) she doesn't deserve her awards because the awards ignore marginalised groups, 3) 1989 sucked and 4) releasing is giving her another chance to 4a) shame a closeted man for being 4b) a womaniser 5) there was also an underlying message towards her not being political in the right way throughout the post

And I just wanna weigh in because Taylor gets a lot of unbridled hatred for what amounts to not being everyone's cup of tea and being popular, like you don't have to like her but so you have to hate her to this extent???

So let's break it down

1) Yeah Taylor Swift is probably overplayed, but that doesn't mean she's not talented, as a fan of hers, her inescapable presence currently is a bit much for me, like no artist deserves this much attention

but she's still a good artist, you don't get to be this big by not being talented, look at all the celebrities who tried to break into music and just weren't good enough, she has to have been talented to get where she is, doesn't mean you have to like her, I hate Nicki Minaj but I also have to admit that she is massively influential and clearly talented to have that influence

2) yeah, the academies are bigoted, and they do ignore marginalised talents, especially those who are vocal about their politics, but this doesn't actually have anything to do with Taylor, like you can argue that she should be bringing attention to the issue and uplifting smaller artists but you can't blame her for the awards being rigged against the marginalised, also she still has to be talented to win the awards because there are a lot of white cishet able-bodied musicians out there, and she still beat them

I get your point and I too hate the awards being bigoted but why are you blaming and holding one artist responsible for this systematic issue, why is Taylor your punching bag for this

3) 1989 isn't my favourite album of hers but once again it not being to your taste doesn't make it a bad album, like Demi Lovato's early work isn't to my taste so I just don't listen to it

4a) who the hell are you to assume Harry Styles' sexuality, Harry is openly gender nonconforming, he openly dates women, whether or not he identifies as queer is none of our business and feeling entitled to him being queer is messed up, do you know how many celebrities have come out and talked about how harmful it was for them to have the public assume their sexuality and have the public decide that they were secretly closeted or in Kit Connor's case act like he was queer baiting the audience for his assumed straightness

You do not have the right to act like you know anyone's sexuality, get off your high horse

4b) Taylor Swift writes songs about her life, she uses her songs as a journal, all of her public relationships have been attached to songs she wrote, she herself actively tries to avoid attaching any particular ex with her songs, she used to encode their names into her songs when she was a smaller artist and a teenager but she stopped doing that as she got bigger and the public scrutiny around her heightened, 1989 specifically alludes to trying to keep her relationships out of public eyes, and being hunted by the media

the media attention on her relationships is not something she enjoys and the speculation around who she dates is something she actively tries to shut down, she's not trying to ruin any of her exes

This I think we can contrast rather clearly with other artists who have written songs attacking their exes and inspired mass public backlash against them, such as Olivia Rodrigo whose hatred was so palpable in her songs that people wrote her ex and his new partner death threats and harassed them even as Joshua Bassett was in hospital with a failing heart, and when you listen to the actions Olivia describes it's not worth it, when you contrast Olivia and Joshua's songs it reads as a teenage relationship that broke up making the death threats fucking ridiculous and disproportionate

Taylor Swift songs have never inspired that same level of backlash, despite describing what sounds like abuse or at least being taken advantage of in some of them, because she doesn't write from a place of anger, her songs tell stories, and give a more balanced view of relationships, people hate her exes for what her songs reveal about their actions but she's not inspiring mass hatred, you have to be actively listening to the lyrics and a massive fan to care about her exes, and, when she performed Dear John on the Eras tour, she prefaced it by essentially saying 'I don't need you protecting me, don't go after him', trying to prevent exactly the reaction Olivia Rodrigo's songs inspired

Back to the shame over being a womaniser, Harry has said he felt flattered by her songs and it was Taylor whose reputation was bashed for dating too much, because, in our sexist society, it is mostly the women who get vitriol aimed at them for who they date not the men, so I don't know how you could think to level this argument against her, like she was very clearly the one being shamed over her body count not Harry??

Also, Style is the only song which alludes to (the man everyone's assumes is) Harry even slightly being a womaniser because he's seeing other women but can't stop thinking about Taylor, which is followed up by Taylor saying "I've been there too a few times" which feels to me like they're both guilty of not moving on even as they are seeing other people, so how is Taylor shaming him for it????

5) Taylor not being political in the right ways is a fair criticism, a lot of people are disappointed in her lack of involvement in politics, what little involvement she does have is shown to be left wing, but it's rare, breadcrumbs scattered across albums and events

I think she's actively trying not to use her influence to be involved in politics because she wants us to be involved, to vote, but she doesn't want to have the power to influence us on her politics and I can see why this is not enough for a lot of people

I personally don't mind, I agree with her trying to not get involved in shaping her fans politics because a person of Taylor's influence getting involved in politics scares me

I don't want every celebrity under the sun giving us a political opinion because they're just not qualified for it and I think Taylor recognises that, so uses her influence sparingly but if you do want your music to be political, it's okay to dislike her for this