#Controlled Ecosystem

[techdriveplay]

Why Apple Continues to Lead in The Phone Game

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, where innovation and sophistication intersect, Apple stands out as a beacon of excellence and ingenuity. With its roots deeply embedded in the art of creating not just devices, but experiences, Apple has continuously set the benchmark for what a smartphone can be. It’s not merely the advanced technology or the sleek designs that position Apple as a…

[sarshles-cheescake-li]

My favourite analysis on Lu Guang's answer to the animal riddle is that he said detective, partly because he sees himself as guilty, by @curapicas (2025). (thanks muninnhuginn for finding the link!) However, I posit another answer: everyone.

You can set a forest aflame with a match, sure, but that doesn't cause devastation on the scale of lifeless charcoal. Where I live, our forest are born to be burned. Pockets of wildfire open up cracks in the canopy, letting sun shine on young trees; nutrients are released back into soil; the jack pine tree needs fire to reproduce (Natural Resources Canada, 2024). Wildfires have become an issue for us recently for one major reason: mismanagement.

Forest fires are bound to happen. Delay it endlessly, leave thousand of acres of standing, old wood, and that's when a forest fire becomes truly ravenous. Was it any one creature's fault? The fault of the elephant for dutifully putting out small sparks whenever they were seen? The fox for watching the forest grow thick and overcrowded without speaking up? The rabbits for planting the grasses that they adore as food? No one could have seen it coming, yet, everyone could. It wasn't anyone's fault. It was everyone's fault. It was a tragedy. It was an inevitability. Lu Guang would know: he's been fighting that inevitable fire for years.

A forest fire, and a death node. Never any one singular person to blame, one single factor that caused the fire: always a collision of dozens of entangled threads. Cheng Xiaoshi's death was never caused by one singular person, and the fire was never set by any one creature. The animals of the forest, in their attempts to make the forest a better home for themselves, set the stage for it to burn. The people who love and are loved by Cheng Xiaoshi, in their actions to protect him, attract the attention of executioners. 引火上身。*

Fundamentally, it's the same as Cheng Xiaoshi's answer -- that sometimes lightning strikes your life, and that's that. Only, Cheng Xiaoshi says 'it wasn't anyone's fault, no one did anything to start it'. Lu Guang, and maybe Vein, too, say 'they were all at fault, no one did anything to prevent it'. Lu Guang answers everyone, because he has come to see disasters as not the result of a singular person's actions, but rather a product of everyone's decisions. Even though Vein may not be a time traveler well-versed in the crowdfunded nature of tragedies, he still may well be cynical enough to write off the idea of innocent victims.

Lastly, consider that Lu Guang doesn't plot Vein's death because it would prevent him from killing Cheng Xiaoshi. He does it because it creates a new node; a new fire. Controlled burning**.

*Meaning "to attract fire onto one's own body." An idiom for when you cause your own problems, especially by attracting the attention or ire of others.

**An actual forest management technique where you set small, controlled fires, which clear out the dead wood and fulfill the same purposes as a big fire without it getting out of hand. Many Indigenous peoples have been doing it since forever. (BC Wildfire Service, 2022)

BC Wildfire Service. (2022, May 5). How cultural burning enhances landscapes and lives. Government of British Columbia. https://blog.gov.bc.ca/bcwildfire/how-cultural-burning-enhances-landscapes-and-lives/

Curapicas. (2025, February 5). Why I think Lu Guang's answer to the riddle was the detective:. Tumblr. https://www.tumblr.com/curapicas/774647863305256960/why-i-think-lu-guangs-answer-to-the-riddle-was

Natural Resources Canada. (2024, August 1). Why forests need fires, insects and diseases. Government of Canada. https://natural-resources.canada.ca/our-natural-resources/forests/insects-disturbances/why-forests-need-fires-insects-and-diseases/13081

[telestoapologist]

hi sir. does that include your clothes

[chalkscrub]

@unsanctitude doodled your dude real fast i love him too....art fight is early this year

[eldritch-muppetshow]

pikmin swap au where olimar (in louie’s role) is a perfectly average guy who ends up driven mad by The Horrors of being stranded and it being all his coworker’s fault. he’s as pleasant as he is in canon when he isn’t being stranded on alien planets to be clear, but it just seems to keep happening and louie isn’t doing his due diligence in preventing that

[catsconflictscopicsandchamomile]

Not to in-character-post sgain (ok I may need to make a Hellaverse rp sideblog) but

I'm a bit concerned for Stolas. Even meds withdrawals aside, losing that much power that abruptly is not good for this type of entity. The full effects can take weeks or even a month to actually manifest while the last reserves of his power/any long-term interactions between his magic and his body gradually burn off (dont ask how I know this), but when it does show up it can be devastating, and even fatal if he's not careful with himself. Even if he feels fine now, he's was completely altered at a metaphysical level within the span of seconds, and eventually he will not have the power/energy/honestly at this point just plain adrenaline left to block off the pain and shock of that. The instict here is to seek out an aternate power source or try to return some part of him to its previous state, but that will destabilize whatever form/existence he has now and make it MUCH more likely that this could turn fatal. Also you can absolutely get weird illnesses from stolen magic DONT ASK HOW I KNOW. Really what he needs is to not push himself, stay warm and slowly get used to imp food, like actual whole fresh fruits (NOT the tree fruits from South Wrath*. absolutely not.) , veg, meat, etc. Honestly I truly think they need to take Stolas and go to Millie's folks' place. Getting out of the stuffy city air and around a lot of fresh food and raw earth would be really good for Stolas. He's far more Physical now than he's ever been, and he wasnt born into it so he needs to establish a solid connection to the earth for the first time.

Source: this is NOT my first (somehwæt literal) rodeo and its not @cha0ticlesbian 's first rodeo either. PLEASE BE GENTLE WITH THE BIRD MAN. I know he seems like he's functioning ok on a physical level but that is just whatever the demon equivalent of adrenaline is. He is so deeply not ok.

*...tldr read Dante.

[swan2swan]

I love that Jurassic Park was determined to present the illusion of "We're in a natural world, a preserve that's only inches from nature" and assumed that it had control over the animals while actually not understanding nature at all, leading to its destruction...

...and Jurassic World had a "We're in a secure place from nature, but we understand the animals so well and treat them with so many advances that we have the whole thing figured out," until they created an Unnatural Creature that promptly destroyed everything because it was an unholy abomination.

[wizardnuke]

i'm not anti gun at all. i think for as long as cops carry guns then civilians should be allowed to as well. that being said i think it is lame as hell at best and stupid dangerous at worst to open carry in a walmart. buddy the likelihood of someone getting shot in here was zero and now it isn't. cause you're in here.

[shallowseeker]

The thing is...I don't hate Sam.

[bluespring864]

i am so fucking nervous i and i am not even watching this match

[screambirdscreaming]

At the bus stop one time there was a gaggle of preschoolers waiting to catch the bus for a field trip day, and someone walked past with a couple of friendly little dogs, to great general delight.

But after a little bit, the dogs were getting overwhelmed, and the preschoolers were gently coaxed to back off so the person with the dogs could continue on. Specifically, one of the preschool teachers said, "Sometimes, when you're small, being surrounded by big people can be a bit scary and overwhelming. Even if they are friendly."

This was recieved as great wisdom: after all, the preschoolers were also small, and understood how scary and overwhelming big people could be! And the dogs were indeed even smaller than the preschoolers, so it made sense.

What was funny and charming was that, upon absorbing and reflecting on this wisdom, they all felt the need to tell it to one another. In tones of great insight, they turned to one another and said, "Did you know? Sometimes when you are small, being surrounded by big people can be scary and overwhelming! Even if they are friendly!" Back and forth, without any particular concern that they were all saying the same thing. Have reached comprehension of an insight, it must be shared!

I must say that this behavior is less charming in tumblr users than in preschoolers. Not least because tumblr users, having gained a little analytical skill to misuse, insist on Summarizing and Generalizing and Unifying the insights they repeat, quickly turning any interesting new information into formulaic dogmatic mush.

[nukacourier]

have you accepted booncade in your life yet

To be very honest I never actually hated the ship or anything, I just have a visceral reaction to it because I'm so used to seeing fan art where Arcade is twinkified and acts like a literal child (the "smol bean" era of fandom was hell). But lately I'm seeing more people fight against depicting him like that with the ship (and also giving Boone his personality instead of just making him fill the role of angry silent top daddy or whatever) so I like seeing it a lot more now

[oars]

actively used tumblr for about a minute for the first time in a while and was reminded how bad the reading comprehension on here was

[fisheito]

How it started:

How it's going:

[spaciebabie]

Remember when you said "I dont go here and probably never will" about cotl? That's hilarious to think back on now

BWAHAHHAHA YEAH i dont think it'll be a hyperfixation type deal but i am quite enjoying playing the game :3

gotta thank the people on my dash and friends for being coocoo crazy about that game otherwise i never would have gotten it lol

[drunk-on-starlight]

The orokin hated the tenno because the tenno couldn't be controlled.

It's really that simple isn't it. I mean sure, I have no doubts the Zariman was a PR disaster, especially with all the hype surrounding it, but the one thing the Orokin can't stand, the reason they'd brand children devils is because the void granted them power that the Orokin couldn't comprehend, control or conquer.

Obviously that's exactly why Ballas hated them too; everyone else could be made to bow, but not them. They could be loyal, but never out of anything then their own desire.

And well, look how that went.