#I CAN ROBOT!! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO MATH! OR WRITE!

[bytebun]

i also don’t remember anything about analyzing statistical significance so god help me i am hitting the google

[a-998h]

hi, may I know the reaction of fatui harbingers to the fact that the creator got pregnant from Dottore? 9 months later, she gave birth to a daughter and called her Olivia

I'm changing the name from Oliva to Feodora due to Sneznaya being themed after Russia from the bit of it we have seen, also because I like the name better.

Pregnancy

Two year after you and Dottore's wedding, you started to feel off. You were fatigued, dizzy, and you had killer headaches. At first they thought you just got sick, which sent them all into a panic. Dottore checked you over and you seemed physically fine. But things turned frighting when you messed your period, you start to panic. Dottore cheks you over and then does some math, as he realizes something. One pregnancy test and examination later, you're now discovered to not only be pregnant but you're also 3 months pregnant.

Que the panicking from both of you, mostly you. You both wanted kids, and you were right in the danger zone. Also, you now have to tell a group of people who love you, but hate Dottore, that he got you pregnant. So, you two come up with a solution, don't tell anyone until you're out of the danger zone.

So, you did. It helped you weren't showing yet. But now that you were out of the danger zone, and you had to tell the other Harbingers.

The other Harbingers have been norice how off you and Dottore have been acting. You've been having mood swings, when Childe made you favorite dish you frowned and didn't eat it, and other strange behaviors. Pulcinella was worried so he was going to organize a meeting with you, then he was told that you and Dottore wanted to meet with with them all.

"We have something to tell you," You begin.

"You're a getting a divorce?" Sandrone asks.

"What, no!" You exclaim.

"Then why are we here?" Arlecchino asks.

"I'm pregnant," you say.

There is a deafing silence in the room, and then Pulcinella gets up, and charges at Dottore. Pulcinella is yelling about how Dottore defiled you.

Once you calm everyone done, and make sure no one kills Dottore, your pregnancy has changed.

Arlecchino would be giving you and Dottore parenting advice and might send you baby toys and blankets from Fontaine. She also buys parenting books for Dottore. She takes you baby shopping in Fontaine, or she does the shopping alone and sends the items to you by mail.

Pulcinella is... conflicted. On the one hand, he is thrilled to be a great grandpa, on the other hand he is not happy that the child is Dottore's. But, he tries his best to help. Makes sure deranged followers leave you alone. He also makes sure you stay safe, your cravings are met, and that you have the best doctor possible. He also reminds Dottore to be a good parent of else.

Pantalone is buying baby and nursery stuff. He also just hands you money for the baby. He will spoil this child when they're born. He buys high quality stuff. Will also take you shopping.

Sandrone is now making dolls for the as yet unborn child. She is also planning to teach the kid how to make robots when they're older. She's more hands off compared to the others because children are kind of a fence in a workshop. She is also supply the nursery with books.

Columbia is so excited. She is being the best future aunt se can. She is the once who plays music for the baby in your belly. Writes down which music the baby "likes" and "dislikes". She will sing and pet your belly. You have to pull her away from your belly, she also complies with your cravings.

Scaramouche is not that happy about it, at first. He's just grumpy and children are loud and annoying. But he warms up to the idea. He can't handle your hormones and modd swings. He sneaks you craving foods. Overall just tries to keep his patience from snapping. He will try and stay away from everything because he has no idea what to do and doesn't want to upset you. He well try his best though. He will keep the crazy followers away from you.

La Signora is so excited. She will definitely has rich aunt vibes. She will also do baby shopping with you. She also helps by making sure you have everything you need. She uses her position as a way to keep people from bothering you. Also makes a list of what foods you can and can't eat, along with what foods you're craving. She is the most helpful and makes sure nothing bad happens to you or the baby.

Capitono is more protective over you now. He knew you were already fragile, but now that you're pregnant... he's in overdrive. Whenever you go anywhere, he's going with you. He is worried anything and everything will hurt you and the baby. Other than being a guard dog, he doesn't really do much.

Childe is uncle material. He is super excited. He will also give childcare advice and he might give you hand me down things from his siblings. Is also one of your scary guard dogs. He wants to make sure you and the baby are safe and healthy.

Pierro is lost. He doesn't know the first thing about raising a baby or pregnant women. The only thing he's good for is keeping the crazy people away from you. He is neutral about all this, cause again, he has no idea how to handle you now.

Timeskip

There was much debate over the baby's name. Dottore wanted Sumeru names, Arlecchino suggested Fontaine names, Childe and Pulcinella suggested Sneznayan names, and La Signora suggested Modstandt names. Eventually, you pick a name... Feodora.

Once Feodora is born, everything turns upside down as you all have to get used to having a baby around.

[crystalandparrot]

RC9GN x Reader

New Season

Not my art!!

NEW SEASON OF RC9GN!!! This takes place AFTER the Sorcerer's defeat

If you would like to know what voice actors I had in mind for the new characters, I'll make a skippable chapter about it.

This is very different from my other stories! This (Y/n) is MAINLY based on Donnie from ROTTMNT. She can be seen as autistic, but for the sake of not writing too many details, I'll stick to the basics. If you want some chapters that have more details about autistic characters, I can write a few one shots. I don't want ANY exclusion. Without spoiling too much, her weapon is also VERY much like Donnie's. Lots of attachments, tools, and things that could further a plot line. A lot of the technology will be the same but it will all have different purposes. This is gonna be really out of my comfort zone, as most (Y/n) I write are somewhat based on me. If it ever gets too confusing or to OOC, let me know. I want to clarify, (Y/n) is NOT Donnie, I just don't see a lot of reader inserts or x readers with a truly intelligent reader and I thought it'd be cool. The Donnie inspiration was mainly because Ben Schwartz voices Leo from ROTTMNT and Randy.

I want to preface as well, if this does not become a Reader insert, this will be a slow burn. Again, getting out of my comfort zone.

"Congratulations! You have punched all the graves!"

With their signature move, Howard Weinerman a Randy Cunningham congratulated each other, but before they could completed said, 'slappage', Howard moved away.

"Now that we've finished the final final Grave Punchers game, we should talk about the Ninja situation." Howard stepped away, leaving Randy with his fist in the air.

"Okay, I know I'm gonna sound like a broken record on this but...there is no Ninja situation?" Randy asked, dropping his hand.

"Exactly! There is no Ninja situation!" Howard pointed to Randy's desk, where the mask and Nomicon lay, the book still disguised by a Math book cover. "Your Ninja stuff has been sitting at that desk all Spring Break! The stuff's probably collected dust by now." Howard complained.

"Pfft!" Randy waved his hand and crossed his arms defiantly. "N-no, no it hasn't."

Howard raised an eyebrow and blew a large gust of air at the Nomicon. A cloud of dust flew off and towards the boys, causing them to cough.

"Okay, okay. You might have a point." Randy walked to his desk and grabbed his mask. The red lines pulsed softly. "But, the Sorcerer's gone. And with him gone, McFist has no reason to fight me." Randy waved his hand for emphasis.

"Doesn't he hate the Ninja?" Howard asked.

Randy guffawed, "No one hates the Ninja!"

"I hate the Ninja!" A scratchy voice boomed throughout the circular room. "I just wanna punch him in his stupid Ninja face." He grumbled, slouching in his chair. The short burly man mashed his fists together angrily for emphasis. The man's face turned bright red, starkly contrast from his dark Judge's robe, hence the name they all knew him by.

"Whoo, take 'er easy there, Judge. You'll get wrinkles." The melodic voice came from the dark skinned woman sitting to the right of the Judge. She was staring into a compact mirror, although her counter parts were unaware as to how seeing as her fluffy hair was covering her eyes completely. With one hand holding the mirror, she used her other hand to apply bright red lipstick, the shade on the bottom read, 'Snake's Blood'.

"Yeah, you're starting to look like McFist." The sassy voice came from a tall tan man with brunette hair, elegantly styled.

"I am not-!!" The Judge angrily stood, his face red. He took a deep breath and sat back down, gently setting down his gavel after he angrily held it over his head. "I am not like Hannibal McFist."

"What's with this obsession over the Ninja lately?" The woman asked, setting her compact mirror back in her purse. "We're perfectly fine with how we're operating things now."

"And it's not like the Ninja notices small crimes, he's more focused on Monsters and Robots, right?" The brunette asked.

"Not anymore." The Judge shook his head. "The Sorcerer's gone, and with him out of the way, those Robots are soon to follow. It won't be long before he gets desperate." The Judge reached across the table and grabbed the small remote that sat in the middle. Pressing the red button, a projection appeared on the wall being the skinny brunette. "Last night. The Ninja overturned our truck of stolen money, the cops found it right after." Pictures of a dark figure, with, what looked like, a large mallet standing on top of the overturned truck, red and lights flashing behind them, making the lines on the suit look purple. The Judge turned off the projection.

"So we gotta go bigger." The woman smirked.

"How do you figure?" The brunette asked.

The woman, about to answer, stopped as her phone rang. She pulled it out of her blazer and answered sweetly, "Deputy Mayor Kranski. Oh, hi, hon!" Kranski giggled quietly, holding her other hand up to the phone to try to conceal her words, "I'm in a meeting, honey!" She stood straight once more, hand back at her side. "Yep, meatloaf is on the top shelf."

"Kranski." The Judge rolled his eyes.

"Okay, love you too. Buh-bye." Kranski smiled sweetly, hanging up.

The brunette looked at his nails out of boredom, then looked back up at Kranski. "You were saying?"

"The Ninja is used to dealing with larger threats. So why don't we give him one?" Kranski smirked, folding her hands together.

The Judge's eyes widened, "And how do you suppose we do that?"

"We don't exactly have the funds to do that. And before you start, I'm a rich designer. You want a guy to build robots, you should have gotten my old roommate." The brunette checked his nails again.

"Once again, you offer no help, Damien." The Judge rolled his eyes.

"But, I did hear that your old high school is having an invention convention in a few days. Maybe we could...sponsor one of the brilliant students to help us?" Damien smirked.

"My old high school..." The Judge looked off in the distance, remembering his old days in school. He rubbed his Norrisville alumni ring as he recalled the happy, the sad, the humiliation...oh the humiliation... "That might just be the best idea you've had yet." The Judge smirked.

The three began laughing, first small, then growing to loud chaotic laughter.

"Just you wait, Ninja. We're coming." The Judge smirked.

"I don't know about this (Y/n)."

"Bucky, you're gonna be fine. I'm a scientist—"

"You're fourteen!" Bucky interrupted.

"Still technically a scientist." (Y/n) poked her head up from behind her desk, goggles plastered on her head. The left lens was wide and red, much closer to the metal band connecting the goggles than the right lens. The right lens was slightly extended past the left and was blue. "Move to the right a bit." She commanded, motioning with her hand for her companion to move to his right.

Buck looked down at the ground and shuffled to the right, now more centered on the red 'X' on the ground.

(Y/n) grinned and gave a thumbs up, a noise of confirmation exiting her lips before she resumed her fast typing.

"So what does this do again?" Bucky asked, looking around at the dangerous equipment aimed at his head.

"Oh this? It's just a simple home alarm." (Y/n) waved her hand above her screens so Bucky could see.

"Simple, right." Buck nodded, but did not agree at all. "Has anyone ever told you that you tend to go a little overboard?" Bucky asked.

(Y/n) peeked around her screens again, goggles now over her eyes, "No, why?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued typing.

Bucky anxiously tapped his arms to his side but stopped once one of the large metal arms adjusted near his head.

"Okay!" (Y/n) clapped her hands and stood, slightly scaring Bucky. "If I did this right, you shouldn't get hurt! At least not too bad." (Y/n) mumbled. Flipping her goggles back onto the top of her head, she added some last minute adjustments.

"What was that?" Bucky asked quickly, sweating in all uncomfortable places.

"And 3, 2,-" Before she could press the 'enter' button on her large complicated keyboard, all of her screens changed to a cute emoticon of her face. The emoticon had half lidded eyes, goggles, and a lazy smirk, much like the counterpart that made it.

'School. School. It's time for the most important time of the day. School. School. As Galileo said,"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."'

(Y/n) turned off the alarm with a sigh. "As much as I'd love to listen to quotes from famous scholars all day, Galileo is right. It's time to discover new truths!" (Y/n) stood, finger raised in the air boldly. She grabbed her (f/c) satchel (A/N: sorry, just a question. Would you guys want you to have more inclusive things like (f/c) or (f/drink) or should I keep it Donnie-esque? Keep the favorite color purple and the favorite drink flavorless juice.) and Bucky's bag. She pulled her phone out of her (f/c) hoodie and began typing quickly with just her thumb, her previous excitement suddenly disappearing. (Y/n) began walking out of the dimly lit room, eyes trained on the screen. "You might want to follow quickly, because I accidentally pressed the button." (Y/n) said as she rushed out of the room.

The beeping of the mechanical appendages and weapons powering up around Bucky, made him gulp.

[creative-kny-fics]

hey!!!!! how are you?

if fic are open..... can I ask you for some lee: Muichiro and ler: Tanjiro or Genya?

Thank you for reading, you don't have to write if you don't want to ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Well, the three certainly have a nice friendship, so I don't see why not!

Lee: Muichiro Tokito

Lers: Genya Shinazugawa and Tanjiro Kamado

Class had ended, the trio were preparing to leave when... 'KAMADO TANJIRO!!'

'Oh... What's up Genya?' 'Let's talk about this somewhere else...'

They went to the nearest cafeteria, once Aoi left the meals and left, Genya told him about his problem.

Sanemi, his older brother and a mathematics teacher, had threatened to confiscate his free festival tickets if Genya's rank was not the best. 'Oh... I understand... Mmmmm, maybe we could find someone to help you study! Something like a private teacher!'

'Hey, why don't we ask Aoi for help?! AOI!!!', Inosuke hadn't even received a response and was already taking action.

But Genya refused, covering his red face as he repeated 'Not girls! Girls noooo!!', fortunately when Aoi arrived, Inosuke asked her for the second dish. 'Hmmm, I was planning to ask Kanao or Shinobu-San for help... But I respect your decision of no women!'

Tanjiro snapped his fingers, he had the perfect candidate!

'TOKITO-KUN!!', Tanjiro knocked on the door of the residence. From it came one of the Tokito brothers, precisely Muichiro, who welcomed them.

After hearing the story, he agreed on the condition that Genya call him 'Tokito-San', and he reluctantly agreed.

'Wow...Tanjiro was right, you're terrible at this. I think I should have agreed to let Kotetsu use his robot on you instead of letting him go out with that boy in yellow and that girl face...', Tanjiro gasped and Genya resisted the urge to yell and curse him.

'T-Tokito-Kun! That was very rude and impolite!'

'Telling the truth is not being rude and ill-mannered... I gave him easy exercises and he still took too long to answer the questions...'

Genya growled, it was the only thing missing, first Sanemi and, now, a child were complaining to him about his grades. But Tanjiro wasn't going to sit idly by, it wasn't the right way to help his friend.

'Tokito-Kun... I feel obliged to do it... Excuse me' 'What-? T-TANJIRO NO!!', Muichiro grabbed Tanjiro by the wrists and tried to push him away, but he wasn't so successful.

Genya was also an older brother and knew what Tanjiro was trying to do, so he approached him and held him by the arms, pinning him in a hug.

'Well, this can be resolved in two ways... If you say a few words of support to Genya, I'll let you go free. Otherwise, you'll know what will happen...'

'WHAT?! BUT HE'S TERRIBLE AT MATH, I HAVE TO BE HONEST!!', Tanjiro sighed and knelt down.

Muichiro thought it was ridiculous, it wasn't the first time he was tickled, Yui always did it, but now?! Although... He wasn't Yui...

'T-Tanjiro... Thihihis is... RiHIdiculohohous...!! Mhmhmhmhm!! G-Gehehenyahaha!! L-lehehet me gohohoho!!'

'No. Tanjiro is right, be a better teacher and tell me some words of support or I won't let you go~'

'Buhuhut yohohou suhuhuck in mahahath!!' 'Then deal with this'

Genya simply laughed and started running one of his fingers down his neck, trying not to laugh when Muichiro shrugged from laughing. As if it were worse for Muichiro, Tanjiro dared to tell Genya to give him a raspberry on his neck while he continued to squeeze his sides.

'W-wahahaihit!! I wihihill dohoho ihihihit!! EAHAHAHAHA!! NOHOHOT THAHAHAT!! O-okahahahay!! No no no no no!! COHOHOMEHEHE OHOHON!!'

'Come on, you think you could fool us with that "I'll do it" bullshit?! Please! We have siblings and they ALWAYS do the same thing when they realize the tickling won't stop, right Tanjiro?!', Tanjiro nodded.

'LEHEHET ME GOHOHO!! THEHEHE LEHESSOHOHON-!!' 'The lesson will continue after you say something nice to me, say it and we'll stop~'

Muichiro was stubborn and flatly refused, he was being honest, right?

'WAHAHAIHIT!! AHAHAHAHAHA!! YOHOHOU TWOHOHO AHAREHEHE TO MUHUHUCH!!'

'Come on Tokito-Kun, are you seriously using that tone with Genya knowing the consequences? Last chance, will you colaborate~?', he received no response. 'Well, poke poke poke', Tanjiro said, as he poke his belly button

Muichiro put his head back, he thought of something that is short but convincing enough for both of them. 'GEHENYAHAHA!! YOHOHOU AHAHARE AHAHAHAHAHA GREHEHEHAHAT MHMHMHMHM STUDEHEHEHENT!!'

'Sorry, what did you say? I can't understand you if you laugh so much~!', Tanjiro laughed and stopped Genya.

And he did it just in time, Yuichiro came in looking for his brother and found him in a ball. When he asked them, their response was 'he was surprised by Genya's math skills', Yuichiro didn't believe it until his brother gave a thumbs up in approval.

'You are better?'

'Y-yehehes...'

'Well, we have to continue with the lesson and I hope that this time you treat me with more respect unless I want that "break" again~'

Muichiro got up and sat down, he didn't deny that he felt okay, but that wasn't relevant to the lesson, although it was relevant to the future

[carionto]

I just wanna know if it'll work!

The Monolith!

A massive perpendicular structure - 1 meter deep, 4 meters wide, 9 meters tall - with a perfect 81 centimeter diameter circle cut, with its center 64 centimeters from the top.

Naomi Glasnikova was grinning like mad. She couldn't figure out where to put squares of 4, 5, 6, or 7 in the design without overcomplicating things, so decided to just forego them. It'll be fine, she's sure everything will work out just as planned.

What is the plan, her fellow scientists from the Coalition species ask? To see if placing ominous black metal alloy structures around a planet with primitive lifeforms will make their brains go "Oh, this is different, I should... *think* about it. Yes. Thinking is a thing I can do now. Thus, with the power of thoughts I can look at other things and go "Oh, what if I did this!" and make myself evolve into a civilization (once I figure out how to come up with prerequisite concepts)."

Is the inner dialogue Naomi was having. Her colleagues, both Human and Alien alike, had long abandoned the idea of trying to talk to her about her projects. She would just get into this deep staredown with you while simultaneously not paying any attention to your existence. Her mind begins to race with the possibilities, the what ifs, who dunnits, why nots, etc., and after a few minutes of complete stillness she would suddenly rush out, writing furiously on her digi-pad, often bumping into chairs, tables, walls, other people, one time she almost vented herself from the station. They put a micro-tag on her pad that would wirelessly turn off nearby lights at any intersections that didn't lead to her office. She subconsciously veers toward bright lights.

This latest monolith project came about after one of her equally eccentric interns (nobody knows where they come from, she just seems to naturally attract ones with similar brainwaves or something) showed her an ancient fictional documentary about possible technological developments in the early 21st century. The image of this simpler monolith instantly embedded itself into her mind.

WAIT! I've got it! Four groups of monoliths arranged in different patterns. The group of 16 will make a perfect square. 25 a star. 36 a hexagon, and 49 a... hmm heptagon would be too similar, and it doesn't look right no matter how you shape it.... hrrnnn No wait, a seven layer circle! One in the center, fourteen in the outermost and the rest... I'll do the math later. The areas will need to be perfectly cleared and flat too. Oh! Line patterns on the ground itself. Ones that show core scientific truths! One of the primitives will surely one day follow the lines and map them out either in its brain or on a simple data recording apparatus and see Science! They'll be so stunned! Gotta write that down, get one of the helpful people (her interns, whose names or faces she doesn't even know, yet they don't care either. Look, it's weird, but their kind of non-relationship works out somehow) to begin production. They will need to be made of non-corrosive alloys, of course. Each with a different core metal though. But then the color might change. No paint, that is an unnecessary element. Hmm... Evolution will take millennia, hopefully a few less with my help.

Last month her focus was on making a fully transparent species of frogs to see whether they would go extinct due to being unable to see their partners, or overrun the ecosystem. Nobody has seen the results of that yet.

We also don't know what she's actually a PhD of. Her diploma just says applied robotics, and it is a legit diploma from the Henderson University of Greater Estonia. But her published thesis is on viral infection vectors in sub-tropical moths. We thought she might be a fraud, but the science checks out in whatever she has put out so far. Whatever she is, she is allowed to do whatever she wants. Like most scientists out on these stations now that I think about it.

What are we even doing here, other than... Science?

Mmmm, fuck it, unlimited funding. Let's go!

[goosemixtapes]

max's favorite short stories & articles!

to be updated as i read new things! "articles" could be anything from political points to philosophical musings to fascinating stories. obligatory statement that i don't necessarily agree with everything in every one of these stories/articles, but i think about them a lot and want to share :)

short stories

Avi Cantor Has Six Months To Live by Sacha Lamb (@kuttithevangu) (novella) (so says the writing on the bathroom mirror. of gender & judaism & magic and t4t trans guys. cw for suicidal ideation and bullying)

Epistolary by Sascha Lamb ("The [stuffed] frog you are selling on your blog is MINE and he is NOT HAUNTED and his name is MOSHE not BILLY HOPPER.")

Chokechain by Andrew Joseph White (a trans man discovers his parents have replaced him with a robot version of his pretransition self. cw for transphobia and violence)

Sandrine by Alexandra Munck (the tagline for this one is "I dated a sun god in college" but that doesn't do justice to the sheer concept here please read this)

You Wouldn't Have Known About Me by Calvin Gimpelevich (set in a hospital ward where patients are recovering from gender-confirming surgery)

No Flight Without the Shatter by Brooke Bolander (novella) ("After the world’s end, the last young human learns a final lesson from Earth’s remaining animals." cw for climate change/extinction)

And You Shall Know Her By The Trail Of Dead by Brooke Bolander (what if you had to death-match-fight a virtual version of yourself at your meanest made by your boyfriend whose life you're trying to save would that be fucked up or what. cws for guns and violence)

Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang (stories that clock you in the fucking teeth in the religious trauma.)

A Serpent for Each Year by Tamara Jerée (microfiction) ("Our relationship is almost a year old when I ask Nal why she is covered in snakes." cw for animal death)

The Front Line by W.C. Dunlap (microfiction) (cited as one of the world's finest attention-grabber openings. cws for police brutality, racism, and SA)

Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience by Rebecca Roanhorse (step into the simulation and gain an authentic experience! cws for anti-Native racism and alcohol)

The Husband Stitch by Carmen Maria Machado (one of the best stories ever written. once there was a girl with a green ribbon around her neck...)

City of Red Midnight by Usman T. Malik (a chronicle of nested stories-within-stories, set in old fantasy pakistan, inverting a myth from the one hundred and one nights)

We Work In Miraculous Cages by Brenda Peynado (following a college grad drowning in loans through the nightmare of neverending work)

Other Worlds and This One by Cadwell Turnbull (a brotherly relationship collides with a theory about atomic particles, space, and time)

And Then There Were (N-One) by Sarah Pinsker (a convention of alternate-universe selves--all Sarah Pinskers--becomes a murder mystery)

Fandom For Witches by Ruoxi Chen (fuck every other thing ever written about fandom)

Haunted Home by Conrad Loyer ("The ship features a recreation of a slave ship’s hold. The cruise prides itself on it. It is not a good recreation, if the metric is realism.")

articles & essays

Lockhart's Lament (on how math is taught in schools. that is, badly. one of the most cathartic essays i've ever read on education)

Against Cop Shit by Jeffrey Moro (on adversarial education)

Debunking "Trans Women Are Not Women" Arguments by Julia Serano (comprehensive, well-written, good to have as a reference point)

On Liking Women by Andrea Long Chu (and on the politics of desire)

Turning a Unicorn Into a Bat by Josh and Lolly Weed (on Mormonism, love, and whether a gay man and a straight woman can marry happily. cw for homophobia)

Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price (musings on motivation from a social psychologist and professor)

How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by Anne Helen Peterson (how come everything happens so much?)

White Women Drive Me Crazy by Aisha Mirza (on the harm caused by white women. cw for racism)

Everything You Know About Obesity Is Wrong by Michael Hobbes (should be required reading for everyone at this point. cw for fatphobia and eating disorders)

Becoming Anne Frank by Dara Horn (on the cultural fascination with Anne Frank. cw for antisemitism)

The Ecstasy of Influence by Jonathan Lethem ([on/a] plagiarism)

On the Ethics of Boinking Animal People by Patricia Taxxon (video essay) (ostensibly what the title says, but actually a detailed musing on the essential properties of furry media and the freedom of dehumanization; changed my life a bit)

[anarcho-physicist]

Hi, hello ^^

I just saw the post about describing your research in 4 words, and I saw you work with bird flocking math, that's so cool! I have not gone through your blog yet, so I literally know nothing more, still I have a question if you don't mind: I assume this is about the movement of birds who fly in big flocks, is their movement similar to some other material movement, is it like fluid or resembles air currents or idk? I assume you work on the math part more (I really should have looked you up more before this ask, there are too many assumptions here lol), are you considering bird behaviour or is it just trying to model the flocking based on recorded data? Do you know, or do you think their movements are similar to schools of fish or other animals who move in big groups?

Sorry that's a lot of questions 😅 You don't really have to answer them all

Main thing is I think your research is cool and I hope you're having a good time :))

Thank you for the interest!! I love talking about this stuff so I'm always happy to practice my writing skills

So potentially disappointingly, I don't actually study the real, living animals that most people mean when they refer to birds; I study what a theoretical physicist would call a bird, which means any particle/clump of matter that:

Has a broken polar symmetry (meaning it has a well-defined head and tail)

Is actively self-propelled in the direction of its polarity (e.g. by wings in air, or by fins or flagella in water)

Changes its direction of self-propulsion in response to interactions with other birds around it (e.g. aligning its polarity with its neighbors to form a flock)

When you have a bunch of "birds" (which in nature might be actual birds, or fish, or bacteria, or in experiments might be tiny colloidal particles or robots) that are densely packed together and interacting/aligning with each other, we call that phase of matter an "active polar fluid". Just based on the symmetries of the flock of birds/fish/whatever, we can propose different specific mathematical models for how the fluid evolves in time, and try to explain/predict what sorts of large-scale behaviors it exhibits. But because the different models are constrained by the symmetries of the fluid, they'll all exhibit some universal behaviors.

I've been studying and trying to understand the bifurcation structure in the equations behind one such behavior, the formation of long-wavelength density waves (like sound waves) in such flocks. These are seen both in natural flocks and precisely controlled experiments of synthetic flocking colloids. So I spend all day manipulating and simulating these equations, which are one of the simplest models you can write for a flock:

My hope is that once I've finished putting together some results that I've been deriving for the past few months, they might lead to a prediction about the dynamical phases exhibited by real, living polar active fluids. If I get to that point, maybe then I'll get to look at some real birds!

But until then it's just math, with some occasional pretty graphs

[vammieposts]

DOCTOR WHO MUSIC RABBIT HOLE WOAH

i love finding doctor who in random places, just now I was struggling to find the lyrics of a Belgrado song bc I was hoping to be able to translate it but I ended up on their bandcamp which led me to this persons profile which led me to this other album with this as the cover!?!? hi cybermen i wasnt expecting to see you guys here. but this ended up leading me down a several hour long rabbit hole of doctor who music as a genre

Ok so as I write this post i'm discovering more and more really good doctor who inspired music that I personally enjoy/think others will enjoy

Chameleon Circuit - probably the most well known doctor who fan band, very fun, rock, 2008-2014, according to wikipedia they invented the term "Time Lord Rock", or "Trock", which is used to describe music created for and by doctor who fans about doctor who

Hero of a Hundred Fights - The Remote, The Cold (2001) - Faction Paradox stuff, sort of math-rock, they're really good! lots of BIG SOUND as my brain describes it, and cool lyrics+art, from Wisconsin according to wikipedia, my fellow eda fans, this is for YOU (tbh this and solid space are my favorites so far, chameleon circuit is good but doesn't appeal to me much personally)

Solid Space - Space Museum - as I described above, this stuff has a fun sort of electronic atmospheric feel, makes you feel like you're in a big empty fancy building at night, the kind of music you can wiggle slowly to and feel like a little robot person, has songs called the Tenth Planet and Earthshock, if you like cybermen you'll like this lol

DOCTOR IN DISTRESS - of course, I couldn't possibly leave this out could I? Very Important Song

Viva Computer - This Town will Never Let Us Go - calm, fun electronicy, as you can probably guess based on the songs namesake, faction paradox!

Starvefish - This Town Will Never Let Us Go - Also faction paradox!

The Go Go's - I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas with a Dalek - a beautiful product of dalek mania, my favorite christmas song, and the most confusing description of a dalek I've ever heard which includes at least one large toe. Included on the compilation, "Who is Dr Who"

The Art Attacks - I am a Dalek! - fun song! rock, feels very 80s but i don't know much about music tbh oh wait its 1978, pretty close!

Time Crash - another "Time Lord Rock" band, if you want to find them on youtube don't mix it up with the Time Crash: Children in Need special tho. I like the lead's voice a lot! its very chill and fun!

Also, these aren't doctor who themed, just related via actors, but Peter Capaldi was in a post-punk band called the Dreamboys and Billie Piper was a pop artist!

Some Doctor who Music fun: (doctor who, Delia Derbyshire, and the BBC radiophonic workshop have a really interesting place in electronic music history soo have fun learning)

But yeah there's my collection from this morning, and these are just my own personal taste plus a couple that are really good and I think others will enjoy so please rb with your favorite bands and songs you think should be added!

[the-bloody-sadist]

Hi, it's been a while - I haven't looked at anything bsd related in a while (besides just reading the last chapter of the sinner epilogue) because it's not one of my current fixations, but I wondered if I could hear more from you about emotions? Recently my brain has been rotten by a love of computers and robots and maths and physics and I have been obsessively consuming all versions of I have no mouth and I must scream (have you heard of it? If not, ihnmaims is a short sci-fi story written by Harlan Ellison about an AI, AM, torturing the last 5 humans). The relationship between Ted and AM is fascinating to me, especially in terms of what 'emotions' AM feels towards him, and it reminded me of something that I think you wrote about how intertwined hate and love are - how hate is to care enough about a person to want their suffering and pain (I'm not entirely sure if that was you, forgive me if I'm wrong-). I'll spare you my ramblings about the story itself unless you are interested in hearing more, but I am very curious about your perspective on a being who was created for war, gained sentience and immense power and intelligence but will never be free, will never belong, will never play Mozart on the ivory keys of a fortepiano... a being who cannot feel in a way we can conceive but is driven by hatred, who craves humanity or release yet cannot die, who has no mouth but must scream.

There is a point where AM invades Ted's mind, ramming The Hate Monologue in the form of a steel pillar into his mind - some of the lines in this section make me go a little bit feral - "AM touched me in every way I had ever been touched, and devised new ways, at his leisure, there inside my mind."

It's incredibly intrusive, and for Ted there is no escape from AM - it's physical machinery covers the entire planet and the humans live within it, it's 'belly slaves'. As AM cannot die it keeps them alive, pretty much immortal (but not indestructible) and in the end, Ted too has no mouth though he must scream.

It's a fascinating mix of hatred, envy, deification, love (?), hope, resignation, invasion, co-dependence, wires and viscera that can never mix or understand each other but are the same in every way.

Apologies for the rambling infodump (especially if you have already read it/have absolutely no interest in this sort of thing - this isn't a rec, just my putrefied brain matter leaking into your ask box), I should really be asleep right now so I would not be surprised if this is entirely incomprehensible.... I just want to study them under an electron microscope.... It's a very grim story, with a powerful sense of the indomitable human spirit but very grim nonetheless. The hyperfixation is hyperfixating....

Anyway I should shut up, and I would love to hear your thoughts (I don't even know what I was intending this ask to be .. I can't remember now but I don't think it was .. this..) and thank you for putting up with this mess of a message- hope you have a lovely day/night!

- 🪼

P.S. oh yes! I loved the last chapter of sinner's epilogue- your writing never fails pluck my heartstrings like.. a very strange surgeon (?)(I'm so sorry I am very tired)(I have no brain and I must sleep...) I adore how you write Fyodor's experience of emotion and (as always) Dazai's fear and panic-

Okay listen, I don't plan to get into this story (I've watched essay videos on it so I do know about it, at least), but I respect how much time you took describing this to me in my asks box, so I'm putting it out for anyone else who might find it cool!

Despite my love for psychological trauma, some stories are a certain flavor that I know I shouldn't get into, and IHNMAIMS belongs in that category. Pretty sure if I read it it'll haunt me for the rest of my life and I'll have to deal with a big depressive episode over it for the weeks after, WHICH IS NEVER FUN.

This and other reasons are why I never read A Little Life, and then I learned that I dodged a bullet by putting the book down on the first instance of Jude's cutting episodes, BECAUSE OH MY GOD DUDE THAT STORY DID NOT HANDLE IT THE WAY I NEEDED IT TO BE HANDLED AND I COULD SMELL WHERE THE STORY WAS GONNA GO WITH IT AND TAPPED OUT. I won't get into the frustration of A Little Life but IHNMAIMS felt like it would be that same level of too much grim, not enough plot?? for me. Does that make sense? Too much bad happening just feels like dragging myself through mud without reason, making myself miserable by enduring hours of hurt-no-comfort LMAO

Regardless, thanks for talking to me about it! I knew most of the details of the story, but it was entertaining to read your description of it--I'm glad you find such interest in the story!

ALSO THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENTS ON THE NEWEST SINNER EPILOGUE, I'M ACTUALLY WRITING YET ANOTHER ONE CURRENTLY...AHAHA....THEY NEVER STOP....we'll see how long it takes me since my writing has been out of touch with me for a while, but fingers crossed! <3

[sergeantnarwhalwrites]

OC Questionare

Thanks for the tag @winterandwords and @illarian-rambling! I'm gonna compile the questions in this one 👍🏾.

I tag: @jezifster @weirdgirlcroix @the-void-writes @revenantlore @cryptid-s-wips (Only if you want! Open tag too)

Your questions

1. Be honest, you fucking up that dance floor? (Good or bad way doesn't matter.)

2. Something you think is stupid?

3. How's that sleep schedule looking?

Robots & Gardens crew I guess.

What are you most ashamed of doing?

Green: "Killing a protester for meh money. Was desperate at the time. Hopin' not to fall on desperate times again."

Peace: "Guess I'm ashamed if I dragged anyone into an unsuccessful plan. Stresses everyone out."

Hollis: "Working my old job. Shouldn't have stuck around so long."

Donnie: "Taking on extra enhancements to do this job."

Digits: "I wouldn't really say I've got a lot of actual friends. So I've gotta be doing something."

If you had one wish, what would it be?

Green: "Enough money to support all the peoples that roam in. 'Specially the kids and Peace. Peace might hate it, but she loves me it's fine."

Peace: "No more fucking smog. I want to see the sky. I feel like I haven't seen a clear sky since I was a kid. The hell is this?"

Hollis: "That I had focused more on my music. Love helping people but I shouldn't be used to seeing demolished prosthetics and what people look like screaming and sobbing in pain. You know? But maybe that's me."

Donnie: "More accessible tech. Damn it took me three damn lifetimes to figure all of this out."

Digits: "I just want prosthetics that don't suck ass and sleep. If they pick sleep tell them to make it eternal. I'm sick of this shit."

Where is your favourite place in the world?

Green: "Gonna take ya on a nostalgia trip a bit. I'd say Peace's parents's place. But maybe the diner with the good pops. The fizzies in the glass bottles with the real sugar. Oh hell yeah. Add Peace to the mix and a silent phone and I migh've finally died."

Peace: "There's this spot by the diner right. And there used to be a patch of trees and like an itty bitty pond thing? It was kinda like a really really deep puddle after it rains. Green and I used to sit there sometimes and chug fizzies back to back till we felt like we were gonna puke. Think one of us did one time."

Hollis: "There's a couple hangout spots. But one in particular has a longue sorta thing going. And I get to play my music for a crowd. Get to play my music for the gorgeous dancers when they show. And I usually get a mouthful of a beautiful person too. It's the place to be."

Donnie: "Those rooftop garden things. A lot of them do end up shrivelled and depressing looking after the chemical rain. But the ones that flourish. Really fucking flourish. It's gorgeous. Or just my own home garden. It's nice to stare at nature after fighting all day. Or staring at screens all day."

Digits: "Is it sad if I say my place? Feeling like I'm barely there anymore. It's comfy. There's usually food. The tv works. I like my room, bed's comfy."

What is (or would be) your favorite subject in school?

Green: "History. I actually understood it the longest."

Peace: "Foreign language. Language classes in general really."

Hollis: "Shit it's been awhile. Any of the hobby classes maybe. Really liked the hands on stuff." (Electives basically).

Donnie: "Science. The really broad environmental stuff. I didn't like the smaller stuff much."

Digits: "Math and trade skills. Ended up working construction for a reason."

Have you ever played a prank on someone?

Green: "Yeah. Think I ended up gettin' my ass beat by the menace though."

Peace: "Nope. Well maybe? I helped Green out with hers sometimes. I hate when that woman pranks me. Gets her off my back if she can focus it on someone else."

Hollis: "Pulled out a chair or two. Swapped drinks. Nothing special."

Donnie: "I don't think so. I don't think I'm clever enough to come up with a good one."

Digits: "People usually prank me. But I've gotten my get back a couple times."

If you could swap bodies with anyone you know for a day, who would it be?

Green: "Hollis maybe. She's cool, maybe I could get somethin' out of it."

Peace: "Digits. And I'm making her lay the hell down."

Hollis: "Don't think I could do it. Donnie gets injured all the time. Digits's arms spazz at random. I'd give myself a concussion in Peace's body. Get killed in Green's. And would be annoyed to clean up after drunk assholes at my hangout spot as a bartender."

Donnie: "Digits maybe. Give her a mental break from her prosthetics at least."

Digits: "Green. Green all day. No I didn't answer that too fast. Fuck off."

[st-just]

Opinions on the novel and novella categories excluding Elder Race?

Okay so, uh, 3 months late finally answering this (sorry - but I DID read Elder Race in the meantime!)

So, novels-

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine The central metaphor of how an empire can only understand something by consuming/assimilating it into itself was imo well-done, one of the better uses of a hive mind alien I've seen in a while. Mahit and (especially) Three Seagrass continue to be delightful. The whole palace drama plot in the City leaned a biiiiiit too close to 'the Empress is just and good! Sadly scheming ministers and self-interested officials have attempted to mislead her for their own ends' for my tastes, which absolutely made me start rooting for scheming vizer guy out of spite. Still kind of confused what happened to the Judiciary Minister who vanished 2/3 of the way into the first book without comment. Excellent read, would recommend

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers Absolutely my favorite thing Chambers has written, but that is a very low bar. There were a few pages of actual interpersonal conflict that wasn't just a silly misunderstanding! (Even if they had apologized and agreed to disagree by the end of the next chapter). In principle I approve of any sci fi with no human characters in major roles. Aeleon demography continues to give me a headache (how do you spend so much time on worldbuilding and just mess up the basic math?) - though honestly Pei's whole conflict over the societal expectation to have a kid would have had a bit more tension/drama to it in a setting where her species was legitimately endangered and at risk of extinction (the sheer angst potential!) Anyway, yeah, well-executed but Not For Me.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki I did, uh, not much like this book. In a 'spent a couple hours cathartically ranting about it on discord after finishing it' sort of way. The central romance didn't work, every character arc was perfectly predictable, the whole incessantly hammered home bit about the magic and wonder of home-cooked food just makes me want to gag, I can kind of see what Aoki was going for with the sci fi half of the worldbuilding but it just didn't work at all, and so on. Still not entirely sure what to make of the fact that if you did the 0.5 degree shift necessary to turn the finale into a Christian morality play the quirky alien family plays an identical structural role to where the angels would be. The cursed/demonic-violin repair lady was fun, though.

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark This was fun! Nothing hugely ground-breaking and extremely trope-ey, but in a good way? Like the process was clearly 'buddy cop story in into steampunk urban fantasy Cairo' more than anything that evolved naturally out of the characters or setting. But like, eh? The finale involved a giant robot controlled by enslaved ifrit and a mad sorceress trying to restore the British empire attacking the city, nuance and subtlety clearly weren't the goals here. The central mystery was barely a mystery, though. You could pick out the villain by the end of the first act like three or four different ways. Still, yeah, great time. Very pulpy.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir If you don't know that this is by the The Martian guy going in, it will be extremely clear by the time you're 50 pages in. It's a writing style with a real personality bleeding through - if you don't like it, the book will I'm sure be torture. But anyway, I'm a sucker for first contact stories and properly weird but still sympathetic and agentic aliens, and that's the beating heart of the story so I mean, of course I enjoyed it. The science also all seemed plausible/not-obvious-bullshit to me, and Weir did a really good job of getting tension and drama without ever making anyone a villain, with all the threats being faced being natural/environmental. Fun read, assuming very high tolerance for technobabble and also magic amnesia that you don't apply anywhere near the standards of the rest of the books' science to.

She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan I mean the whole premise of 'mythic/low-fantasy retelling of the founding of the Ming dynasty but with lesbians' feels like what you'd get if you simmered down my reading consumption of the last year or two and poured out the reduction. So like, yeah, of course I liked it! Probably would have been my vote for winner, though not at all sad that Desolation got it instead. As a character type, I really, really love the whole 'arranges everything to work out perfectly through desperate, furious scheming, then absolutely never breaks character and insists it must be providence and they're but a simple monk/scholar/whatever" so Zhu's whole bit there was just catnip to me. The whole melodrama in the mongol court was great, too. And how can you not love a book that ends with the heroine murdering the messiah in cold blood?

novellas-

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire The only other thing I'd read by McGuire before this was Middlegame, which may have given me unrealistic expectations but, like, this was fine? Or, like, I get the sense that this is very much a YA/Middle-grade book, insofar as it really feels like the literary equivalent of a tv special you'd watch with your kid niece and nephew because hey, it's not painful for you or anything? Really funny that this exists entirely independently of the apparently-a-real-thing cartoon Centaurworld, though.

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky This was fun classic sci fi. Like, really classic - I kind of thought 'fantasy setting that's secretly a post-apocalyptic sci fi setting where all the 'magic' and 'monsters' are just poorly understood hypertech' went of fashion with the millennium. Anyway I adore things that play with POV and have different people see the same events and process/interpret them radically differently, so the whole book was catnip that way, and it managed to authentically feel like just a small slice of a vaster, weirder universe, and both deuteragonists really work for me. Don't have a solid pick for my preferred winner but this is one of the two I'm torn between.

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard First and so far only thing by de Bodard I've read, which I should probably fix given how big a name she is. Anyway, this was fun! Nothing too groundbreaking, but that is 100% down to my reading habits rather than, like, 'lesbian court drama in a fantasy analogue of an asian country under threat of colonization' is an over-filled niche, or anything (really the only surprising thing was that I hadn't read this already).

The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente The other one I might have voted for. On the level of stories she's a bit hit and miss but on the sentence-to-sentence and paragraph-to-paragraph levels Valente is seriously one of my favorite writers working, and this was no exception. Just an absolute delight to read. Also, 'post-apocalyptic magical realism on the city-sized garbage heap floating in the ocean populated by a culture of survivors after the world drowned' is just a great premise. And my shriveled husk of a soul appreciates just committing to the character study and the ruin and the elegy without giving into the urge to make a grand redemptive quest of it all.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers I, uh, liked this significantly less than Galaxy and the Ground Within. Utopias are basically necessarily didactic but, like, you really don't have to lean all the way into literally having the heart of the story be conversations between the protagonist and a sacred and innocent alien whose always correct about everything. Also the whole 'we 100% could be immortal but we chose not to because, like, nature or something. Aren't we so amazing?' thing with the robots is bullshit. Which, combined with the entire aesthetic of the world just left be feeling peevish and asking questions which really weren't the point (Where are the mines? The foundries? You can't make solar panels or modern antibiotics in a basement workshop! And you sure as hell can't cobble together and repair fully mobile and sapient robots in a cave with a box of scraps.)

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow So it's not that this was bad, exactly. But, like, I feel like it should have come out sometime in the '90s? (Okay without the explicitly gay bits but that's a matter of a few sentences tbh). Like, the deadline for metafictional feminist retellings of classic fairtails being genuinely novel or subversive was sometime before Disney got in on the game, sorry. Also, like, I'm sure it's just down to me being a weird morbid kid, but the whole shocking revelation about how fucked up the original Sleeping Beauty myth is was, like, something I knew before I hit puberty? Only other thing of Harrow's I've read was the Ten Thousand Door's of January and I'm really, really disappointed comparing them, honestly. (Also, as a general rule I dislike anything where it's very clear whether you're supposed to like or trust a character from the scene they're introduced and this is never wrong)

In other categories L’Esprit de L’Escalier should obviously have one novelette, "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" short story, Terra Ignota series, and Monstress comic, based off the foolproof criteria of 'those are the ones I've read'

[wheeboo]

new ask from : dizzy anon ! xe says...

good evening, america. i,, have come with not a fictional story but something very much real! (also, i love your reviews sm. i actually am writing the first 'episode' of the compilation stories! but not patience and grace yet. i like to finish something for the most part even if i'll release it in parts, so it'll be a while,,, i can tag you in it in the future hehe ^^)

do you get that feeling when you feel really smart when you get something? i don't know about you, but i seriously love it- like i figured out equations for shit like voltage, current, and resistance in my robotics exam (that i didn't study for and didn't take the first time). even with a calculator, it was noon and i was exhausted beyond belief, like- ?????? HOW the fuck did i do that.

feeling smart is everything to me, even tho i'm a silly little dude who likes to partake in silly little activities. this is why i like making my lore make sense by working on every nook and cranny, it makes me feel intelligent /j as if di ako bobo (affectionate) LMFAOOOO

another thing btw, nag-choir kami ng gregorian chant para sa music, at tangina napasigaw lahat ng mga boys nung natapos HAHAHAHA 😭😭 ako din naman. like sumakit paa ako amputa, napa-omsim sa inisip na 'deserve ko kumain'. imagine dalawang PT exam tas nag dalawang written kasi nag-absent buong week last week. then i had like six or five exams the day before 💪💪

hopefully your week's been good!! in my timezone, we're abt to head into the weekend and i hope to finish a powerpoint before 12am ^^ reemmber to drink water and/or treat yrself in any way.

; 💫

FKSLJFSD im glad u love my review lovely <33 just know i'm always willing to share my input on anything!! and omg i'd love to be tagged pls tag me !!

bro OMG ALL THE TIME. me in my college math class fr right now i literally feel like a fuckin einstein whenever a problem finally *gets* to my head. but im glad u were able to figure out ur stuff ur absolutely slaying fr bestie!! u deserve it sm <3

mahabang rehearsal ba ito? sobrang maingay ng mga boys 😭😭 anong kumain mo afterwards? i ask because i'm eating pancit rn sobrang sakit ng ulo ko djflkdsjf </3 but i hope u were able to eat something delicious n treat yourself!! those exams sounded so stressful omg but just be proud u were able to endure it and get it done !!

my weekend has been fun so far :) ako ng oras kasama ang mga kaibigan kagabi and went sa isang haunted house SJLKFSD. hope u were able to get ppt down before 12am!! and don't forget to also stay hydrated and treat urself as well <3

[bitchineering]

You don't know me... but let's work on that

Okay so like, I'm never active anymore. Really just gave up being active on tumblr because who the f is active here. Also I have a funny name now so it's fine- don't hate me for it.

Anyway, I thought, wow I really hate some stuff with teaching and no one having resources to free educational things so I thought to myself, why don't I just post items on here?!

Yea so that's what this is. You have classes you want to take, you don't have the ability to learn almost everything you ever wanted? Your teacher sucks ass? Well hopefully this helps makes everything better.

Mostly, all resources I know are about science and math (🫢wow surprised?!), and they can be tailored for whatever you need in long run. This became much longer than I thought it would be lol!

Topics Included:

Computer Science

Physics/Engineering

Math (HS Algebra and up)

Arts/Humanities

Computer Science

https://github.com/ossu/computer-science: this literally builds so much for coding and getting someone into programming. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for some classes (I don't know how much it would help with AP Computer Science or Principles, but it has so much information, anyone really wanting to learn about code could get started with this.

https://www.freecodecamp.org/: another win website, I'd def say a little more chaotic (?). It depends how you want to learn you know. Love the web design bs, not really into it, but their tuts and videos were helpful enough for myself.

https://cs50.harvard.edu/x/2023/: Another beauty, these lectures really give so much for programming. Classes are held where you can even attend without being a harvard student. Lectures are intense imo, as it is a lot of content all in your face but just love the guy.

https://www.youtube.com/@alexlorenlee: Java. If you need any help in starting Java, I love these videos. He got me through a horrible class in my uni. Love him fr fr.

https://www.youtube.com/@crr0ww: Learning about any sorta malware, educational resources to get started with understanding your network, overall, just a really smart and funny guy. Love his videos. Really good at explaining basic contents.

https://www.youtube.com/@ColinGalen: Recommend his learning videos and how to think almost like a chess grandmaster. My own cs professor talks about drawing out code and being able to actually write what is going on in code.

Physics/Engineering/Sciences?

(sorry, I'm not mechanical engineer ���)

Electrical Engineering: Youtuber Michel Van Biezen is AMAZING. Also, dude as a sick ass drip and I love the bow tie. His circuits and physics lectures are so entertaining and helpful to understand. I really really really loved his videos as they helped me pull my grades up. His explanations are top tear, I really feel like he's so good at this.

GaTech Coursera Circuits: There are two of these classes here.

DC Circuit Analysis: First course. Helps you learn almost everything you should have learned in Physics Two and if not, don't worry they explain it somewhat well. Videos are condensed and good enough for someone to watch. Just know they don't do calculations on screen, and those can be pretty lengthy to solve.

AC Circuit Analysis: Same as above, they don't have as many items for this course, but def know it is a good course and necessary for understanding more modern circuit applications.

Every engineer wants to be him -> Michael Reeves , if you've never heard of him, please. This man will make you want to recreate his robots. He's a genius. He's everything every engineer wishes they could be.

NileRed : Do you want to be a fake chemist because Ochem made you want to die?? Well actually I just took chem 1 and changed my major, but NileRed it literally so fun. His chem videos are so fun and cool.

Thought Emporium -> mad biology scientists? Love this guy too! He's trying to be Spider-man and I love him for that. I hope he recreates those spiderwebs, I've been watching it for so long. Love this dude.

Robotics Engineering: Done by a youtuber who love for the anime reps!!! This guy focuses more on VR/AR, but loves carrying the same vibes as Michael Reeves, a Russian youtuber I know, and just overall very fun.

Mechatronics: Things to know for going into the field of Mechatronics (basically this is Robotics, just the more machine side). They recommend having that backbone in the core classes.

Learning for Engineering Students: Love that someone who was an actual engineer made some sort of engineering studying help. Would totally recommend watching, along with some other youtubers,

Tamer Shaheen (Mechanical Engineer) notes and exam recitation guides

British Engineer Loved her video, really similar to my own method of doing repeated practice problems.

My own study method!!! Create a google docs with Three columns:

Topic -> Usually this is how I'd organize the question. I did docs like these for each class, so I instead would put this as some topic within my class OR I would organize it by assignment it correlated to. I.E. alternating circuits or homework

Question -> really self explanatory, make sure to give details, dates, who you think you should ask, etc etc. There are no dumb questions, I'd really recommended these for computer science and would totally give my notes out for that shit.

Answers -> another self explanatory category, however, would recommend doing something a lil different with this box. Don't overwrite explanations. Also, don't take explanations. Write your own understanding of the solution, and a link/cite/provide some evidence for you or someone to turn back to.

Math

Organic Chemistry Tutor: Just, this man is everything. He has so many videos not only for chemistry but for other classes. I put him in math mostly because I used him for calculus I and II.

Khan Academy : Tbh, I loved their calculus course material. I'm not the biggest fan of them overall with some other provided materials (Like their SAT prep, really is only effective for helping students take it online and grading fast, but I'm pretty sure I have another post explaining how I found online materials for that bs and got a passing grade).

3 Blue 1 Brown (Math/ Calculus) : I feel like everyone knows him, he's so good at visualizing concepts. Great but still very complex videos, please understand that before going in. You might not be able to understand everything on first try, but always draw them out.

Studying Pure Math : Once you finished calculus and would enjoy some rigorous applications/learn about higher levels of math, this youtuber has linked a multitude of resources for those mathematical desires lol.

Small ideas of what is mathematics but this is such a beautiful video in explaining how mathematics is built up from each other. I think it changes your idea of how to study math (however, he does say you shouldn't memorize this stuff, but in the next bullet point, I wanted to show how I studied for math which did involve memorizing methods).

Studying thing I learned from youtuber but had sorta done myself, just think showing off this youtuber who's in oxford is fun!!!!

(Okay so I didn't find it, but the youtuber I thought who said the idea was Lucy Wang, still linking channel for the woman in math!!!).

So, in class you should be writing down examples, writing questions to the side, and looking for a pattern. When you find this pattern, you can organize your notes and your test answers. So like when doing an optimization problem in calculus, you have to draw the system, set up equations, ask what are you solving for, and the show the methods you used to solve. I would also recommend this for any numerical questions (for me, this included circuits, physics, and other math classes I've taken for a long time).

Professor Leonard: This man saved my calculus III grade. I love him. Please, he has almost all calculus classes, I don't think he has finished Differential equations and possibly one of his algebra courses, but his information is just great. His method of teaching is also phenomenal. And in the last video of his multivariable calculus playlist, he had the best quote ever. His wife and him were expecting a child, and he stated (this is horribly paraphrased but this was all I was thinking during my own calc III final):

"I'm pregnant- wait no- my wife's pregnant... But damn, I bet you I'd look good pregnant."

Arts/Literature/Humanities

https://www.youtube.com/@Chommang: Beautiful art, really enjoyed drawing alongside. Implores you to find your own style, but helps with anatomy, reference drawing, I literally knew nothing about this bs. But I really enjoy the videos.

Puppet History : Okay. So I know what you'll say if you saw these videos. But really, just if you want to start with history, it's such a good introduction, such a fun cast, and the lore is also something that I really think makes characters funny, long lasting, god. It's just so good and well written for some youtube puppet fever dream.

Reading Analysis: Literally just came up on my rec on youtube. Really nice in explaining the actual analysis of the text.

Japanese: I used it for practicing listening to Japanese, mostly just me trying to recognized sounds and words. I'm still a beginner in Japanese, cannot actually hold conversations, but this has helped me listen to others better.

Geography Now!: Learning anything about countries/ needing to learn about countries relationships, just enjoy knowing much trivia. I'd recommend this for those items. Also like, learning about other countries are so much fun! I would def say, there are countries he doesn't examine as in depth, ie, India. But if you're just getting into geography boom, here you go.

Some other recommendations for history, look up on coursera, edx, I mostly learn alot of these topics on youtube with video essays. Ngl, your own political beliefs will heavily affect how you learn these topics. There's no way around this. I hope for the sake of whomever, just please, learn both sides actual arguments. And if debates ever turn to arguments/yelling matches, leave. You need to have a strong sense of self- and in the end, if the other person doesn't understand or want to, there's nothing you can do about it. You can keep thinking your own beliefs, or feel inclined to research the topic later. If anyone gives you shit for believe in something that turns out to be factually incorrect, accept how you were wrong, why you were wrong, and understand that being wrong is a path of knowledge. If someone else believes you are wrong, however, they can't factual cite this, that is just a disagreement over some topic.

A thing I've said to others, is that everyone interprets the bible differently. You interpret His messages in a way I can never understand. And I the same. Since I cannot tell you how to interpret the bible, you cannot tell me. Something I truly believe is everyone has their own connection with God (not saved to Christianity, I know this is from an idiot in the bible belt in the USA but we'll deal with that later), and that connection guides them through life.

So for building this mindset, some books/videos I'd recommend:

*Please know, these books may contain triggering/unpleasant topics that readers should look into before selecting a book to read.*

The Myth Of Sisyphus, Albert Camus

Everyone's favorite psychopath, No Longer Human Osamu Dazai

Capitalism Realism Mark Fisher

Ecrits Jacques Lacan

Make It Stick Science of Successful Learning

Absurdism: A video similar to topic above, less academia-y language.

Classics Worth Reading: love love love Emmie! Her videos are pretty fun and I really enjoyed her classics recommendation.

Small amount of topics to go look up, search what you love, stay away from what you don't like. In the end, help yourself become a well rounded person by building up those ideas.

If yall wanna add more, please please please! Education is something I'll never get enough of. I believe it should be free, nonpolitical, and inspiring for all. Everyone deserves education because it makes us smart, capable, and healthy individuals. It builds our future. Good luck in your educational future. Hopefully I have spur of the moment to post my small study ideas, or resources for studying, so that others can focus being more time efficient. Just remember, control f (windows <3) or command f (mac users) to find whatever you need.

[silverjojo08]

On video games and writing and Fire Emblem Engage

Mainly just me musing about how I don't think the story is bad. Sorry for being annoying tbh. This is meant for my personal circle of mutuals, but maybe other people can get something out of it. Please be nice to me; I am not a professional reviewer and don't claim to be writing anything objective or anything lol. I'm also not really editing heavily for grammar or anything (if anything I try to keep a bit of order structurally but I love a comma splice idk lol).

This piece has gone through many versions in my head as I try to nail down exactly what puzzles me about the perception of the writing as being "bad".

Initially I think I was going to do a full plot breakdown and point out how logically every moment fits together and how foreshadowing + late reveals enhances certain previous moments. As I write this down, I don't think that I'll be doing that here. I almost considered a deep dive into the themes of motherhood and found family presented in the game. Not sure I'm going to do that either. At one point I also considered fully getting into common complaints (particularly some brought up from one of my folks who I deeply respect, Mr. Forte himself), but also I don't think I'll really do that.

So, what am I writing here? Maybe it's a mix of all of the above. Maybe it is none of the above. I don't really know. But I do want to talk about how this game just really vibes for me; and while I don't intend on necessarily changing anyone's mind, I want to at least provide some perspective on why I personally enjoy it so that others can understand my perspective at the very least.

Perhaps I will succeed in that. Perhaps I will fail. Let's find out together. (Again I'm doing like very minimal editing. Please excuse grammatical errors/typos. If anything is unclear, ask and I'll try to clarify. But I'm bad at tumblr so either tweet at me or send it through an ask please.)

Prologue: Who? What? Why?

To start, I'm in my early 30s. The video game that made me love video games was Super Mario RPG, and my earliest gaming memories include me watching my dad beat up the robot evil Santa at the end (also him playing some NBA game on SNES). FE games I have played start to finish: 8 (Ephraim), 11, 12, 13, 14 (all 3), 15, 16 (all routes), and 17. FE games I have played a bit of but didn't finish for various reasons (mainly I got distracted and forgor 💀): 1, 4, 5, 7, and 9. None of this actually matters that much, but maybe there's a generational and/or fandom divide of some sort and this provides useful context.

I am not a writer by trade nor hobby. Writing is actually one of my least favorite things to do (this is potentially related to OCD brain "just right" stuff), to the point where I chose my college major specifically based on which had the least amount of classes that I could actually complete without having to write essays. I am a math person. I do like consuming and dissecting written fiction though.

This piece is meant to be mostly explanatory. I want to give my perspective as best I can. I decided other writing styles would be too combative for what amounts to something we're consume for enjoyment. I just want to pass on some understanding of how I feel.

I think the best way to do this is generally avoid spoilers, but I will include a specifically marked section where I discuss all spoilery things that come to mind (anything that I intend to come back to in this spoiler section will be marked with a *). Any non-FE games mentioned will not be spoiled beyond kind of a general "a reveal happened in a way that bugged me" type of stuff, if even that is a concern here's a list of the games vaguely mentioned so you can crtl+f: Tales of Zestiria, AI The Somnium Files: Nirvana Initiative, Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies. It all happens within two paragraphs, so you can just skip them if needed.

(Also I may accidentally use he/him pronouns for Alear because M Alear was the one I played with first, but I do generally think of FE avatars as the same being regardless of gender and try to use they/them when speaking to things both versions experience, which is like everything besides the hair colors being flipped and class options?)

Chapter I: What Is "Bad Writing" To Me?

Ok if you're reading this I assume you are at least in high school, and for that reason I'm not going to walk anyone through that level of analysis. In no way is this meant to be a lecture and I'm not trying to give any particularly deep literary analysis. That feels kind of like a pretentious thing to do in this situation.

So, bad writing? To me the biggest thing I consider bad writing is when an idea is not communicated well. This could be contradictory messaging, poor delivery, puzzling execution, etc. Obviously this can happen to various degrees of "bad", but I will not consider a story to have bad writing unless the writing breaks the experience in some way.

A broken experience is not the same to me as a negative one. To me a negative experience is just a matter of taste in the end and not a matter of "bad writing". Boring writing is not the same as bad writing even if it makes the experience painful. A broken experience has to be bad to the point where you just do not understand what they were attempting at all.

One game that comes to mind on this is Tales of Zestiria. I loved the characters in that game, and the main story itself is largely logical. But it was written so messily that there's a point where it becomes truly incoherent. To this day I have no idea what was going on with Dezel and Rose's personal histories despite a major climax of that game being built around the moment things get revealed for them. Again, it was overall a fun game, but it was definitely one I would claim had some bad writing.

Another situation that comes to mind that can be a spark for bad writing is when a reveal sours previous experiences. Misleading an audience can work really well in some ways. Ace Attorney 5 (Dual Destinies) has a reveal that has made me not want to replay it at all, but I don't believe the reveal is poorly done. Conversely, Somnium Files 2 (Nirvana Initiative) had one reveal that invalidates a significant part of the playing experience in a way that's hard to describe without going any further, but I think playing with audience expectations can only go so far until you make the audience feel like you've stolen part of the joy of the playing experience by severing an emotional connection.

I've been trying to describe this all in objective terms, but obviously it is very subjective. It's totally a "I know it when I see it" thing in the end. This section might be pointless. I don't know.

(There were too many blocks of text so look at Alfred; he's so nice and funny and good. I will give him the pact ring every time I play as M Alear lol.)

Chapter II: What about Fire Emblem Engage?

I guess this is kind of my point. I don't understand how any of this is applicable to it. The plot is fairly simple especially to start. You go from point A to point B with plenty of easy to follow narrative. Characters behave in logical and understandable ways. There's nothing functionally "wrong" with the story.

I think there are some pacing issues with the last stretch of chapters in that things happen too quickly for the player to properly respond even though the concepts are cool*. There's a lot of infodumps in these last chapters too that feel a little misplaced*. I agree that the tea supports (and shared gimmicks in general among certain groups of characters) are a bit overwhelming to unlock in succession. The DLC sucks* and only small parts of it truly add to the main story's narrative. There's the usual Fire Emblem incest and pedophilia grossness trying to peek its head through*. It's not a perfect game by any means.

I think I need to break up overall story discussion and character usage discussion, so I'm going to do that right now. If you've read to this point you generally get my point maybe on why the writing works fine for me and can stop here if you don't want a full peek into the deepest and most illogical recesses of my mind?

If you're not stopping here, together we ride or something idk did the title for this song come from Smash? Whatever.

Chapter III: The Story

***SPOILER WARNING, SKIP TO THE NEXT PART IF YOU WANT TO AVOID SPOILERS***

Alright so I lied when I said I wouldn't go into this fully dissecting the plot or other people's criticisms. I'll do that a little bit here.

The biggest moment of "controversy" I think that happens early on is the loss of Lumera. What I've seen is that many people feel it didn't land well with them due to the game having not built up the relationship all that well. And I intellectually get that perspective. If a story beat doesn't land well to you then I can't tell anyone they're wrong for feeling a particular way about things. But while I understand people may feel this way, I truly do not understand that viewpoint. That we don't know Lumera is kind of the point. Alear also doesn't know her well at that moment. You're supposed to feel like it came too suddenly and is weird for it. The full gravity of the moment is not clear until later on in the game, and I think it was executed very well because the entire game revolves around this specific concept of chosen motherhood and family.

But maybe I'm moving too quickly. Backing up a bit, another criticism of this early game situation is I've seen people say they don't "have reason to care" how Alear is feeling this early on. And like, I truly don't know how to help you with that. When I start a game I generally don't start at 0 waiting for the game to make me care about the main character. I am already on their side and hoping for the best for them? I went in mainly thinking Alear looked goofy but like a nice kid who deserved nice things and the game did build well on it for me.

I think there are some questions on the nature of the emblems and the rings that go somewhat unanswered. There's a lack of clarity on how the rings function, and how stealing the rings after winning a battle works. Given that we see them levitate at numerous times, I suspect that is mostly the answer. But I do understand if that's a point of contention for some since it's not directly clarified.

The emblems are similarly somewhat explained as kind of heroic essence put to form, which genuinely is enough of an answer to me. But I do understand some may find that lacking. There are also many issues with the writing of the emblems which I sympathize with especially as a comic book fan who hates it when my faves are misrepresented in other titles. That's a genuine flaw that could have been corrected by having people working on the script who cared more about accuracy.

The pacing absolutely becomes an issue in the later chapters of the game. The Zephia and Griss death scene is extremely touching and well-written, but to have a scene that long and that complex in that moment of the game is very awkward. It would have been better suited as a Memory Prism type of bonus scene like FE15 had (for several characters there were scenes that added context but did not exactly fit in the main story such as a flashback discussion with Emperor Rudolf). It is necessary to understand the characters, but there's not a truly comfortable place to put it that doesn't seem insane especially given the length. This deeply ties into how I feel about the DLC as well, which is that Good!Zephia/Zelestia gives crucial insight to the effects of positive nurturing and actively choosing to build bonds, which is perhaps the strongest and most important theme of the game. Every instance of chosen family in this game is framed and shown to be a truly critical event for the individuals, as are the instances of chosen neglect. The usage and execution of this theme to me was extremely powerful in execution and just worked without feeling too cringe or forced. It's good stuff. I love love love what they did here, and I say this as a person who has never wanted to be a mother of any sort.

To go on a bit more about this: Griss (and by extension Gregory, but focusing on Griss here for simplicity) and Alear are such strong reflections of one another. There's some obvious aspects like how Griss is visually edgy and Alear is visually bright, Griss is rude and confident while Alear is kind and doubtful, etc. But the strongest comparisons and contrasts between them involve their mothers, and I think it's just incredibly well done. Comparisons include both of them get their sense of fashion from their moms, get their unit classing from their moms, somewhat blindly follow the words of their moms, had terrible upbringings and cling to their moms as their first emotional support, etc. But the contrasts? Oh baby. Zephia adopts Griss because he's a standout while Lumera adopts Alear because they're a failure (by Sombron's measure, not literally). Griss spends years by Zephia's side learning from her while Alear has to mostly guess at what Lumera had planned for them. And perhaps most starkingly: Griss gets to die alongside Zephia while Alear and Lumera are always mourning one another. Griss is such an incredibly well done rival character. It's no wonder he's the one who gets the special cutscene where he reveals the truth to Alear. Forever my GOAT!

Sadly though it's time to switch gears and talk about the DLC: it truly sucks. I said it on twitter after beating it, but I really think that they messed up on anticipating what would be a compelling scenario for the players to play through while also coaxing themselves into a snafu regarding spoilers. There's some good stuff there, but it's almost directly undercut by necessitating that it can be played early in a playthrough before the player has gotten to the revelations about Alear's biological parentage.

The DLC does attempt to carry over the themes of the main game, but without being able to openly acknowledge that these are some of the last of Alear's siblings (even if not by blood exactly) it becomes hollow. The only real payoff on the theming is the Nel and Veyle support chain where even if they aren't sisters in the traditional sense, Veyle is desperate for that kinship as she is so young and has spent so much time alone. It's very touching and something that could have been touched on with Alear as well if only the writers weren't forced to write a detached arc to avoid spoilers.

Yes this is probably where I should get into the alt Alear being the "twin" of the main one. They needed to either go all in with that and have Alear confirmed as sort of a multiversal set of twins or back up off it and confirm that they're only narrative parallels because doing literally all of this and then having Nel have feelings for the other Alear is gross. They did so well avoiding weirdness with Veyle in the main game, and then completely blew it in regards to Nel. It makes no sense you can romantically S support her and invalidates all the themes about family presented to that point if characters who literally share a father and share similar traumas don't find healthy kinship with one another.

But beyond all that, we don't really get to see enough of Nel and "Nil" to be convinced by their dedication to one another especially in comparison to other familial relationships like between the recruitable royals, Four Hounds, and Four Winds. It feels like things are just happening to happen without feeling the gravity of terror that we are told Sombron caused them. Again, the obvious parallel to Alear being forced to fight Veyle purely due to their father's machinations isn't allowed to be explored due to the spoilers thing. Subtlety can be a structurally clever thing, but this doesn't even feel like the DLC writers were aware of that basic fact. This is the only aspect of the whole game that I feel truly misses the mark for me. It feels like a bland copycat of the main game written by someone who only skimmed a wiki article of the main story. I truly really believe they would have been better served making it a proper postgame arc because then maybe the emotional connections could have been fully explored.

I also almost feel as though they'd have been better served writing a story set in the past around red Alear. I understand that would have made it difficult to have playable units from the DLC in the main campaign, but I would have gladly missed out on them if that meant adding to the main universe instead of mostly meaning nothing in the end besides an edgy boy (and I genuinely like Rafal, he's funny) realizing he isn't as edgy as he thought he was.

Back to the main game though. Alear becoming Corrupted and begging their sister to not give up was extremely cool and dangerous and insane in a GOOD way (though again, the cutscenes were somewhat long but long for the sake of the main characters is different than long for side villains). Then you play the actual chapter and nothing truly significant is happening that makes the experience feel noteworthy. I think the design and gameplay are more of a problem with this than the specifics of the writing itself, but both of those generally work to the benefit of storytelling in this game so to have an obviously contradictory moment like that undercuts the drama of the scenario. It's a great idea done in kind of a "just ok" way. Would have been better off omitting that chapter entirely and just jumping to the emblem-izing of Alear immediately. Maybe the writers were just too ambitious with the idea of using the Corrupted for a good reason, and couldn't bear to cut it out? I don't dislike indulgent writing, but I dislike when I can tell the writers are just doing something because they thought it was cool and no one felt like being the one to say "ok this doesn't quite fit".

Another gameplay and storytelling problem is the final boss fight. Bringing back the other final bosses as evil emblems was brilliant, but to not bring them back as recognizable models, not give them their portraits, and not give them their voice lines (and correct me if I'm wrong, but they all have voice actors from their own games or Heroes) made it difficult to identify who was who without looking up their classes online. That really undercut most of the drama in them being used in that battle. I understand this may have all added costs to the game that they maybe didn't want to pay, but that lack of detail made a very cool inclusion feel kind of middling.

And the boss himself? Sombron is actually an interesting dude to me. But again, all his backstory and evil plans probably should have been dumped in a monologue separate from the final battle. I think this is yet another case, similar to the Zephia and Griss scene, that would have worked better as a memory prism than as just a character telling the audience directly in what sort of feels like an inappropriately detailed explanation. I appreciate that they did not force this into being another story centered around multiversal crossovers in a media landscape that is currently overwhelmed by such stories, especially if the "Zero Emblem" hook has no intention of being followed up on. Though arguably that's yet another thing the DLC needlessly complicated. Is there just an infinite number of Sombrons looking for an infinite number of Zero Emblems? Even more proof that the DLC should not have happened as it did.

Last thing worth addressing in detail is the pedophilia that has been sadly very prevalent in the series and arguably emboldened by the introduction of the S support system. Even if one wants to disregard the internal age data, characters like Anna, Jean, and Hortensia should not have been romanceable in any language. I thank the English localization team for scrubbing out most of this and making them as platonic as possible.

Ok I think that's basically everything about the plot I can think of right now to address directly. Solm royals could have gotten more, but whatever. I thought they were fine as the hyper-competent Batman-like country that's like 5 steps ahead of everyone. I don't have any other things to speak about on the main story events.

*** THE SPOILERS ARE DONE, CONTINUE READING HERE ***

(Your reward for reading all those paragraphs is a nice picture of my daughter Veyle, who is precious and good. I was so worried they would be weird about her and barefeet aside they thankfully were not.)

Chapter IV: The Other Characters

There's a couple of obvious social groups of characters who have largely overlapping gimmicks. Tea time enthusiasts (Celine, Louis, Jean), aesthetic obsessives (Goldmary, Rosado, Hortensia), gym rats (Alfred, Etie, Boucheron sort of). Firene has perhaps the biggest problem of having so many gimmicks done so close together. There is still a lot of depth in those supports still (notably in the A levels after many might have given up, such as Alfred-Etie, Alfred-Celine, Celine-Alear, etc). I don't really have a defense for this, but I do understand why especially early on it would cause people to write off the cast of the game. It didn't bother me much maybe because I benched everyone but Alfred and Louis right away (I needed to keep Clanne and Framme around, they're really funny lol).

But overall I didn't mind any of the characters for their gimmicks besides Seadall (his disordered eating being treated as a joke was just extremely offputting and it was really 50/50 on whether a support might focus on it) and Goldmary (she is just an asshole and to me it wasn't funny, not every joke will land for everyone I suppose).

The cast felt extremely likeable and well-rounded. I will sound like a broken record here, but again they really reminded me of what I enjoyed about the FE8 cast. Just pretty much all likeable and good characters.

Chapter V: Everything Else

Here's like everything else that comes to mind but I don't have enough in my brain to properly write sentences on them and I kind of want to be done with this lmao:

Yes, I think it's a little silly how some characters manage to get away without the game directly stating how. Alear and co are nice and not brutal so you can assume they allowed the escape, but it's still weird at times. Poorly choreographed.

I will never unironically use the term "ludonarrative" (no shade if you do, but it's not me). However the introduction of the Lucina ring bringing back hope to the crew while being a supportive ring for gameplay purposes and all is just really special stuff. It's good. Similarly, the ring you get at the end of chapter 17 is an amazing moment.

I'm not particularly bothered by the rings being former characters. I don't feel they were used poorly or anything. They're wise old heroes helping the new gen, and they serve that purpose well. Only Marth has a bit more to him than that due to his history with Alear, and I think it plays out well without being reliant on prior knowledge. Again very sorry to Eirika fans, I've seen the essays there on the inaccuracies and you're all valid.

The time travel is very clean and properly defined imo. Much more limited than in Three Houses in-universe which is good, however the best explanation for the rewinds will continue to be Mila's Turnwheel (in that there is no time travel, just some premonitions that allow the characters to evade danger).

I love Pandreo and Zelkov so much. Oh my god. They're so funny and just good men. Excellent dudes. Amber, Rosado, YUNAKA. The cast is just lovely. I love them.

Sommie is so cute for real. Just brilliant idea to include a nice pet for your home base. If anything, they should have given it more wigs for the main royals or some of the emblems. Also Sommie is totally the Zero Emblem.

Chapter VI: Conclusion

Let me get TMI here. I do understand that personally I experience and perceive emotions in an unusual way compared to most people. I've not been diagnosed with anything specific to that level of wiring (just OCD and anxiety), and as far as I feel it doesn't seem necessary. But it is what it is, and I am who I am. Maybe all of this is pointless to write and it truly is just a matter of taste and personal emotional expectations. I don't know. I just know I liked the game, and what worked on me really worked. Hope this was fun to read even if it doesn't give any particular insight.

I did not intend to compare any other FEs in this piece mainly because it's not about them. Legit sorry if I inadvertently cause some sort of discourse.

tl;dr It's Peak Fiction™

[oldguy56-world]

I, Robot

Well it is almost here. I am talking about the prophesy from that documentary 'The Terminator' where machines take over the world. This time it doesn't appear to be violent (so far) but to set your mind at ease (and just in case) I googled the name Sarah Connor and there are thousands of them out there so one should be able to save mankind or produce a child that will do so.

Setting that aside let's look at how they will be taking over the world. it started with them replacing cashiers at stores and has grown to the point where they now can write songs, movies and create just about anything we need making most of us obsolete. (You may not know this but I am currently in a job share program with one of these sneaky bastards and they have been producing 50% of my blogs. I can guarantee you that any time you find one unfunny or not interesting it wasn't one of mine)

Try calling a help desk and it is a computer that is answering and they do their best to try to divert you from talking to another human. I believe they are afraid that if we converse amongst ourselves we could compare notes and catch on to their insidious plans.

The U.S. is afraid migrant workers will take all the jobs they do not want for themself but it is the advance of robotic technology that is actually taking all of the mindless routine work away from people leaving us more time to.....I am not quite sure. Company executives will spend tens of millions of dollars developing automation to save them from paying minimum wage workers. The math makes my head hurt. Robots can't feel so they are perfect for some of the tasks they are programmed to perform, but others not so much.

There once was a robot named Chuck

Who was really down on his luck

For he wanted to meet girls

Cause they made circuits swirl

Too bad he wasn't programmed to .....Love. (GP version)

Luckily there are still some jobs they are not equipped to handle.

Attendants at a seniors home. No one wants those cold hands helping with bathroom duties no matter what the number needs to be done.

Building other robots. Do we want to start that end of world chain?

Wet Nurse. I don't believe oil is good for babies.

Grief counselor. All they would do is wipe your mind and reboot.

Teachers. It would throw off our entire education system having them work 12 months with no PD days. Who needs that?

Chef. Could they tell when the fish has turned?

Politician. Logic has no place in that field.

So let's maybe take a step back and look at what we are doing.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: Progress can only be called that when humanity is moving forward.

[mejomonster]

Can Ci Pin, more chapters 1 notes: Eden eradicating anxiety and negative emotions gives me -.- not good impressions. Like... I guess maybe in a way having Less Stressed humans would be Good. But solving it by messing with their brain instead of improving the environment causing rhe stress sounds very (is it the book Aldous Huxley Brave New World) fucked. And Eigth Galaxy sounds like... sci fi parallel for imperialism, for countries being used and abused by the richer ones. Like why did they think this Eden solution is so Perfect if there's still suffering in a Whole Galaxy. What justifies Eden NOT helping Eigth Galaxy? Is it on purpose. Did Eigth Galaxy want its freedom. Is this a cultural values clash with Eden having more power and therefore writing the narrative. Mm.

Also. The schooling. While I'm going to suspend my disbelief that "40 hours" is enough for full education? I notice rhe book says "without needing understanding." So like... idk if priest made it this deep but... do you know how awful human education if if we skip critical thinking/questioning/learning to understand and explore and figure things out??? In fact learning TO learn and figure things out and Question and determine our beliefs and what seems to have evidence and learning to appreciate other viewpoints is possibly the most critical thing we learn from school. We can learn math from a book, but we must learn how to question to be the person who develops new math and new physics. We can learn science facts from a book, but to learn HOW to come up with questions and form a hypothesis and test it is the part that will serve us when we get to the point of new things not yet discovered/known. And we must grasp how to understand, to hear each others Very Different perspectives and figure out how to integrate them and value them as different and useful in some sense even if it's just to help us see how Another views things. Understanding and learning HOW to is critical... I'm very wary of an education system that never teaches that. That sounds like it would result in worker drones who cannot think for themselves, cannot evolve or grow or improve on their own, who struggle to fix their own problems. Oh yikes.

On a (somewhat) lighter note. I suspect the Boy is our lead, and Lin will be the love interest. So now I'm 3 for 3 priest novels I've read wirh a big age difference between leads. I'm excited.

On a heavy note? They said the military personnel have to b3 disconnected from Eden sometimes. On the one hand? Good for them, they need to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills to be good at doing tasks without being in range of eden! So like yeah they'd need the skills even if worker bees don't. Downside? Oh well fuck I guess the soldiers are still WIDE OPEN for developing trauma and ptsd. While being put in situations much mkre likely to cayse trauma then "utopia with problems solved" that is Eden.

This‌ ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌world‌ ‌without‌ ‌Eden.”‌ ‌The‌ ‌AI‌ ‌tour‌ ‌guide’s‌ ‌voice‌ ‌broke‌ ‌the‌ ‌silence.‌ ‌“Deserted,‌ ‌cramped‌ ‌and‌ ‌lifeless;‌ ‌you‌ ‌cannot‌ ‌even‌ ‌communicate‌ ‌with‌ ‌public‌ ‌service‌ ‌robotics.‌ ‌

Unfortunately,‌ ‌a‌ ‌few‌ ‌of‌ ‌our‌ ‌friends‌ ‌are‌ ‌still‌ ‌in‌ ‌this‌ ‌kind‌ ‌of‌ ‌environment.”‌ ‌

A‌ ‌few‌ ‌children‌ ‌whispered‌ ‌to‌ ‌each‌ ‌other.‌ ‌“Is‌ ‌it‌ ‌the‌ ‌Eighth‌ ‌Galaxy?”‌ ‌

Xxxxx

Miss,‌ ‌I‌ ‌heard‌ ‌that‌ ‌a‌ ‌portion‌ ‌of‌ ‌Galactic‌ ‌Soldiers‌ ‌are‌ ‌required‌ ‌to‌ ‌block‌ ‌out‌ ‌Eden‌ ‌when‌ ‌they‌ ‌enlist...like‌ ‌the‌ ‌people‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌Silver‌ ‌Fortress,‌ ‌is‌ ‌that‌ ‌true?”‌ ‌

“Yes,‌ ‌it‌ ‌is.‌ ‌These‌ ‌soldiers‌ ‌often‌ ‌need‌ ‌to‌ ‌travel‌ ‌far‌ ‌and‌ ‌into‌ ‌dangerous‌ ‌places‌ ‌in‌ ‌order‌ ‌to‌ ‌protect‌ ‌us.‌ ‌Many‌ ‌of‌ ‌these‌ ‌places‌ ‌are‌ ‌also‌ ‌not‌ ‌under‌ ‌the‌ ‌service‌ ‌network‌ ‌of‌ ‌Eden,‌ ‌so‌ ‌it’s‌ ‌part‌ ‌of‌ ‌their‌ ‌training‌ ‌to‌ ‌get‌ ‌used‌ ‌to‌ ‌situations‌ ‌without‌ ‌Eden’s‌ ‌protection,‌ ‌along‌ ‌with‌ ‌zero-gravity‌ ‌and‌ ‌physical‌ ‌training‌ ‌for‌ ‌military‌ ‌personnel.”‌ ‌The‌ ‌AI‌ ‌answered‌ ‌patiently‌ ‌with‌ ‌a‌ ‌smile.‌ ‌“Do‌ ‌you‌ ‌want‌ ‌to‌ ‌join‌ ‌the‌ ‌Silver‌ ‌Fortress‌ ‌when‌ ‌you‌ ‌grow‌ ‌up,‌ ‌my‌ ‌little‌ ‌friend?”‌

“I‌ ‌do!‌ ‌My‌ ‌father‌ ‌is‌ ‌a‌ ‌retired‌ ‌Galactic‌ ‌Soldier.”‌ ‌The‌ ‌little‌ ‌boy‌ ‌stood‌ ‌up‌ ‌proudly.‌ ‌“He‌ ‌said‌ ‌that‌ ‌the‌ ‌‘Silver‌ ‌Ten’‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌‘Silver‌ ‌Fortress’‌ ‌is‌ ‌the‌ ‌strongest‌ ‌military‌ ‌unit,‌ ‌and‌ ‌Commander‌ ‌Lin‌ ‌is‌ ‌our‌ ‌ultimate‌ ‌guardian.”‌ ‌

(The contrast here as Lin the PERSON being seen as a Guardian, versus Eden the SYSTEM)

“This‌ ‌may‌ ‌not‌ ‌be‌ ‌entirely‌ ‌correct‌ ‌since‌ ‌we‌ ‌are‌ ‌not‌ ‌at‌ ‌war‌ ‌right‌ ‌now,‌ ‌so‌ ‌our‌ ‌ultimate‌ ‌guardian‌ ‌is‌ ‌Eden.”‌ ‌The‌ ‌AI‌ ‌tour‌ ‌guide‌ ‌softly‌ ‌corrected‌ ‌the‌ ‌child‌ ‌as‌ ‌she‌ ‌ruffled‌ ‌his‌ ‌hair‌ ‌gently.‌

Xxxx

Every‌ ‌little‌ ‌boy‌ ‌had‌ ‌dreamed‌ ‌of‌ ‌becoming‌ ‌a‌ ‌hero‌ ‌once.‌ ‌

Yet‌ ‌the‌ ‌real‌ ‌adult‌ ‌‘heroes’‌ ‌are‌ ‌never‌ ‌busy‌ ‌saving‌ ‌the‌ ‌world;‌ ‌their‌ ‌real‌ ‌jobs‌ ‌are‌ ‌often‌ ‌playing‌ ‌political‌ ‌games,‌ ‌competing‌ ‌for‌ ‌power,‌ ‌manipulating‌ ‌enemies,‌ ‌blackmailing,‌ ‌and‌ ‌framing‌ ‌one‌ ‌another…

(Love right here the fucking reality of corruption shattering the utopian child like view of the world)