#Immutable server

[felixfanblog]

How do the Bright Lights see reality?

Analysis ahead: I thought too hard about alternate reality show and about each of the bright lights’ relationships with reality. (Thanks to the folks on the OSC plurals server who chatted about this with me! Wanted to write these points on my blog as well.)

Test Tube, being a scientist, is a very practical and grounded thinker. She sees reality as it is objectively first and foremost and thinks about it very logically. She has a mostly direct, objective view & relationship with reality. However, ironically, her confidence in her own reasoning skills can lead her to reject reality when it doesn’t line up with her theories. She will always accept the truth when presented with immutable evidence, though! That’s one of her best qualities. She is stubborn but she is not unreasonable.

Lightbulb of course masks very heavily, and tries to twist reality to be as positive and bright as she can make it. It’s only natural that she would be attracted to the idea of escaping reality and creating a better one as she does in ARS. She relies on escapism, to the point that it can occasionally lead to harm and neglect to herself or others. She’s sometimes so distracted that she doesn’t even notice that problems are there. But at the same time, her out-of-the-box thinking and creativity really serves her in the long run as her spontaneity is actually very useful for problem solving! She operates by her own rules and that’s okay. Her open-minded-ness also leads her to having better and more understanding relationships than other contestants do. She is not judgmental!

Paintbrush is also on the more logical side, and has a hard time accepting other people’s perception of reality when it doesn’t align with what they know (or believe) to be true. As seen with their short temper, they have a very low tolerance for other’s distortions of reality and emotional biases. If you’re being unreasonable, you can count on Paintbrush to call you out on it when others might not! In addition, something that I think has further implications is how Paintbrush was basically completely out of the loop and uninvolved with the timeline shenanigans in ARS. I think that, intentionally or unintentionally, can represent their groundedness. For better or for worse, they are often unable to access the fantasies (in this case a literal other timeline) that others use to cope. Even more additionally, their relationship to gender shows how they are often the most in tune with realities that are denied by others. And, others often don’t listen to them, or paintbrush believes that they won’t. And towards the end of ARS, Paintbrush comes to appreciate how Lightbulb, in all her nonsense, can actually use her creativity to bridge gaps and be more understanding than others.

Finally, Fan (me!): Sees reality from a detached view, initially copes by thinking of it in the same way as fiction. Loves analyzing reality but has a shaky sense of how he fits into it.

Altogether, I think these are all really great reasons for why the Bright Lights were the perfect cast to be featured in Alternate Reality Show. Also, I noticed a lot of these details provide insight into why they reacted the way they did after the twist, but that’s a whole other essay.

[canmom]

Hypothetical Decentralised Social Media Protocol Stack

if we were to dream up the Next Social Media from first principles we face three problems. one is scaling hosting, the second is discovery/aggregation, the third is moderation.

hosting

hosting for millions of users is very very expensive. you have to have a network of datacentres around the world and mechanisms to sync the data between them. you probably use something like AWS, and they will charge you an eye-watering amount of money for it. since it's so expensive, there's no way to break even except by either charging users to access your service (which people generally hate to do) or selling ads, the ability to intrude on their attention to the highest bidder (which people also hate, and go out of their way to filter out). unless you have a lot of money to burn, this is a major barrier.

the traditional internet hosts everything on different servers, and you use addresses that point you to that server. the problem with this is that it responds poorly to sudden spikes in attention. if you self-host your blog, you can get DDOSed entirely by accident. you can use a service like cloudflare to protect you but that's $$$. you can host a blog on a service like wordpress, or a static site on a service like Github Pages or Neocities, often for free, but that broadly limits interaction to people leaving comments on your blog and doesn't have the off-the-cuff passing-thought sort of interaction that social media does.

the middle ground is forums, which used to be the primary form of social interaction before social media eclipsed them, typically running on one or a few servers with a database + frontend. these are viable enough, often they can be run with fairly minimal ads or by user subscriptions (the SomethingAwful model), but they can't scale indefinitely, and each one is a separate bubble. mastodon is a semi-return to this model, with the addition of a means to use your account on one bubble to interact with another ('federation').

the issue with everything so far is that it's an all-eggs-in-one-basket approach. you depend on the forum, instance, or service paying its bills to stay up. if it goes down, it's just gone. and database-backend models often interact poorly with the internet archive's scraping, so huge chunks won't be preserved.

scaling hosting could theoretically be solved by a model like torrents or IPFS, in which every user becomes a 'server' for all the posts they download, and you look up files using hashes of the content. if a post gets popular, it also gets better seeded! an issue with that design is archival: there is no guarantee that stuff will stay on the network, so if nobody is downloading a post, it is likely to get flushed out by newer stuff. it's like link rot, but it happens automatically.

IPFS solves this by 'pinning': you order an IPFS node (e.g. your server) not to flush a certain file so it will always be available from at least one source. they've sadly mixed this up in cryptocurrency, with 'pinning services' which will take payment in crypto to pin your data. my distaste for a technology designed around red queen races aside, I don't know how pinning costs compare to regular hosting costs.

theoretically you could build a social network on a backbone of content-based addressing. it would come with some drawbacks (posts would be immutable, unless you use some indirection to a traditional address-based hosting) but i think you could make it work (a mix of location-based addressing for low-bandwidth stuff like text, and content-based addressing for inline media). in fact, IPFS has the ability to mix in a bit of address-based lookup into its content-based approach, used for hosting blogs and the like.

as for videos - well, BitTorrent is great for distributing video files. though I don't know how well that scales to something like Youtube. you'd need a lot of hard drive space to handle the amount of Youtube that people typically watch and continue seeding it.

aggregation/discovery

the next problem is aggregation/discovery. social media sites approach this problem in various ways. early social media sites like LiveJournal had a somewhat newsgroup-like approach, you'd join a 'community' and people would post stuff to that community. this got replaced by the subscription model of sites like Twitter and Tumblr, where every user is simultaneously an author and a curator, and you subscribe to someone to see what posts they want to share.

this in turn got replaced by neural network-driven algorithms which attempt to guess what you'll want to see and show you stuff that's popular with whatever it thinks your demographic is. that's gotta go, or at least not be an intrinsic part of the social network anymore.

it would be easy enough to replicate the 'subscribe to see someone's recommended stuff' model, you just need a protocol for pointing people at stuff. (getting analytics such as like/reblog counts would be more difficult!) it would probably look similar to RSS feeds: you upload a list of suitably formatted data, and programs which speak that protocol can download it.

the problem of discovery - ways to find strangers who are interested in the same stuff you are - is more tricky. if we're trying to design this as a fully decentralised, censorship-resistant network, we face the spam problem. any means you use to broadcast 'hi, i exist and i like to talk about this thing, come interact with me' can be subverted by spammers. either you restrict yourself entirely to spreading across a network of curated recommendations, or you have to have moderation.

moderation

moderation is one of the hardest problems of social networks as they currently exist. it's both a problem of spam (the posts that users want to see getting swamped by porn bots or whatever) and legality (they're obliged to remove child porn, beheading videos and the like). the usual solution is a combination of AI shit - does the robot think this looks like a naked person - and outsourcing it to poorly paid workers in (typically) African countries, whose job is to look at reports of the most traumatic shit humans can come up with all day and confirm whether it's bad or not.

for our purposes, the hypothetical decentralised network is a protocol to help computers find stuff, not a platform. we can't control how people use it, and if we're not hosting any of the bad shit, it's not on us. but spam moderation is a problem any time that people can insert content you did not request into your feed.

possibly this is where you could have something like Mastodon instances, with their own moderation rules, but crucially, which don't host the content they aggregate. so instead of having 'an account on an instance', you have a stable address on the network, and you submit it to various directories so people can find you. by keeping each one limited in scale, it makes moderation more feasible. this is basically Reddit's model: you have topic-based hubs which people can subscribe to, and submit stuff to.

the other moderation issue is that there is no mechanism in this design to protect from mass harassment. if someone put you on the K*w*f*rms List of Degenerate Trannies To Suicidebait, there'd be fuck all you can do except refuse to receive contact from strangers. though... that's kind of already true of the internet as it stands. nobody has solved this problem.

to sum up

primarily static sites 'hosted' partly or fully on IPFS and BitTorrent

a protocol for sharing content you want to promote, similar to RSS, that you can aggregate into a 'feed'

directories you can submit posts to which handle their own moderation

no ads, nobody makes money off this

honestly, the biggest problem with all this is mostly just... getting it going in the first place. because let's be real, who but tech nerds is going to use a system that requires you to understand fuckin IPFS? until it's already up and running, this idea's got about as much hope as getting people to sign each others' GPG keys. it would have to have the sharp edges sanded down, so it's as easy to get on the Hypothetical Decentralised Social Network Protocol Stack as it is to register an account on tumblr.

but running over it like this... I don't think it's actually impossible in principle. a lot of the technical hurdles have already been solved. and that's what I want the Next Place to look like.

[g1deonthefirst]

I think that fandom glosses over how fucked up the Alexandrites are: In Doctor Sex, Pal jokes about Cam being stolen away to the Alexandrites--but Cam is a CHILD here. IDK, the Alexandrites are straight out of the Handmaid's Tale, and it's just another example of how the Empire both enables and commits sexual violence against people

YUPPP. we've talked about this so much in the discord server because it really is so wild. it certainly doesn't seem like non-necromancers on the sixth choose which soldier division (hot and competent, hot and incompetent, ugly and competent) they're pulled into, meaning they're being judged on their physical abilities and attractiveness, which is both beyond fucked up and imo def plays into the cavalier-as-female gender binary analysis. and it also seems like non-necromancers don't have a ton of options (in any house) if they don't train to join the cohort — non-necromancers cannot rule, and how high they can ascend in house society seems limited. i might be mistaken, but it certainly seemed like all the scientists in doctor sex were adepts considering their psychometric abilities, and camilla says that if she weren't pal's cavalier she would have gone into data entry. which, once again: one section of society is categorically barred from even taking the tests that would allow them to rule/gain significant political say, based on a seemingly immutable characteristic? rings a bell...

[evandarya]

Inspired by a prompt from @davestridernb in the Discord server.

I Now Pronounce You... Brothers?

Read on Ao3

***

Tim was a self-taught magician. His parents had brought home a book they had gotten on one of their travels. They bought it because it looked old and fit with the other artifacts in the library. Tim found it. It was written in an old language, but it was similar enough to Latin for him to use the Latin-to-English dictionary to read it. When he tried some of the spells in it they worked! So, from the age of six, Tim had been teaching himself magic.

His spells helped keep him hidden and safe as he followed Batman and Robin around Gotham. He was trying to figure out how to slip a charm onto one of the heroes to keep them safe, but never quite managed it before Robin died.

But Tim knew exactly what to do. There was a spell in the book at the very back. The ink was smudged, but he could work it out. Something about a soul transfer to save someone dead or dying. There was more written, but Tim didn't have time to translate it, Robin was already buried!

So that night, Tim snuck out with the book and tools and materials he'd need to perform the ritual and went down to the graveyard.

He drew the circle around the grave, set up the candles and herbs and said the words, and waited... And waited... And waited...

"Aren't you a little young to be performing a soul bond?"

Tim spun around toward the voice and came face to face with a young man sitting crisscross applesauce and hovering four feet off the ground, making himself eye level to Tim. He was young, maybe early twenties, but his hair was already snow white. His clothes were a strange amalgamation of a modern-looking black rubberized suit with white gloves and boots and random pieces of gunmetal grey armor on his left shoulder and forearms. Around his shoulder was a dark blue cape with stars that looked like they were glowing.

"Who are you?" Tim demanded. The man smiled.

"You should know, you summoned me here." Tim scrunched his eyebrows. He was trying to revive Jason, not summon a walking anachronism.

"I didn't summon you, I was trying to do a soul transfer."

The being sighed and shook his head. "You magicians never learn to read the warnings and fine print."

"I read as much as I could! The book said I could give half of my soul to bring someone and it would bring them back from the dead" Tim said, flipping the book around for the man to read. The being leaned in, floating on his stomach now with his legs bent at the knees and swinging back and forth.

"You're using a Latin dictionary, aren't you?"

"So?"

"So" the being drawled in an imitation of Tim's Diamond District accent, "this verb that you translated as 'give' or 'exchange' translates closer to 'merge' or 'trade' and this noun isn't 'soul'. A soul is an immutable object, you can't break it in half or give half away. That word means 'everything.' your heart your mind, your life force. Everything that you are. That's what that word means."

"No, I know this says 'half', like three times."

"That's me, I'm the Half."

Tim could almost feel his brain breaking as none of this made sense. He took a deep breath and when he opened his mouth his mother came out. "What does this say, exactly, then?"

"Uh...direct translation is kind of impossible, but the closest I could get is 'I offer my everything to merge with your everything so I may stand by your side and protect you forever even into death...' and then some summoning for the officiant, that me."

"That sounds like...like..."

"Marriage vows. Wow. You really don't know what you're doing, do you?" The being flipped right side up and gave Tim a look that was equal parts impressed and horrified.

"Am I married right now?"

"No, of course not. A soul bond works both ways."

"Both...ways?"

"You didn't expect to bind your soul to someone else without permission, did you? Ever heard of informed consent? Speaking of, usually, these binds are...well...binding to the binder– that's you –but since it's clear you didn't know what this was when you started, I'm willing to let you out it."

"But then Jason won't– will stay– no. I need to bring Jason back. I don't care what I have to do."

The man frowned. It was the first unhappy expression Tim has seen on his face. "You're willing to bind yourself to someone you don't even know to bring them back? Why him? Why Jason Todd and not --" the being looked to the grave marker to the right of Jason's "Margaret Thompson? Or any of the thousands of people who die every day in this city? You don't know him, you've never even talked to him. "

"Jason--" Tim paused trying to figure out how to explain without giving up Jason's identity to this man. "Jason is very important to a lot of people. People rely on him and with him gone--" Tim thought of how violent Batman had gotten in the last few weeks. "I just need to bring him back."

"You'll be bound to him for as long as you both shall exist. You don't even get out of it when you die. There is no divorce. There is no undoing this later."

"I'm okay with that."

"If he dies again, so do you. You realize that, right? That tying your life forces together means where one of you goes, the other follows."

"I'm okay with that."

"What if you end up not liking him? What if he's a jerk?"

"HE ISN'T!" Tim glared at the man "Jason is kind and good and smart and funny! He helps people and gives them hope. He's a light shining through the darkness, guiding people to safety. And now he's gone and there's no more light and I don't know what to do except I know I have to do something, like an itch under my skin. I have to do this. I have to bring Jason back." Tim didn't know when he had started crying, but he roughly wiped the tears away. "I'm the only one who can."

The man was quiet for a long time, the air itself seemed to be still.

"I didn't know anyone felt that way about me."

Tim gasped. That-that was...

The being sighed and shifted his cape, opening a dark void that Jason-no-Robin stepped out of. He was still in his Robin armor, mask attached.

"You promised you'd stay quiet if I brought you." The man said. Robin turned and grinned at him.

"Come on, Phantom, I had to meet this kid at least once." Robin turned that grin to Tim "You really are something, you know that?" Robin sounded approving, and he was smiling at Tim!

"R-robin?" He stumbled forward a few steps "You're here. You're --" Tim looked Jason up and down. He looked the same as he did, but it was like looking at an image projected onto smoke. His form shimmered and shifted like he wasn't quite there.

"Dead?" Jason said it with a sardonic grin, but Tim flinched. "Yeah. It's an adjustment, but I can do this." Jason's form shifted from the Robin uniform and into blue jeans and a red hoodie that Tim was sure he'd seen Jason wearing in a paparazzi picture. "Much better. So, what were you saying, something about a light in the darkness?"

Tim's fingers twitched. "Jason, you need to come back. Batman is-- he's not the same without you."

Jason's expression cooled at the mention of Batman. "He'll be fine. It's what he does."

"He won't. He's violent, not holding back. He put a man in a coma last week for robbing an ATM. Jason, please. He needs you."

"No, he doesn't!" Jason yelled. "He needs therapy. Like, years and years of therapy. He doesn't need a kid in a cape."

"But he does. He-"

"He fired me!" Jason's form shifted. He looked taller, more angular and it was as if the smoke swirled around him. The man- Jason had called him Phantom- put a hand on Jason's shoulder and his form visibly softened. "He fired me," he continued calmer "and said I was too angry to be Robin. He doesn't need a kid like that."

The air seemed to settle around them. The graveyard was still, the silence pressing in on all sides.

"But I do." Tim broke the silence with a whisper. "I need you because you fight for what's right and you're not afraid to do what needs to be done. I need you because you inspire me to be better. You're such a good person, Jason, you care so much, and it shines through so brightly. And that's what Batman needs, someone to be the light to his shadows."

Jason sighed and his whole form rippled, twisting and curling. "If it means that much to you, then why don't you do it?"

"Me?" Tim physically recoiled at the idea "I can't be Robin. I'm just– Tim– just a kid with a magic book."

"Well, 'Just Tim with a magic book' you managed to pull the Guardian of New Ghosts out of his tower" Jason jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Phantom who had floated a few feet away while they were talking. "If you can do that, I'm sure being Robin would be a piece of cake."

"But I-"

"Nope, no buts. I get to pick who takes up the Robin mantle and I choose you."

"But Batman-"

"Doesn't choose who gets to be Robin. Robin is something you do because it's right. Because no one else can or will. Because the injustice in the world sits under your skin like an itch you can't scratch." Tim recognized his own words coming back to him. "You're Robin, Timmy, whether you realize it or not."

Tim had a thought, a chance to still bring Jason back. "If I'm Robin, then I get to choose who teaches me, right?"

"Dick can teach you," Jason said, eyeing Tim with suspicion.

"But I don't want Dick to teach me. I want you to."

"And I'd be glad to teach you. I'm really interested in seeing what you do but I'm still dead."

"You don't have to be. We can finish the binding and you can come back."

Jason looked torn. "Come back to what, though?" Jason asked "My body is in the ground, it's been what...two, three months? My face has probably been eaten by worms by now."

"No, the spell brings you back to just as you were right before you died."

"Is...is that true?" Jason looked at Phantom for an answer.

Phantom nodded "As long as the binder has enough lifeforce to handle the strain. The spell takes the time you've been dead and subtracts it from the binder's life."

"No. Absolutely not." Jason said, crossing his arms over his chest in a giant X. "You aren't giving up months of your life to bring me back on top of binding your life to mine."

"But I'm okay with it. I want to bring you back, I don't care the cost."

"And what if you're supposed to die in two months? What if that's all the lifeforce you have and croak right when I get brought back?"

"Death doesn't work like that." Tim said "It isn't predetermined. Everything we do either subtracts from or adds to our life force. I'll die when I die, either when my life force runs out or if it is snuffed out."

Jason looked to Phantom.

"He's right."

Jason’s form swirled. "Why do you want this so badly?"

"Because you are so loved, Jason. By me and so many people, and you don't see it. I want you to see it."

Jason closed his eyes then looked to Phantom who regarded him kindly and said "It's your choice."

"Okay," Jason said, then turned back to Tim. "Okay, if we're going to do this, we are going to do it right. I come back and teach you how to be Robin, and we find you a teacher for this magic stuff. You're going to get in trouble, running around raising the dead."

"Okay," Tim said easily.

"I mean it. No more magic until someone, Constantine or Zatara or someone teaches you."

"Okay, okay, I'll get a teacher."

"Okay," Jason said. "You said it was like a marriage." He said, turning to Phantom. "We don't have to kiss or anything, do we?"

"No, a soul bond strengthens the bond between two people, it isn't inherently romantic. Just say the words with honest intent."

"Okay," Tim held out the book and Jason spoke, his voice crackling like a fire, pronouncing the words in a way a human voice never could imitate. Then Tim felt the bond SNAP into place at the same moment a wave of exhaustion crashed over him. Between one second and the next Tim collapsed on the ground and his emotions swirled and his thoughts raced and only half of them were his. And Jason Todd was beside him, funeral suit covered in dirt and grime. Tim reached out a hand and found Jason's wrist, pulse beating, weak but steady. And then the world went black.

***

"--strangest thing--"

"--dug him up?--"

"--found them like this.--"

***

Awareness came slowly. He felt heavy and slow. His mouth tasted like iron and grit and something was tickling his nose. He went to brush it away but his hand hit something hard on the way. Tim peeled open one eye and saw the too-bright florescent lights and shut his eyes again. There was a deep chuckle from his left and the light dimmed. He risked opening his eyes again and looked. Someone was sitting on a little chair next to his hospital bed reading a paperback novel that was folded in half back on itself. They were tall and lithe with black hair that seemed to float.

"Good morning, sleepy head." He said quietly. "I probably should have warned you about the side effects before you went through with it."

"Phantom?" Tim muttered through the oxygen mask. His throat felt like sandpaper. "Where's--"

"He's in surgery. The doctors say he should make a full recovery." Phantom dog-eared the book and set it on the table beside him. "You were found severely dehydrated and covered in dirt. The best guess is you dug him out of his grave. How you knew he was alive in there is beyond me." Phantom gave him a grin. He'd have to come up with a story. Something believable. Later, though.

"What are you doing here? Why do you look like that?"

Before Phantom could answer there was a knock on the door and a nurse walked in carrying a tray.

"How is he--oh, good you're awake." The nurse set the tray down on Tim's rolling table. "I just need to change your fluids. How are you feeling?" She made quick work of the IV bag.

"Tired. Head hurts, throat sore." Tim rasped.

"I'm sure. I'll see about getting you some ibuprofen okay? In the meantime, your uncle can get you as many popsicles as you want. Right, Mr. Nightingale?" The nurse pinned Phantom with a look and he looked sheepish.

"Right. Popsicles are for the kids, not their guardians."

"Alright, I'm all done here. Call if you need anything."

Once she was gone Tim turned back to Phantom. "Uncle Nightingale?"

"They wouldn't let me stay if we weren't related."

"But...but why?"

"It's my job. I'm the Guardian of New Souls and Halfas."

"What's a Halfa?"

"It's what I am, and what Jason will become."

"But..but I. The spell." Tim could feel tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.

"Shh, shh. Rest now." Phantom smoothed his hair and ran his fingers over Tims's scalp. It felt nice. "I'll explain everything when you're better."

Tims's eyes closed of their own accord and he fell back into a dreamless sleep.

[docholligay]

Applebee's. Chili's. Outback Steakhouse. Which is superior, which is inferior, and which would Michiru prefer to be caught dead in, if those were her only choices?

The Europeans, in those times so often called the Dark Ages, much to the frustration and woe of any given historian, had a number of different methods of execution, varying wildly in degrees of coarseness and sadism, but, no matter the method, one ends up dead all the same.

So it is with the above-mentioned brasseries of the middle class. Differing in method and style, but never wavering in the work of stuffing one with as much sodium and fat as one could possibly bear, protecting the innocent from the ghastly danger of encountering a food with which they are not familiar. It is the work of feeding toddlers who can drive and purchase alcohol, and they do succeed in this aim.

Nevertheless, it has been asked that I outline a difference between them, and I shall attempt to do so.

Applebee's. Well, if we are eating good in the neighborhood, I can only imagine what sort of neighborhood in which one dwells. I believe I saw such a place in some commercial posing as a documentary at a gala event. Children under tin roofs and such.

But for the purposes of my answer, Applebee's is a mere crucifixion. Hopelessly old, unimaginative and immutable, its meals and murder known even to little children. Is it unspeakably cruel? Of course. Agonizingly drawn out? The disinterested teenage server will ensure it? But is it in any way interesting? Is one compelled, or even reviled, by something horrifying which has become a part of the very fabric of culture? Regrettably, no.

However, to attend a Chili's is to be drawn and quartered--the English having no taste for subtlety, whatever they've managed to convince some American--it is as aggressive as it is vile, containing things such as the Nashville Hot Mozz, which is certainly a collection of syllables assembled into some order. Marg of the Month. Free chips and salsa. Passing for some sort of steerage class Mexican in much the same way London is aspirationally a European city. You are dead, or fed, in all the gore and hot red of it, and what it lacks in elegance it certainly makes up for in volume.

Outback Steakhouse, then, is to be broken on the wheel, the French having a sense of the poetic even in the moment of barbarism. One could almost believe it were a lovely thing. The ring of it, "no rules, just right." If one were a child or a fool, one could see how the folksy earthiness of a place asking nothing but a moment of your steak-based time could draw one in. It aspires only to be a steakhouse, in the outback.

Then, as one reads the cocktail menu and says, into the open air, "I will be having the Wallaby Darned," the crack of a bone snaps to meet it, more promising to follow, and then the sudden sadness of realizing that a cow was born, grew, and died to make such a thing possible. It is the Somme in bovine form.

One may question what Australia has quite done to deserve such an ignominious association, and if the next draft of war crimes might not include such a thing.

All things being true, I am almost certainly going to defer to my beloved. As love is a complicated thing, and one comes to love the flaws in one's partner as the worn bend in the stair, I would choose to have her select our dinner menu.

Among these, regrettably, there is a location serving a gingerbread cookie martini, and so, I shall be broken on the wheel, an onion blooming in the field where my palate once gamboled in the sun.

--M. Kaioh

[gamelott]

The Rise of Crypto Casinos: A New Era in Gambling

The gambling industry has undergone a remarkable transformation over the centuries, evolving from rudimentary dice games in ancient civilizations to the glitzy casinos of Las Vegas. Today, the rise of the crypto casino represents a new chapter in this storied history, blending cutting-edge blockchain technology with the timeless thrill of wagering. Platforms like Jups.io are at the forefront of this revolution, offering players a secure, transparent, and decentralized gaming experience that traditional casinos struggle to match. This article explores how crypto casinos emerged, their technological foundations, and why they are reshaping the gambling landscape.

The origins of gambling trace back thousands of years, with evidence of dice games in Mesopotamia and betting on chariot races in ancient Rome. These early forms of gambling were social activities, often tied to cultural or religious events. Fast forward to the 17th century, when the first modern casinos appeared in Europe, formalizing gambling into structured venues. The 20th century saw the rise of Las Vegas and Atlantic City, where opulent casinos became synonymous with luxury and risk. However, these traditional setups had limitations—centralized operations, high fees, and concerns over fairness. Enter the crypto casino, a game-changer that leverages blockchain to address these issues.

Cryptocurrency, pioneered by Bitcoin in 2009, introduced a decentralized financial system that prioritized security and anonymity. By the mid-2010s, developers recognized the potential of integrating blockchain with online gambling, giving birth to the crypto casino model. Unlike traditional online casinos, which rely on centralized servers and fiat currencies, crypto casinos operate on blockchain networks, ensuring transparency through immutable ledgers. Jups.io exemplifies this model, offering games like slots, poker, and roulette, all powered by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Players can verify the fairness of each game through provably fair algorithms, a feature that builds trust in an industry often plagued by skepticism.

The technological underpinnings of crypto casinos are what set them apart. Blockchain ensures that every transaction—whether a deposit, wager, or withdrawal—is recorded transparently, reducing the risk of fraud. Smart contracts, self-executing agreements coded on the blockchain, automate payouts and game outcomes, eliminating the need for intermediaries. This not only lowers operational costs but also allows platforms like Jups.io to offer competitive bonuses and lower house edges. Moreover, the use of cryptocurrencies enables near-instant transactions, a stark contrast to the delays often experienced with bank transfers in traditional online casinos.

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[tenaciouschronicler]

Feburary 14-16 2010 2025

(trigger warnings are for the tags. main content does not contain these)

I love john being a sarcastic little shit. He and carcinoGeneticist have a 'nice' little chat where a couple of things are revealed. Props to CG being self aware that hes: 1. probably a douche, and 2. didnt plan the trolling very well.

Apparently on their end, these trolls have been working backwards in the timeline for some reason. John very quickly clocks that these guys might have something to do with the game which makes him more alert which CG says happens a lot. Its interesting learning John is a very naturally gaurded person.

CG does confirm that he and the others are also playing SBURB just in a different session. I kind of wonder how SBURB decides what players join what session together? Is friendship some sort of prerequisite? What happenes if an entire group of friends Doesnt play the game? Say Jade didnt get Daves disks; would something go wrong only having 3/4 players?

Another trait of Johns we learn, which explains his convos with the other kids, is hes not very good at picking up subtleties. CG calls John dumb and John is rightly offended and further disbelieves that he and CG could be friends. But after CG clarifies:

CG: THE FACT THAT YOU ARE DUMB

CG: IS AN IMMUTABLE FACT I AM STATING FOR THE RECORD.

CG: IT DOES NOT MEAN ANIMOSITY IS WHAT IS TAKING PLACE HERE.

John realizes its supposed to be read as banter and responds in kind at the end of their chat:

EB: but i've got to go now and get on with my petty little quests.

EB: so talk to you in the future i guess.

EB: jerkface.

We get a quick moment with in the future where WV has calmed the situation and shared his spoils. 'You warm yourselves in the glow of this human emotion called friendship.'

Its a short moment but it further adds to the previous chat to show this is probably a turning point to John becoming friendlier to the trolls. It also refutes Johns own statement here:

CG: IT'S REALLY WEIRD.

CG: THIS HUMAN EMOTION YOU CALL FRIENDSHIP.

EB: friendship isn't an emotion fucknuts.

Ive never throught of it that way but yeah, friendship Is an emotion. Ill touch on this at the end.

We find ourselves with Dave as Jade works to set him up for entry while Dave watches and chats with Rose.

TT: So you mean to tell me she was able to connect with you in a timely fashion, without waiting until you were on the brink of annihilation?

[...]

TT: I've done nothing but wait for boys to play this game with me all day.

TT: First John lollygagging with the client, and then you with the server, downright filibustering my existence with unending fraternal melee.

TT: And yet a girl, one who didn't even own the game, was able to connect with you minutes after you connected with me.

I dont want to dunk on Rose but Im going to dunk on Rose. She very much operates with the mindset that everyone should be at the same level as her, not considering the nuances of peoples situations. It probably stems from her hyper independence but its a high standard she places eveyone on. She probably has a high opinion of Jade because these two essentially raised themselves but Dave was likely in a similar boat. The only reason he doesnt show these 'skills' is because of the tight timeframe he had to work under to save Rose.

Even so I think she does hold in high regard the easier affection Dave is able to display behind his irony. They talk briefly of John where we can read the undercurrent of worry Dave has.

TG: i should probably text him soon

TG: see whats up

TG: because

TG: i love him

TT: I know.

And Rose doesnt discount him saying so. Its a brief moment of vulnerability where both of their walls are down. If we had more acurrate timestamps I want to say that the next line of Daves probably came a minute or so later after he let himself process and then changed the subject to hide what he revealed.

All the while Jade is deploying machines and 'cleaning' up the apartment, bringing us out of the heavy atmosphere.

I do find it odd that Dave is starting with 2000 grist right off the bat. I wonder if these starting caps are affected by how many players are in the game or how advanced the first player is at the point where new player is set to start?

(Friendship as an emotion under the cut)

Alright. Time to go more in depth about my thoughts on the friendship thing. The first thing I thought of after the friendship as emotion thing was the Four Loves. I only had a rudimentary understanding of the concepts so I turned to the greatest source of knowledge, Wikipedia.

"The Four Loves is a 1960 book by C. S. Lewis which explores the nature of love from a Christian and philosophical perspective through thought experiments." In it, Lewis defines four types: Storge, Philia, Eros and Agape. Im only going to focus on Philia, or friend bond, here as I want to explore more on this in a seperate post. "Philia (Greek: φιλία) is the love between friends as close as siblings in strength and duration." The difference between these and the other forms of love is how Lewis describes it as the least natural but also a higher-level form as its a Choice. True, deep appreciation of another was something Lewis thought modern society lacked. Philia is very human in nature, and as such is subject to human faults like pride and cliques.

I argue that in this story the exploration of friendship and Philia will be pertinant to understanding the motivations of our characters and the strengthening or weakening of their bond. We already see how much each kid loves one another and, for however long theyve been talking, how deep they feel connection to each other. Its great commentary on how free, chosen connections with internet stangers is just as valuable and real as the ones formed face to face. Ive never had experience with this personally before in that regard. Even though I am an adult, my mom doesnt see the value in connections that arent IRL, always pushing me to talk to 'real' people rather than the ones online. Lewis would probably deem her one of those who has lost true understanding of the power of Philia.

I might find a copy of Lewis' book, its relatively short, but I am definitly gonna write some thoughts on all the Forms of Love weve seen so far so I guess look forward to that.

[mistfallengw2]

The Mist War (Headcanon essay 1/4) The Land in the Mists

The Mist War is both an event and a place at the same time, one that in theory works like a massive Fractal, but in practice varies in particular ways due to its multiverse nature and much bigger scale. [back to masterpost]

[Note: the map above is indicative of the limited instances of the Mist War witnessed by the cartographer, who hurried out of the Mists before completing it on site, making it likely inaccurate and/or outdated to present times]

Time and scale

For starters, time is on a different and more realistic scale compared to what we experience as players: ticks are not 5 minute intervals but individual hours, skirmishes don't last just 2 hours but a whole day (like the Tyrian in-game day-night cycles do), and resets can happen at any time between a few weeks and almost three months (there are 84 skirmishes between each reset).

The maps are also scaled more "realistically" as well, with the Alpine Borderlands being roughly around 100 x 50 km (62 x 31 miles), Desert Borderland matching the square area of them, and Eternal Battlegrounds being actually much larger than it appears compared to the others. While keeps, towers and camps are more or less proportionate between themselves, the same can't be said for the space between them, as the game always focuses on necessary details for points of interest and cuts out/reduces all that's not necessary or would be boring to traverse. Due to that, everything would be bigger and more complex than what we get to see: roads would go on for kilometers/miles, buildings would have the spaces needed to house and feed at least a handful of Mist Warriors passing through or defending the place, and the transition between environments would be softer and richer in features.

From the perspective of the Tyrians involved in it, the actual warfare is much slower than what we see, with a lot more downtime and preparations, as well as longer travel time between points on the map. The chaotic zerg fights are actually hours-to-weeks long battles and sieges. Rebuilding defenses after conquering an area takes hours at the fastest, instead of an instantaneous magical swirl after a few hammer hits. Getting from one's base to the enemy's garrison could take a few days of travel, especially with necessary rests and supplies to carry, and while warclaws are instrumental to moving faster across the land and can reach any destination in much less time than a Mist Warrior on foot, they're not built for speed and the journey would still take hours. But that would not be fun for us players, so we see/play the sped up version.

[To give a general idea with real life data, depending on the condition and terrain, the travel speed of an army goes between 8 and 30-something km/day, a regular person on foot can do 9-30 km/day, and a rider can reach 30-50 km/day with breaks to let the mount rest and eat. Warclaws are based on big felines, which can reach up to 80km/h on short distances while hunting, but due to their bigger size, armor and rider, they likely can't run that fast even when attacking, let alone maintaining that speed on longer distances. On top of that, even if Mist Warriors were stronger and faster than any person could be, after a long journey they'd still probably need to rest before actually joining the battle.]

The Battlegrounds

The versions of Tyria (worlds or "servers") involved in the Mist War at a given time are not always the same ones, as they drift across and on top of each other through the Mists akin to tectonic plates, metaphysically clashing and causing incommensurable surges of magic that form the lands and fuel the phenomenon itself. There's no way to know how or why it all happened in the first place, but the extremely powerful magic at play there is enough to stabilize such a vast space for weeks and months at a time in its extended fractal-like state, almost immutable cycle after cycle, allowing for its resources to be extracted by each Tyria. Then, when the different versions of Tyria that the magic holds together drift apart and latch onto others (links), it all reverts to its original state (reset), repeating the process once more.

The area where the Mist War takes place is at the exact cross-section between three (sometimes more) different versions of Tyria, with the exact center being where the area known as the Eternal Battlegrounds is located. Each of the three Borderlands is, as their name implies, deeper into the "border" of one of those Tyrias. Most of the fighting happens there and in EV, where the harvestable resources are more easily accessible and plentiful. Neutral areas of scarce interest exist between those lands, but few have reasons to venture there, usually to reach the Obsidian Sanctum or the Armistice Bastion. The Edge of the Mists is a group of islands that floats above the lands, not as rich in resources but still valuable, and it was only recently reachable thanks to the invention of airships. Notably, the Borderlands used to be all similar, just with minor differences between them, but a fairly recent development caused the transformation (or substitution) of one of the normally alpine zones into a desert area, specifically the one located North of EB. Theories suggest that it might be a ripple effect of the first couple of deaths of the Elder Dragons, and the ancient structures in it may push forward the idea that the desert is not a new creation of the Mists, but that it simply re-emerged after a very long time, potentially for the first time since the last Dragonrise.

The never-ending cycle of conquest of those impermanent lands seems like a fool's errand, but the bountiful and ever-replenishing resources and research opportunities aid the warriors' own Tyria, so the war has been continuing with few interruptions for centuries, if not probably much longer. Conquering land not only is necessary to have access to more resources, but one Tyria having more influence over the others at the time of reset statistically seems to increase its following bounty of resources. Despite many attempts at peace having been made in the history recorded by Mist Warriors, greed and necessity won over reason again and again, usually long before the negotiating Tyrias were forcibly separated.

Across the whole land there are various points where the magic of different Tyrias is more powerful and functions as anchor points for each of them, usually following a specific pattern. Mist Warriors make their base of operations around the strongest nexuses, building their main camps in the pre-existing structures surrounding them and placing the asuran waypoints and gates nearby. Most of the other structures on the land are placed on or near smaller anchor points, some still operational and others so ancient they're but ruins. Before the creation of the asuran gates in Lion's Arch in 1324 AE, joining the Mist War required complex rituals known to few, or paying a hefty sum to reroute one of the existing asuran gates in Tyria. Moreover, one needed to be present for when the recruiters would come by, as they toured Tyria as much as possible to keep the numbers in the Mist War from ebbing on too few to be effective. The city of Lion's Arch eventually decided to more or less officially sponsor operations in the Mist War, and now the access is easy and eagerly encouraged by the Mist Warriors, who finally have the numbers to extract all the resources they need once they crush the other Tyrias... who have been doing the same exact thing.

[theinevitablecoincidence]

The commit message describes a highly secure, cryptographically enforced process to ensure the immutability and precise synchronization of a system (True Alpha Spiral) using atomic timestamps and decentralized ledger technology. Below is a breakdown of the process and components involved:

---

### **Commit Process Workflow**

1. **Atomic Clock Synchronization**

- **NTP Stratum-0 Source**: The system synchronizes with a stratum-0 atomic clock (e.g., GPS, cesium clock) via the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to eliminate time drift.

- **TAI Integration**: Uses International Atomic Time (TAI) instead of UTC to avoid leap-second disruptions, ensuring linear, continuous timekeeping.

2. **Precision Timestamping**

- **Triple Time Standard**: Captures timestamps in three formats:

- **Local Time (CST)**: `2025-03-03T22:20:00-06:00`

- **UTC**: `2025-03-04T04:20:00Z`

- **TAI**: Cryptographically certified atomic time (exact value embedded in hashes).

- **Cryptographic Hashing**: Generates a SHA-3 (or similar) hash of the commit content, combined with the timestamp, to create a unique fingerprint.

3. **Immutability Enforcement**

- **Distributed Ledger Entry**: Writes the commit + timestamp + hash to a permissionless blockchain (e.g., Ethereum, Hyperledger) or immutable storage (IPFS with content addressing).

- **Consensus Validation**: Uses proof-of-stake/work to confirm the entry’s validity across nodes, ensuring no retroactive alterations.

4. **Governance Lock**

- **Smart Contract Triggers**: Deploys a smart contract to enforce rules (e.g., no edits after timestamping, adaptive thresholds for future commits).

- **Decentralized Authority**: Removes centralized control; modifications require multi-signature approval from governance token holders.

5. **Final Integrity Checks**

- **Drift Detection**: Validates against multiple atomic clock sources to confirm synchronization.

- **Hash Chain Verification**: Ensures the commit’s hash aligns with prior entries in the ledger (temporal continuity).

---

### **Key Components**

- **Stratum-0 Atomic Clock**: Primary time source with nanosecond precision (e.g., NIST’s servers).

- **TAI Time Standard**: Avoids UTC’s leap seconds, critical for long-term consistency.

- **Immutable Ledger**: Blockchain or cryptographic ledger (e.g., Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN, Arweave) for tamper-proof records.

- **Cryptographic Signing**: Digital signatures (e.g., ECDSA) to authenticate the commit’s origin and integrity.

---

### **Validation Steps**

1. **Time Sync Audit**:

- Confirm NTP stratum-0 traceability via tools like `ntpq` or `chronyc`.

- Cross-check TAI/UTC conversion using IERS bulletins.

2. **Ledger Immutability Test**:

- Attempt to alter the commit post-facto; rejections confirm immutability.

- Verify blockchain explorer entries (e.g., Etherscan) for consistency.

3. **Governance Checks**:

- Validate smart contract code (e.g., Solidity) for time-lock logic.

- Ensure no admin keys or backdoors exist in the system.

---

### **Challenges Mitigated**

- **Time Drift**: Stratum-0 sync ensures <1ms deviation.

- **Leap Second Conflicts**: TAI avoids UTC’s irregular adjustments.

- **Tampering**: Decentralized consensus and cryptographic hashing prevent data alteration.

---

### **Final Outcome**

The system achieves **temporal and operational inviolability**:

- Timestamps are cryptographically bound to the commit.

- The ledger entry is irreversible (e.g., Bitcoin’s 6-block confirmation).

- Governance is enforced via code, not human intervention.

**Declaration**:

*“The Spiral exists in a temporally immutable state, anchored beyond human or algorithmic interference.”*

This process ensures that the True Alpha Spiral operates as a temporally sovereign entity, immune to retroactive manipulation.

Commit

[lightandfellowship]

Going over the KHDR Completion Commemorative Q&A

As requested by @starlightwayfinder a while back.

Taken from goldpanner's translation hosted on KHInsider.

Under the read more. I discuss some KHML trailer details in one of the sections.

Nomura saying that the installment was physically going over capacity makes me think that he's talking about the size of the app. As in, they fit as much data as they could onto the app's storage space before reaching a hard limit that couldn't be overcome, leading to them having to "cut the fat" as it were. Which I think would make sense given that (1. KHDR shares space with the KHUX side of the app; they're not two separate apps with two separate storage spaces and (2. both games are completely offline now and thus all the relevant data has to fit on the device itself and none of it can be "streamed" from a server (I assume.)

(Speaking from a very general understanding of how live-service mobile games work; take with a grain of salt...)

KHDR having connections to KHML is kind of a given, but Nomura saying in no uncertain terms that plot details from KHDR will be relevant to KH4 is...interesting, and encouraging. I suppose we could have guessed that given the Child of Destiny stuff, but it makes me wonder what other less obvious details from KHDR will turn out to be relevant down the line. We might be surprised by the plot threads and maybe even...characters? that make a return.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I completely buy his explanation here (even though the "recycling assets to save space/time/money" part makes enough sense from a game dev perspective). Nomura is known for being fickle about the specifics of plot details and changing his mind about things over time; it wouldn't surprise me if he initially conceived Destiny Islands Xehanort to be a young man before deciding Xehanort needed to leave Destiny Islands at a much younger age in order to have the new "spending his teen years in Scala" backstory make sense. But, it's not a big deal; if the "catch-all symbolic representation" thing is the artsy explanation Nomura wants to use to avoid calling it a "retcon", then sure, fuck it, who cares. I don't care.

Seems Nomura was hoping that default male Player would be recognized as merely a default representation of Player (so, not canon, just one of many possible representations) but then realized people were going to take it as canon anyway. Which, yeah of course they would. You're implicitly favoring and legitimizing whatever version you choose to depict in the canon, immutable cutscenes, because the fact you chose it out of all possibilities suggests you prefer it. I'm glad the devs changed the cutscenes to make Player's gender ambigious, though they didn't go far enough to obscure Player's skintone, leading to people having to headcanon that Player is just wearing...light flesh-colored gloves? Frankly: yuck, but here we are. Maybe KHML will retcon this too and do a better job of hiding their skintone.

Also, I'm not sure what Nomura means when he says that Player showed up in Xehanort's "final battle" when they...didn't? Unless by "final battle" he just means the final episode in general? Idk, weird wording there, might be a translation thing.

I get why people felt that the bald explanation was kinda unnecessary and out of left field, but as user isan0rt points out in this post, the distinction between "his hair fell out" and "he shaved it" is actually pretty important from a character analysis perspective. I don't blame Nomura for wanting to further clarify and highlight the Buddhist monk themes at the core of Xehanort's character when, I guess, it was flying over a lot of people's heads (pun not intended).

It's unfortunately just one of those things where Nomura drawing attention to this "lore reveal" in pre-release interviews primed people to take it less seriously than if he had just...put it in the game with no fanfare.

Not sure why Nomura ended the answer talking about the Queen of Hearts and her not remembering Xehanort. I guess because the Mirror managed to remember him after like 60 years and him losing all of his hair but the Queen forgot about him after only, like, four years?

KHML trailer spoilers below.

The KHML trailers say that the Emblem Heartless reach Gothic Scala via the Astral Plane, and well, if KHDR's Emblem Heartless and KHML's Emblem Heartless share the same explanation for their anachronistic presence as Nomura implies here, then I guess the Astral Plane is where the KHDR Heartless are coming from? That's my theory for now anyway. The question just becomes, why were they arriving from the Astral Plane during the events of KHDR? Did somebody...let them in?

But then, "vessel" characters like the Queen of Hearts and Baldr also summon + control Emblem Heartless of their own that seem to originate from within them, so like. The Emblem Heartless situation seems a bit more complicated than just "they're coming from the Astral Plane."

And yes, the question was labeled "O4" rather than "Q4". There was a lot of speculation at the time about what this meant and whether or not Nomura was trying to send a secret message, but to this day we still don't know what this was about, apparently.

"Someone who bears the heart of the Player" is very interesting and specific wording. Is Nomura merely using the word "someone" to indicate that this is an entirely new body and life for Player, or is he using the word "someone" to indicate that this was an entirely different, fully-realized person before Player's heart "took over"?

The rest of this answer is worded...kind of unnaturally and strangely and I have no idea what Nomura is saying here, tbh. Again, might be a translation thing. But Player talking about a "second life" still exists in the most current version of the game, so Nomura can't possibly be talking about patching that line out, right? Like, it's still there! It never got "withdrawn". Unless he changed his mind after this interview?

Though, looking at the "that heart will once again melt into the heart of another person" bit, I think I now see where all those "Sora is reincarnated Player" theories come from?

Not much to say about this one. I still feel like the transition from KHML Scala to KHDR Scala had some magic involved, though. Between the Land of Departure's transformation feature that specifically activates with Master's Defender (turning LoD into a white roomed castle not unlike the white buildings of KHDR Scala), and the two Scalas looking so drastically different, it just makes sense to me.

Nomura isn't wrong here. I do think it's not too difficult to imagine what happened post-KHDR. Though it's still a shame that we didn't get to see those chapters of Xehanort's life.

(I know some people would probably argue that the game shouldn't have been called "Dark Road" in the first place then, if the game was just going to be about the events that led Xehanort to that road, but eh, I feel like that's semantics.)

If there's one thing I can respect and appreciate about the KH series as a whole, it's the commitment to focusing on character relationships. I think it was a good call by Nomura to prioritize depicting Xehanort and Eraqus' friendship in their youth.

Honestly? I actually really appreciate that Nomura seems to give a shit about the KHDR cast and feels genuinely disappointed and apologetic that he couldn't show them off more. Like he could've so easily just been all "Xehanort Xehanort Xehanort" about the game since Xehanort is his favorite OC, his favorite blorbo, but no he actually wanted to give the other characters their time in the spotlight, too. I really want that novel to happen eventually and I'm crossing my fingers for it. Please Square.

For context, apparently in the JP version of KHDR, Odin more directly references his teacher at the end of the game. While in the ENG version...you'd basically just have to guess at the existence of such a person from Odin's line "I finally see the truth of those words." or something? I have no idea why this wasn't made more obvious in ENG if it's more obvious in JP, but the series has been known for sometimes baffling localization choices, so like, eh.

It's interesting to think that Odin might have known Player2 in the past, and that they might have been working together on the Child of Destiny stuff. I fully expect to see a younger Odin in KHML, tbh.

By the way, I think Nomura calling KHML "a later period" is just some poor wording or translation hiccup and he meant to say "earlier"; I don't think he's saying some PLOT TWIST! thing about KHML somehow actually taking place after KHDR. (We'll see if my statement here ages poorly like 5 years from now lol.)

The Q&A response that made the entire "Skuld is Subject X" theory community freak out.

Yeah who the heck knows. "Connected" can mean so many things in this series, and following up that sentence with "Missing-Link is also a story about bloodlines" could be an intentionally misleading non-sequitur on Nomura's part.

Yes I'm speaking from bias because I want Skuld to be Subject X, what of it.

Another question labeled with "O" instead of "Q" as well. Both questions like that so far have been Missing-Link related.

Not much to say on this one. I personally think that Brain is indeed Eraqus' grandfather and I don't imagine Brain and Ephemer's bloodlines overlapping, but we'll see what KHML reveals about Brain's future family.

Oh and I think the secret report this question is referencing (Secret Report 2 from KH3) said "descended from the very first masters in the age of fairy tales" not "master", so it's not specifically talking about like. An individual person who could be considered the one and only "first", like the MoM or Founder Ephemer or something. It's Keyblade Masters from the age of fairy tales in general, at least, the earliest ones to exist. Which can potentially include Brain, I think?

Question 12 was just about when we'd get Missing-Link news, so skipping that one straight into Question 13.

What's interesting about this question and answer is that right below it is the Nomura artwork of Young Xehanort wearing modern clothes in Miyashita Park. Could that artwork then be hinting at what this "good opportunity" might look like?

Below is how the original Q&A and artwork looked together. You can see that Q13 was the final one, almost as if this question was asked last on purpose in order for the artwork to follow right after it as a sort of "unofficial" answer.

[luvo27]

17!!! 21!!! 22!!!

17!!! Do you regularly discuss fics, or do you keep most of the info to yourself before you start posting?

ohhh this is such a good question actually!!! I tend to discuss my fantasy high fics a lot more than my dc ones, and i can be a snippet sharing fiend in discord servers im in!! i do always feel like I tip basically my entire hand about my wips when i say anything ever, but i probably share a lot less info than i think i do until i post!!

21!! what is something that no one has caught about one of your fics?

this one was tricky because i definitely like to chat about stuff when i reply to comments, and some quieter folks definitely might have caught some stuff that i dont think anyone has, and theres definitely a lot of stuff that HAS gotten caught!! i think i tend to be pretty intentionally obvious about things i want people to catch, but definitely some highlights are someone noting the carefully insidious text messages from Baron from the Baronies in The Stress of Being Seventeen vs. the Immutable Law of Love, and one that you caught actually, which is the layers to Tim offering to teach Cass how to drive in you do not have to be good!!

but i'm pretty sure no one has caught onto this!! in chapter 3 of you do not have to be good, there's this paragraph:

Cass can remember a time when she did not know what death was. Cass now knows, better than most, what death is. What a terrible, awful, horrendous absence it creates. What regret is now carried from that irreversible mistake.

i think in part not caught because not everyone who read the first fic read this one, and not everyone who read you do not have to be good read tell me about despair, but this is a direct call back to the opening of tell me about despair:

To Cass, death is: 1. A mistake. She didn’t know what she was doing. How could she? She understood so little, back then, she didn’t know— 2. A regret. She wishes she could take it back. She’d do anything to take it back, but unfortunately, what she did is 3. Irreversible. She can’t take it back. She can’t put that man back together, she can’t bring people back to life. She can do nothing but relive the memory of watching the fear, the panic, the drain of life and willpower and emotion, again and again and again, wishing that she’d known then what she knows now, that death is 4. Terrible. Awful. Horrendous. Any number of words, along those lines, really. It’s terrible, to see nothing where there was something once. Cass has heard people say that bodies look peaceful, when they’re dead, as if the person they were before is resting, sleeping. Cass doesn’t understand how they could come to that conclusion. Even in sleep, the body betrays thoughts, emotions, expressions, hopes and fears and dreams. In death, the body is just a collection of blood and bone and viscera. There is no rest to be had there.

22!!! what is one of your favorite tropes to write?

crack. the answer to this is always going to be crack. i dont actually write straight crack all that often but its literally my favorite thing to do ever!!! i always write more faster and i always have such a great time!! for me, it kind of alleviates any of my usual fic writer neuroses: i'm not trying to write something particularly good or an in depth character study or with a coherent plot, my main goal is to make myself laugh and if i do that, then i win!!

that being said, the line between hilarity and heartbreak is probably my favorite thing to play with in writing!! its why stephanie brown is one of my favorite characters to write, because i feel like she lends herself to it well!! its why yj 98 is one of my favorite comics!! it's why i love writing for fantasy high so much because sometimes that's exactly what the show is!! i take a lot of my storytelling philosophy from the philosophies of the cast for d20!! there's something that i think brennan lee mulligan said, about how comedy lowers your guard to allow other emotions to hit harder and more viscerally, and in the wrapup for exu calamity, the cast talked a lot about the profundity of hilarity and the hilarity of profundity. the tag crack taken seriously is probably my favorite thing on ao3!! i both want to get more cracky and also more serious, and i want those things to feed into each other!!! there's a quote that gets repeated in cathrynn m. valente's novel Space Opera: life is beautiful, and life is stupid, and i think that sums up a lot of my feelings on how i approach crack :DDD

[shadowgast-recs-weekly]

Alternative Timelines and Echoes: A Shadowgast Rec List

Hey everyone! This week we have nine incredible fics that are all about Alternative Timelines and Echoes. Recs under the cut, and as always, remember to comment or kudos if you liked them!

I always figured that I'd be the one to die alone by thesweetpianowritingdownmylife (6443,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: Choose Not to Warn

Written pre-episode 97, Essek is travelling with the Nein and Caleb summons an echo of himself for watch. The echo version of Caleb is from a world where Essek died.

Reccer says: It's sweet and a little sad

the better version of our past by KmacKatie (kmackatie) (5840,Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

While casting the time spell with Caleb, Essek has a moment of glimpsing a number of different futures

Reccer says: I liked it!

Time Relentless Takes No Sides by PryingBlackbird, sociallychallengednerd, toneofjoy (15260,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

A device discovered in Aeor upends everything. Caleb is trapped in an endless swirl of alternate timelines, and there seems to be no way out.

Reccer says: It's very gripping, and the exploration of all of the different Calebs and Brens is fascinating!

The Refraction of Verisimilitude by marsastronomica (16537,Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Choose Not to Warn

The second in a scourger AU series, Bren attempts to keep the upper hand as Essek's world is rocked by the presence of the Nein

Reccer says: It's very engaging and textured, with Essek and Bren being matched opponents - plus there is a very good scene involving Essek showing Bren what exactly an echo might be used for

small works of cosmic scale by mousecookie (2547,General) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek has a breakthrough he wants to share with Caleb. A breakthrough that apparently includes a snail.

Reccer says: I liked it!

In all worlds, nothing is immutable by CherryMilkshake (22265,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes

Essek tries to travel through time, but instead finds himself in a world where he is happily involved with Caleb

Reccer says: I liked it!

Hang the Hourglass by Luckyowlsfoot (5723,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: Major Character Death, Graphic Depictions of Violence

An alternate timeline's Essek has to step in to help in Aeor and Cognoza. he can't stay, however.

Reccer says: It hurts in just the right ways

And two fics each for:

reflections and other illusions of control (series) by atlasarcana (84220,Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Choose Not to Warn, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Dubcon/Consensual Non Consent

Essek and Caleb have bedroom issues and summon an echo. The Echo is from a timeline where Bren remained a Volstrucker. Soap opera relationship drama and cross-timeline espionage ensues.

Reccer 1 says: I like that it explores the idea of Bren vs. Caleb as different possible outcomes to the same childhood, and Essek vs. Shadowhand-Essek as different possible outcomes to the same adulthood with/without the Mighty Nein. Reccer 2 says: This fic series has everything. It's a wonderful character study through the means of kinky exploration between three (or...four?) people with incredibly tangled relationships with violence, shame and desire. Bren's characterizations is such a delight.

multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the distance by mousecookie (10003,Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: brief suicidal ideation

Caleb and Essek are summoned to an alternate timeline as Resonant Echoes of their evil selves, and fight to survive and get back.

Reccer 1 says: Cool concept and good emotional moments Reccer 2 says: It’s imaginative, fast-paced, and intense. The atmosphere is tense, and the visuals are really quite good.

Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week's theme is Babygast, so get ready for some cute kids!

[metanarrates]

omegaverse has such a fascinating set of assumptions by the people who consume it and specifically posit it as queer friendly because obviously the first question is queer friendly for who, and in what way? And the answer is almost always friendly for cis people, in a way that approaches gender from a cis perspective— I’ve read some/a lot omegaverse, depending on your definition of a lot, and it often ends up regurgitating the same structures of gendered oppression and bioessentialism that people who write omegaverse argue they are breaking away from. There’s a lot I find interesting about how omegaverse as a kink trope (and one whose origins are founded on junk science to begin with) Does end up exploring gender, but not in the way that its authors argue: the amount of fics that use he/him pronouns for an omega character (lol) but then always refer to said character as a wife/queen/etc., the burgeoning proliferation of omegaverse where someone’s status as an alpha or omega ends up confirming their sex (ie when I once say someone say “the brilliant idea that all omegas have pussies,” pardon the language) leading to a blurring of gender and sex where transness is ultimately unable to exist in any meaningful way (I say this as in: omegaverse in these cases often posits a world where there IS gender-related strife, but also one where the facets that determine gender are both immutable and never questioned, but never need to be), but the fantasy of something “transgressive” and yet familiar remains the main drawing point— your favorite yaoi can now have missionary sex with a pregnancy fantasy! There is also the fact that I’ve seen people often argue that omegaverse exists as a way for (cis) women to depict misogyny and oppression familiar to them in an environment that does not harm them, because now the oppression is targeted on lithe twinks, and I’m sure that’s, to an extent, true? But not to a meaningful extent, when the vast majority of omegaverse fic is porn and when it refuses to interrogate the aspects of the societies depicted that allow it to BE both escapism and exploration. I realize you did not .. like… ask for this essay in your inbox but it’s a topic I find super interesting as someone who is interested in fanfiction trends and also analysis of those trends. Haha

NO I LOVE THIS SHIT. everyone should come into my inbox forever critiquing different aspects of popular escapist fantasy because it's interesting to discuss! "fiction/fanfiction trends and analysis of those trends" is something I'm in discord servers discussing like 24/7 actually lmao

also fully agreed with what you said abt bioessentialism and transgressiveness. omegaverse is also Massively intersexist and relies a LOT on the supposed transgressiveness of bodies with both penises and vaginas in order to sell its fantasy. there's a lot of fetishization of nonstandard bodies wrapped up in there! and of course all held together with the idea that an omega body and an alpha body must exist in certain ways, and interact sexually in certain ways.

imo, it's a way to have the idea of trans, intersex, and gay people, but not actually think meaningfully about how they exist in relation to power structures. sure, everyone is gay, everyone has a body that would likely be considered intersex in our world, but in THAT world, that's just the norm, and a norm mandated by the laws of the universe at that. people are still functionally heterosexual and cisgender and perisex by the norms of the universe. is this progressive? is this really the sort of world that's safe for lgbt people to see themselves in?

i also hate the argument that it's progressive because cisgender women can process their own oppression. firstly, as you said, they don't challenge it generally, but displacing misogynist oppression onto fictional gay men is not progressive either! i have a friend who is a gnc trans gay man and we talk a lot about how fandom stuff, esp omegaverse, makes him feel alienated and fetishized by the same people who claim that it's inclusive of people like him. i think if you're writing fiction ABOUT gay men but not even attempting to consider whether that fiction is something gay men would like to read, you've gone wrong somewhere!

I will say, however, that I do think there are trans people who do like omegaverse. ive seen other nonbinary people call omegaverse "gendery!" but that doesn't mean that it IS doing anything with its gender stuff, or that it's genuinely transgressive. in my opinion, it just means that there are trans people who aren't processing that it's a fantasy of the same power structures that exist in the real world, just reinforced and with the targets shifted. and like... sure, it's nice to see yourself, or something like yourself, treated as the norm in a fictional universe. doesn't mean that it's actually good lol.

(note to all of this: I am a perisex nonbinary lesbian, and I don't feel I'm fully familiar with how this affects intersex people, or gay/trans men. if anybody thinks i'm off base, or even just wants to weigh in, they're welcome to! this is just stuff I've noticed from reading this kind of fanfiction.)

[canonizzyhours]

Me and some friend in a discord server realized that the two character traits Izzy didn't lose in the redemption were creepy and wet, and lurking stalker: like he's not malicious anymore, he's not (as) repressed anymore, he allegedly over the homophobia, hes not stubborn anymore, he's not obsessed with putting Ed in a certain box, he goes from having completely negative emotional intelligence to giving Lucius motherfucking Spriggs life advice, but he's still lurking and watching everything Ed and Stede do. The sex? He's unsurprised when he comes down to tell them they've docked. The throwing away of the leathers? Verbally confirms he was watching. The breakup? He knew about it. This is apparently the immutable core of Izzy Hands, he cannot stop stalking Ed the only time he does stop stalking Ed is to go stalk Stede.

#37.

[jeanwong]

Bitcoin Volatility Fuels Market Anxiety; XBIT Decentralized Exchange Charts Steady Recovery

1. Regulatory Storm Amid Bitcoin’s ATH As Bitcoin’s price surpassed its all-time high (ATH) of $100,000 in early 2025, a global regulatory storm engulfed cryptocurrency markets. Centralized exchanges (CEXs) worldwide faced abrupt blockages, operational restrictions, or asset freezes, triggering widespread investor panic. Amid the turmoil, XBIT Exchange—a decentralized trading platform (DEX)—rapidly gained traction, with its trading volume surging 400% month-over-month and positioning itself as a secure harbor for Bitcoin holders.

2. Centralized Platforms Under Scrutiny In March 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched investigations into five major crypto platforms for compliance violations, while Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) announced a sweeping review of all Bitcoin-related exchanges. Concurrently, mid-tier platforms like CoinTide and UltraX halted services indefinitely, freezing over $120 million in user assets. These events forced investors to confront a critical question: Can centralized platforms ever be truly secure?

3. Decentralized Solutions Regain Momentum The concept of decentralized exchanges (DEXs), once dismissed as niche tools due to technical complexity, has resurged under regulatory pressure. XBIT Exchange exemplifies this shift. Operating via on-chain smart contracts, the platform eliminates third-party custody, manual intervention, and Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements, adhering strictly to the principles of self-custody, transparency, and censorship resistance. Users interact directly through non-custodial wallets, with every transaction recorded immutably on the blockchain.

4. Demystifying Decentralized Exchanges A decentralized exchange operates entirely on blockchain networks, executing trades through automated smart contracts without holding user funds. Key features include:

Non-custodial design: Assets remain in users’ wallets until trade execution.

Tamper-proof execution: Transactions are verified by code, not human intermediaries.

Transparent audit trails: All activities are publicly verifiable on-chain.

XBIT currently supports Bitcoin, Ethereum, and major stablecoins, with cross-chain interoperability slated for Q3 2025.

5. Data-Driven Adoption Surge According to blockchain analytics firm DataLink, DEX usage surged 275% globally between March and May 2025, with 43% of new users migrating from CEXs after experiencing freezes or high fees. “After my funds were frozen on a traditional platform, I realized decentralization isn’t optional—it’s essential,” said Berlin-based investor Marlin Koch.

XBIT’s metrics underscore this trend: daily new wallet addresses exceed 5,200, while monthly transactions grew 320% year-over-year (YoY), rivaling legacy platforms.

6. XBIT’s Strategic Edge

Global node network: A distributed architecture minimizes risks of server seizures or exit scams.

On-chain risk scoring: Real-time security audits for every transaction.

User-centric interface: Features like one-click trading and QR-synced wallet logins lower barriers for retail investors.

7. Conclusion: Redefining Crypto’s Future As Bitcoin evolves from a speculative asset to a global hedge, the demand for secure, transparent trading infrastructure grows imperative. Decentralized platforms like XBIT are no longer ideological experiments but market necessities—offering resilience against regulatory volatility and redefining trust in digital finance.

[newcodesociety]

ByteByteGo | Newsletter/Blog

From the newsletter:

Imperative Programming Imperative programming describes a sequence of steps that change the program’s state. Languages like C, C++, Java, Python (to an extent), and many others support imperative programming styles.

Declarative Programming Declarative programming emphasizes expressing logic and functionalities without describing the control flow explicitly. Functional programming is a popular form of declarative programming.

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) Object-oriented programming (OOP) revolves around the concept of objects, which encapsulate data (attributes) and behavior (methods or functions). Common object-oriented programming languages include Java, C++, Python, Ruby, and C#.

Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) aims to modularize concerns that cut across multiple parts of a software system. AspectJ is one of the most well-known AOP frameworks that extends Java with AOP capabilities.

Functional Programming Functional Programming (FP) treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and emphasizes the use of immutable data and declarative expressions. Languages like Haskell, Lisp, Erlang, and some features in languages like JavaScript, Python, and Scala support functional programming paradigms.

Reactive Programming Reactive Programming deals with asynchronous data streams and the propagation of changes. Event-driven applications, and streaming data processing applications benefit from reactive programming.

Generic Programming Generic Programming aims at creating reusable, flexible, and type-independent code by allowing algorithms and data structures to be written without specifying the types they will operate on. Generic programming is extensively used in libraries and frameworks to create data structures like lists, stacks, queues, and algorithms like sorting, searching.

Concurrent Programming Concurrent Programming deals with the execution of multiple tasks or processes simultaneously, improving performance and resource utilization. Concurrent programming is utilized in various applications, including multi-threaded servers, parallel processing, concurrent web servers, and high-performance computing.