#Replication Convergence

[jsqforknowledge]

(2024-02-07) Testing SYSVOL/File Replication Latency/Convergence Through PowerShell (Update 5)

A new version of the SYSVOL/File Replication Convergence Check script has been published containing updates, improvements, and bug fixes. Read more about it, and get the new version of the script, by clicking HERE. Any feedback, or feature requests? Just let me know! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention it, make sure to read the documentation first and also try it out first in a TEST environment…

[talesofourworlds]

@mistralxsoul continued from here!

Today was, decidedly, a little bit strange. And even that felt like it was putting it mildly, Guy thought.

His travels had brought him to a city called Zaphias for the time being. It was a much needed break, considering everything he'd been helping to achieve back home. Finally putting a stop of Van's plans and concluding everything at the Absorption Gate hadn't been an easy task, after all. Even without that, he'd been kept plenty busy in Grand Chokmah in the immediate aftermath. Whether that be with walking Emperor Peony's rappigs or settling into his own life, it had been a busy time for Guy. Fortunately, the Emperor had understood his need for a break. Much the same as his friends would have, he imagined.

So far, the stay had been pleasant! Zaphis itself was a nice enough city, or at least was presenting itself to be. In some ways it reminded him of Baticul. That likely had to do with the way the city was structured, Guy concluded. Nobility higher up in the city and the rest of the citizenry further down. In turn, the similarities had reminded him of Luke.

Oh, Luke... he hoped his friend was doing okay now that he had a chance to try and figure out what to do with his life. Knowing his friend, though, that wouldn't be an easy task. So, Guy shook his head and decided to go about his day. Luke wouldn't want Guy to dwell on wondering what he was doing with himself, Guy decided.

Ever since he'd arrived in the city, though, people he had taken the time to talk to had kept mistaking him for someone else. Someone called Flynn, he'd gathered pretty quickly. First it had been some of the knights he'd seen, then just regular citizens. Each calling him that name. One particular man who'd had a dog with him had greeted Guy like they were old friends before realizing the mistake. He hadn't really understood it, but politely cleared up the confusion before the man and his dog were on their way again. Apparently the two had had somewhere they needed to be outside the city.

Still. To repeatedly get mistaken for someone? Strange...

"Whoever this 'Flynn' is must be pretty well liked," Guy concluded as he continued to walk. It was still bizarre, but he could brush it off. Still, as he started to make his way down one particular street, his mind wandered. People kept mistaking him for someone who, he imagined, must have looked remarkably similar to him. Back home, given everything that had happened before he'd decided to take his trip, there would have been an easy explanation. But surely that couldn't be the case here... right?

All too suddenly, Guy became aware of what sounded like a scuffle. The familiar sounds of someone in armor was among the mix. Guy figured it was one of the knights he'd run into earlier that day, and from the sound of it he thought maybe they had it handled. He could help, but as he started to turn his head to see just what was happening, it happened. A yelp first, then a sudden weight crashing into him.

The knight in question, a blond man with his hair styled in an oddly familiar way, had gotten knocked right into Guy. The additional weight of his armor added to the force to the collision made it, in a word, memorable. Guy's own yelp mingled with the knight's as he fell to the ground with the armored man on top of him, and for a few long moments he took in the pain. Not the worst thing he'd ever endured, Guy knew, but it still hadn't been pleasant to get knocked into.

Fortunately, the knight's apology reached him as he found himself being helped to sit up.

"Don't worry about it," Guy told him. "I'm just as much to blame since I wasn't paying attention." Then, he got a good look at the knight in question.

For a heartbeat, Guy was stunned into silence. It almost was like looking in a mirror when he really took in Flynn's features. From the way Flynn's hair was styled to his eye color, they looked eerily similar.

A replica...?

No... no, that couldn't be the case, Guy reasoned with himself. The more he looked, the more he noticed differences. Flynn seemed a little more youthful in his facial structure. His eyes were a slightly different shade of blue. His voice, too, Guy realized as he was asked if he was okay, was different.

Van hadn't replicated him. He couldn't have. Guy knew there was a possibility of everyone having a sort of twin in the world somewhere, but he never thought he'd actually be seeing living proof of that.

"Oh, yeah," Guy finally answered, giving his head a small shake. "I'm okay. A little sore, but I think I can manage. This is hardly the worst thing that could've happened." A light laugh punctuated the thought. Getting knocked over and having a man in armor fall on top of him certainly wasn't as bad as the pain he'd endured when the curse slot seal had been at its worst, after all.

He looked past Flynn for just a moment, noting the fallen dagger and the nick on Flynn's cheek.

"What about the guy you were after? Is it really all right to let him get away?" If he could, he wanted to help. It was the least Guy could do after what had just happened.

[guerillas-of-history]

🔴 Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

The American-zionist “aid-distribution centers” are mass-death traps and a tool for forced displacement.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine affirms that the occupation’s announcement of opening “humanitarian aid-distribution centers” in various areas of the Gaza Strip—run directly by the zionist occupier and financed and sponsored by the United States—amounts to setting up collective death traps. These sites serve as arrest points and instruments for entrenching racist policies, marketed under a “humanitarian” veneer while actually forming part of the genocidal war and Holocaust being waged against our people. They come amid a continuing siege and extermination campaign that targets civilians—especially children, women, and the elderly—and function as one of the occupation’s displacement schemes.

The Front views these centers as components of an integrated political-military apparatus aimed at emptying the Strip of its inhabitants and separating them from their homes, camps, and cities through direct humanitarian pressure: blocking aid from reaching residential areas to force people to converge on specific, fully occupation-controlled points. These spots then become gateways for mass expulsion and detention, a soft-focus remake of Nazi concentration camps that Netanyahu is trying to replicate.

The Popular Front warns our people against falling into these disguised traps and urges the masses to exercise extreme caution and not be lured by any false “humanitarian” slogans issued by killers and their backers.

The Front also calls on international and human-rights organizations to investigate immediately the purpose and role of these centers, to end silent complicity in the occupation’s crimes, to expose this new tool in its dirty war, and to insist that the proper alternative remains the UN agencies operating in Gaza—foremost UNRWA—which possess the manpower, logistics, effectiveness, and legal mandate to handle aid delivery.

Our people’s struggle for dignity and freedom cannot be reduced to a loaf of bread, nor to distribution points controlled by the occupier.

We reiterate: national dignity comes before all else. Our people will not submit and will not be dragged into the occupier’s attempt to engineer new field and demographic realities under the pretext of “aid.”

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Central Media Department

27 May 2025

[physalian]

What No One Tells You About Writing Fantasy

Every author has their preferred genres. I love fantasy and sci-fi, but began with historical fiction. I hated all the research that historical fiction demands and thought, if I build my own world, no research required.

Boy, was I wrong.

So to anyone dipping their toe into fantasy/sci-fi, here’s seven things I wish I knew about the genres before I committed to writing for them.

1. You still have to research. Everything.

If you want any of your fantasy battle sequences, or your space ships, or your droids and robots, or your fictional government and fictional politics to read at all believable.

In sci-fi, you research astronomy, robotics, politics, political science, history, engineering, anthropology. In fantasy, you have to research historical battle tactics, geography, real-world mythology, folklore, and fairytales, and much of it overlaps with science fiction.

I say you *have to* assuming you want your work to be original and unique and stand out from the crowd. Fanfic writers put in the research for a 30k word smut fic, you can and will have to research for your original work.

2. Naming everything gets exhausting

I hate coming up with new names, especially when I write worlds and places divorced from Earthly customs and can’t rely on Earthly naming conventions. You have to name all your characters, all your towns, villages, cities, realms, kingdoms, planets, galaxies, star systems.

You have to name your rebel faction, your imperial government, significant battles. Your spaceships, your fantasy companies and organizations, your magic system, made-up MacGuffins, androids, computer programs. The list goes on and on and on.

And you have to do it all without it sounding and reading ridiculous and unpronounceable, or racist. Your fantasy realms have to have believable naming patterns. It. Gets. Exhausting.

3. It will never read like you’re watching a movie

Do you know how fast movies can cut between scenes? Movies can balance five plotlines at once all converging with rapid edits, without losing their audience. Sometimes single lines of dialogue, or single wordless shots are all a scene gets before it cuts. If you try to replicate that by head-hopping around, you will make a mess.

It’s perfectly fine to write like you’re watching a movie, but you can’t rely on visual tricks to get your point across when all you have is text on a page – like slow mo, lens flares, epically lit cinematic shots, or the aforementioned rapid edits.

It doesn’t have to, nor should it, look like a movie. Books existed long before film, so don’t let yourself get caught up in how ~cinematic~ it may or may not look.

4. Your space opera will be compared to Star Wars and Star Trek

And your fairy epic will be compared to Tinkerbell, your vampires to Twilight, your zombies to The Walking Dead, Shaun of the Dead, World War Z. Your wizards and witches and any whisper of a fantasy school for fantasy children will be compared to Harry Potter. Your high fantasy adventure will be compared to Lord of the Rings.

You can’t avoid it, but you can avoid doing it to yourself. When people ask about your book, let them say “oh, you mean like Star Wars” to which you then can say, kind of, except XYZ happens in my book. These IPs will never fade from the public consciousness, not while you exist to read this post, at least, but Harry Potter isn’t the only urban fantasy out there. Lord of the Rings isn’t the only high fantasy. Star Wars isn’t the only space opera.

Yours will be on the shelves right next to them, soon enough, and who knows? You might dethrone them.

5. Your world-building is an iceberg, and your book is the tip

I don’t pay for any of those programs that help you organize your book and mythos. I write exclusively on Apple Notes, MS Word, and Google Suite (and all are free to me). I have folders on Apple Notes with more words inside them than the books they’re written for.

If you try to cram an entire college textbook’s worth of content into your novel, you will have left zero room for actual story. The same goes for all the research you did, all the hours slaving away for just a few details and strings of dialogue.

There’s a balance, no matter how dense your story is. If you really want to include all those extra details, slap some appendices at the end. Commission some maps.

6. The gatekeeping for fantasy and sci-fi is still very real

Pen names and pseudonyms exist for a reason. A female author writing fantasy that isn’t just a backdrop for romance? You have a harder battle ahead of you than your male counterparts, at least in the US. And even then, your female protagonist will be scrutinized and torn apart.

She’ll either be too girly or not girly enough, too sexy, or not sexy enough. She’ll be called a Mary Sue, a radical feminist mouthpiece, some woke propaganda. Every action she takes will be criticized as unrealistic and if she has fans who are girls, they will be mocked, too.

If you have queer characters, characters of color, they won’t be good enough, they won’t please everyone, and someone will still call you a bigot. A lot of someones will still call you a bigot.

Do your due diligence and hire your army of sensitivity readers and listen to them, but you cannot please everyone, so might as well write to please yourself. You’re the one who will have to read it a thousand times until it’s published.

7. Your “original” idea has been done before, and that’s okay

Stories have been told since before language evolved. The sum of the parts of your novel may be original, but even then, it’s colored by the media you’ve consumed. And that’s okay!

How many Cinderella stories are there? How many high fantasies? How many books about werewolves and witches and vampires? Gods and goddesses and celestial beings? Fairies and dragons and trolls? Aliens, robots, alien robots? Romeo and Juliette? Superheroes and mutants?

Zombies may be the avenue through which you tell your story, but it’s not *just* about zombies, is it? It’s about the characters who battle them, the endurance of the human spirit, or the end of an era, the death of a nation. So don’t get discouraged, everyone before you and everyone after will have written someone on the backs of what came before and it still feels new.

[yzegem]

Main mounts and pack animals of Encounters in the Frontier.

Left to right:

Yakor Camel: I already wrote most of it's lore here. Since horses don't exist in this setting, this fast camel is used. They are similar to dromedaries in behaviour and build, but more social and tame. They lack a hump, so they are not as resistant to dehydration and hunger as dromedaries are, but are still more so than horses. There exists many breeds of this species, here I drew two of them:

-Plateau yakor: This strong and sturdy breed is native to the northwestern plateau and a very important part of the identity of its inhabitants. The peoples of the plateau use this breed as a means of transportation, war mount, pack animal and as draft animals. They use their characteristic mane to create felt fabrics, perfect for insulation in the winter. This breed grows and sheds its mane seasonally. During the conquest of the plateau by the Sun Empire, this animal is also used in other regions.

-Yakor pony: This breed is mostly used by the steppe nomads of the setting, alongside other larger builds. This animals are not meant to carry a lot of weight, so they are used by mounted archers, skirmishers and for hunting. Their low center of gravity and sturdy legs makes them very maneuverable and fast. This is also the breed used for dragon hunting. This breed has not been as succesful in other regions of the continent where heavier camelry is prefered.

-Syzer: This animal is closely related to the yakor camel and inhabits in the savannah like environment of the southeast. They live in small packs and are sometimes hunted by humans (wich is a hard task since they are known for being quite agressive). They have been many attempts to domesticate this mighty creature, all without success (similar to irl zebras). Still, its posible to breed it with a yakor camel to obtain a Camule.

-Donpir: Closely related to the undomesticated forest tapir, this animal evolved to live plains and convergently evolved with irl horses in many ways, such as only using their central hoof for support. They retain their juvenile stripes in adulthood, but not as camuflage but as a way to blend with each other in large groups, such as zebras do. These animals are not often used as mounts, but as pack animals, since they are strong, obedient and efective on uneven terrain.

-Bakyor: This chalicothere is the largest domesticated animal in the setting (the macouse is not domesticated but tamed). They are used by merchants in land trade routes. They don't have as much stamina as a irl camel but are much stronger and very good at traversing very uneven terrain, as with their unusual hooves they can even climb.

-Camule: The hybrid between a yakor camel (usually a large breed) and a wild syzer. These animals show hybrid vigor, and are larger and stronger than both of its parents. They merge the ideal characteristics of both species and are large and strong like a syzer and hardworking and tame like a yakor. They are unfertile and the contions needed for a wild syzer male to breed with a yakor mare are hard to replicate. They are mainly produced in the southernmost región of the Sun Empire and are often gifted between rulers in diplomatic trips. They are a luxury animal sometimes called the golden camel as a reference to their coloration and value.

[leaf-kei]

NO ONE ASKED FOR MY TF2 VOICE ACTOR OPINIONS

but I really like the way Robin Atkin Downes characterizes Medic while he’s improvising! His interpretation basically lines up with my own—that Medic’s a silly, dorky guy who IS crazy and disturbed, but ultimately means well and cares about his friends. I love how parental Robin’s Medic is to Archimedes… in one livestream he did (which consisted of him contemplating performing surgery on Archimedes with a pizza cutter???), he threw the plush across the room while yelling “fly, my little prince, fly!” and I just like that. I think thats something Medic would say. He’s a weird dork alright

I also like the way he and Gary Schwartz play around with their relationship! They squabble in a very predictable and harmless way, and they’re always making cheesy romance-related jokes (like Heavy telling Medic he thinks they should seek counseling). I don’t think they’re actually that invested in the ship—which is fine, they don’t have to be—but the potential for humor in it is obvious, and they play into that well. The story of TF2 is so wacky and violent that having the characters experience moments of relatable mundanity is surprising and cute. In the Poker Night game, Heavy has a line like “I live in Red barracks. It’s nice! We have foosball table!” and imo heavymedic is funny for the same reason. Contract killers also play foosball, and they also fall in love, and they also have constant tiny arguments with their partners which annoy their friends

…And as far as dirty jokes and innuendos go (there have been lots lol), Heavy’s always suave and forward while Medic’s prudish and oblivious, which I also like a lot??? It’s probably because revealing the muscle brawn gun guy to actually be smooth and romantic is funny (and Medic constantly shooting down Heavy’s suggestions might be a result of Robin being kinda embarrassed and not sure if it’s okay to make these jokes in front of an audience lol)… but i think it converges in a great way ok. These guys just happen to keep replicating my own headcanons for these characters. im Eating

[ducktracy]

Me and my sister watched TDTEBU in the theater based on your recommendation! She's a really good artist and I showed her your analysis of The Dover Boys and she loved it, she literally said while we were driving to the theater "well if that person thinks this is good, i gotta trust them." Was already curious about the movie but knowing you enjoyed it made me a lot more willing to give it a chance. Tl;dr: We loved the film!!! And I am growing a hyperfixation on Looney Tunes. Do you have any specific recommendations for someone wanting to expand their knowledge?

HI ANON!! OH MY GOODNESS, i can't tell you how flattered and overjoyed and just... genuinely HONORED to hear this!! this almost makes me emotional to read!! 🥲💛💛💛💛 hugest of thanks to your sister for saying something so kind, and thanks to YOU for showing her my analysis and heeding my word!! i'm SO glad you guys enjoyed it!! absolute best news i could hear!

AND YOU HAVE COME TO THE EXACT RIGHT PERSON! DO I EVER! i'm going to throw a lot of stuff at you that may seem overwhelming at first, so PLEASE don't be! it's just to give you a lot of options. there's no right or wrong way to enjoy the series, and i know it's intimidating to get into, especially since there's not really a right way TO do that. but i'm just gonna tell ya what worked for me.

first thing's first, some friends and i in an animation server made a "30....+1 Essential Looney Tunes" list, inspired by going back and forth and asking for everyone's opinion. THIS IS ENTIRELY SUBJECTIVE. there may be some shorts on here that make you go "why is that on here?" (which truthfully i feel about a few choices here too HAHA, but, if it at all helps, i enjoy every single cartoon listed.) this isn't an end-all be-all list, i'm sure people reading this are like "i'd nominate ______ instead!", but it's a starting point. these are listed chronologically, but you can watch in whichever order you like. i'm personally noting shorts that i ESPECIALLY love with a *, if that's any sort of additional help, too! bolded shorts are top of the crop shorts, included in my top 5 favorite cartoons ever made. again, entirely subjective! and each short has a link to where you can view it. so, without further ado:

30+1 ESSENTIAL LOONEY TUNES

Page Miss Glory (1936)

Porky in Wackyland (1938)*

Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938)

You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940)*

Tortoise Beats Hare (1941)

The Dover Boys at Pimento University (1942)*

Porky Pig's Feat (1943)*

A Corny Concerto (1943)*

A Tale of Two Mice (1945)*

Nasty Quacks (1945)*

Book Revue (1946)*

Baby Bottleneck (1946)*

Kitty Kornered (1946)*

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)*

Racketeer Rabbit (1946)

Mouse Menace (1946)

The Foghorn Leghorn (1946)

The Stupor Salesman (1948)*

Long-Haired Hare (1949)*

What's Up, Doc (1950)

The Ducksters (1950)*

Canned Feud (1950)

A Bear for Punishment (1951)*

Operation Rabbit (1952)

Duck Amuck (1953)

Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century (1953)

Stop! Look! and Hasten! (1954)

One Froggy Evening (1955)

Three Little Bops (1957)*

What's Opera, Doc (1957)

Birds Anonymous (1957)

also, if you're curious, my own top 10 LT shorts list is currently this (bold are also listed above):

The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)

Baby Bottleneck (1946)

Kitty Kornered (1946)

Porky Pig’s Feat (1943)

Daffy Doodles (1946)

My Favorite Duck (1942)

Tortoise Wins by a Hare (1943)

The Stupid Cupid (1944)

Nasty Quacks (1945)

Porky’s Last Stand (1940)

now, how I got into LT is a bit more scattered, but i think is worth replicating here too, in case that's also helpful. so here was my path:

there are several convergent paths that amounted to where i am now. one of them was catching a batch of shorts on Boomerang since i had nothing else going on--this really kickstarted my interest and is truly how i got into it. i was very impressed with the animation and how fluid it was, and was impressed at how old some of the shorts were ("this came out in 1953?? that's ancient!" <- now 1953 shorts feel so new and modern to me!). loved the humor, the music, the characters--this was how i knew i wanted to get into it more.

another path was that i was looking up Scott Bradley scores on YT, who was the composer of the Tom & Jerry shorts. someone in the comments of a video mentioned Carl Stalling's work for LT, and i looked him up. came across a compilation of his scores from the Depression-era, and saw someone in the comments give a timestamp to a cue used in a short called Porky's Romance. directly go to the timestamp, am absolutely floored by how gorgeous the harmonies are, and decide to look up the short. am amazed at how old the short is, that it's in black and white, that Porky used to be actually fat (I ❤️ FAT PORKY), and was amazed at how CYNICAL the cartoon was (Porky attempts suicide because his girlfriend rejected his marriage proposal!!!!)--this was so unlike anything i had seen before that i HAD to see more. Porky's now my second favorite cartoon character of all time, and very narrowly behind Daffy for first.

BUT MY MAIN PATH WAS THIS. i knew a little bit about the LT directors before getting into the shorts, but not much. Bob Clampett was a name i wanted to look out for, and so after catching one of his shorts in the Boomerang run and being blown away, i had to see more. my main foray into LT was by watching every single Bob Clampett short chronologically. i looked up his filmography and just went from there. this is a pretty unconventional method and i don't know how much i'd recommend it to other people, but he's still my favorite cartoonist of all time and i'm a VERY loud champion of his earliest shorts that are sorely overlooked, so it did something right!

i didn't just stick to his shorts, though. i kind of "spidered" around--it was clear Porky and Daffy were becoming some of my favorite characters, so i'd see screenshots of their shorts on YouTube or people talking about them in my search for more LT stuff, go "that looks interesting," and watch it. so i had my main Clampett run of shorts, and was also sort of just splintering off and letting the winds take me where i wanted. i would recommend paying attention to the credits, and if you keep seeing a director's name pop up on the shorts you like best, look into his filmography and go from there! find what you like!

a few months into this, i decided to watch every single Porky short chronologically as well, as i was curious about his history. this, in turn, got me more interested in some of the older and undiscovered shorts, and a month or so later, i decided to watch every single cartoon chronologically, writing reviews about them as a way to incentivize me through.

obviously, my review operation got so much more complex, and it was clear i was churning them out for obligation purposes, so i just sort of went at my own pace. it took me a few years, but i have since seen all 1,000+ cartoons! this isn't something i really recommend with my full chest, because it's a LOT and there's a lot that deserves to be left in the past. but i will say that seeing every single short has vastly bolstered my understanding and knowledge and love of these cartoons and the figures behind it. i feel like i know just so much more, i can appreciate things so much more, i can appreciate them in their proper context, etc.

and this is also where i come in with the "these shorts are nearly 100 years old, and reflect the attitudes of 100 years ago" statement. i'm sure it's a given at this point, but i still do feel it necessary to warn that, yes, a lot of these cartoons are racist, misogynistic, ableist, homo/transphobic, etc, etc. i know it feels silly to say that about these shorts but i do feel responsible to say that it's out there and, unfortunately, it's not as easy as "oh, these are the racist ones, just skip them" because there's unfortunately a lot of overlap. even some of the cartoons on this list have some unfortunate moments in them, off the top of my head being Porky in Wackyland, Book Revue and Mouse Menace, but i'm certain there are more. i still think these cartoons are worth watching. but they're reflections of their time, and deserve to be treated as such. it's actually been incredibly fascinating to learn about through an anthropologist perspective, discovering where some of these stereotypes are born, how people reacted against them at the time (there was more pushback than you may have imagined--i know Chuck Jones was rather uncomfortable with the racism, though he still of course has his name attached to some pretty racist gags and shorts..) i'm not here to finger wag or anything, especially since my opinion on this means absolutely nothing at the end of the day as i'm not afflicted by these stereotypes, but i just do feel the need to mention them. i think the shorts are still very much worth watching, and it's interesting and illuminating to learn about the history of some of these prejudices. but i do just feel the need to stress that for absolute transparency. these shorts are a product of their time, which is a huge source of intrigue for me, but can also be an exceptionally heavy burden. soapboxing over!

other recommendations i'd give are @kaiserbeamz' EXCELLENT series on the history of the franchise, the videos are very well researched, and very engaging but also easy enough to watch just the same (i say that because i'm very picky with video essays and tend not to watch many because i'm either annoyed by presentation or something as unfair as the sound of someone's voice, which i know is awful.. but that's all the more reason why i recommend their videos, because they pass my test! and i'm not just saying that because i'm credited in them, thanks KB!!)

CartoonLogic is a great podcast that has many episodes dedicated to analyzing LT shorts by some of the most knowledgeable historians around. i also give a big shoutout to my buddy @baxterfilms, who's done an incredible amount of research on these films for years. subscribe to his Patreon! read his articles on Cartoon Research!

Frank Young has a brilliant blog on the history of Tex Avery's WB cartoons, which was a monumental help for my own reviews of his shorts and a resource i relied on for years.

as for book recommendations, Michael Barrier's Hollywood Cartoons book is required reading for anyone looking to get into the history of golden age cartoons in general. incredibly well researched, has plenty of interviews with the people who made these shorts, and is essentially the bible for golden age cartoons. i also recommend Keith Scott's books on the unsung heroes of voice acting in these cartoons. Jaime Weinman's book on the history of LT shorts has a more personal analysis angle that's absolutely wonderful too, and incredibly illuminating.

and, not to toot my own horn, but i will toot my own horn by linking my LT Review Blog (though it sounds like you're already aware of it!) just because it covers every single cartoon chronologically. do be mindful that the further you go back, the less elucidated the reviews get HAHA.. it's an operation that has exploded out of my hands in the best way possible. i didn't know what i was doing at all when i first started (and was writing for Tumblr, where the limits were stronger and i was much more relaxed), so there's that as well.

BUT THAT'S IT! i know that's a lot, so please don't feel too overwhelmed! there are a lot of places to start, and there's no right or wrong way TO start. but i hope this can at least give you some ideas or be a helpful resource!! thanks so much for the incredibly kind message!!

[callixpene]

L&DS Future Lifetime Series - PART 2: THIRD CONVERGENCE

Note: Starting from Part 2, some or all of the Love Interest's perspectives will be meshed together.

MASTERLIST for Part 1 is here(In case you haven't read it): ALL LIs - PART 1: WE MEET AGAIN

The previous part to this fic is here: RAFAYEL, ZAYNE & CALEB POV - PART 2: SECOND CONVERGENCE

The next part of this fic is here: RAFAYEL, ZAYNE & CALEB POV: FOURTH CONVERGENCE

XAVIER & SYLUS POV - PART 2 : THIRD CONVERGENCE

Xavier X OC. Sylus X OC.

Set in Future Timeline. All Love Interests have no memories of their past lives. All of the MCs(5 Sisters) all have memories of their past lives. Very persistent LIs. Avoidant MCs. Love at first sight. Soulmates.

Genre: Fluff, Some Angst

The interior of Steven Kingsley's office was sleek and modern.

Xavier and the other man, the smug bastard who the secretary called 'Sylus', were sat on a settee in front Mr. Kingsley's desk, whose whole demeanor was as calm as ever.

Xavier glared at Sylus. The bastard only smirked back to taunt him.

He was about to get up to give the crimson-eyed jerk a piece of his mind, but then suddenly, Mr. Kingsley cleared his throat.

"Prince Xavier. That's enough." He started. "I assume that you are here for urgent business, which is why you called for a meet-up out of the blue." Mr. Kingsley glanced at Sylus. "And I assume that is also the reason why you paid me a visit all of a sudden, Mr. Sylus".

He laced his fingers together atop his desk. "I'll start with you, Your Highness, since you were here first. What was so urgent that you needed to see me, today?"

"I had one of my assistants send a file here earlier." The secretary made his way in with the file and promptly handed it to Mr. Kingsley. "I know you're a busy man, so I'll make this quick. Please read it." Xavier replied.

Mr. Kingsley put on his reading glasses, then skimmed the document.

"A marriage proposal," Kingsley said. "For one of my daughters."

Sylus, who looked particularly uninterested during their exchange so far, suddenly got up from his seat.

"What?". He grit his teeth. "Which daughter?"

"Celeste." Mr. Kingsley replied in a calm manner. "My second daughter."

Sylus' stance almost immediately relaxed. He murmured "Good" - more to himself than to Mr. Kingsley.

Then, he simply sat back on the sette looking relatively uninterested once again as if nothing had just happened.

Xavier's irritation shifted to confusion. "What-"

"Prince Xavier." Kingsley started again, and Xavier abruptly faced him. "Why the proposal, all of a sudden?"

Xavier cleared his throat.

"To my knowledge, Nexus Innovations had been eyeing Philos' Protocores for years now." He started.

"As Wanderers no longer exist, Protocores have been extremely difficult to come by these days. Although you Mr. Kingsley, have developed the technology to mass produce Protocores by replicating the composition of existing ones, these artificially-made cores aren't as potent as genuine ones. As you know, Philos has the most reserves of genuine Protocores in the world, and for years, you have proposed a partnership to us: Nexus shall have free rein and access to our Protocores, and in return, Philos will have free rein and access to Nexus' latest technologies developed from the Protocores acquired from us."

Mr. Kingsley nodded. His expression was blank. He neither seemed interested nor impassive.

Xavier continued. "For years, my father consistently rejected this proposal whenever it was brought up. Our Protocore reserves are paramount. Everything in Philos is powered by Protocores. Therefore, we cannot permit a private organization from outside our nation to indulge in our reserves. A simple business partnership, however fair the terms may seem, would not be sufficient enough to allow that."

Mr. Kingsley sat up straight and seemed to understand what Xavier was implying. "But I suppose a marriage alliance would be sufficient enough to permit that?"

Xavier crossed his arms and smiled slightly.

Good.

He's up to speed.

"When I marry Celeste, she will officially be my royal consort." Xavier's heart fluttered at the thought. "As my consort, I will allow her to have free rein and access to Philos' Protocore reserves. She will be free to ship out Protocores from Philos, to Nexus."

Mr. Kingsley's eyes widened a bit. "You would allow that?"

Xavier's expression was resolute. "If that is what she wants. I will make it happen."

Then, all of a sudden, Sylus started chuckling.

Xavier and Kingsley both turned to face him.

"Well.....it seems His Highness here has quite the backbone. I applaud you. I seem to have greatly underestimated you." Sylus started. "It is so very evident that you care more about this girl than your nation and people."

Xavier just scowled at him in response. "This has nothing to do with you. Mind your own business."

Sylus crossed his legs and faced Kingsley. "Coincidentally, Mr. Kingsley, I have a similar offer."

Now, Kingsley's attention was on him. Good.

"Mephisto." Sylus called out.

Then, a mechanical crow flew in through the window. The way it swiftly flew in scared Mr. Kingsley's secretary so much he left the room. It dropped another file atop Mr. Kingsley's desk, who did not look perturbed at all.

The mechanical crow perched on Sylus' shoulder.

"Your eldest daughter, Nyx. She's mine." Sylus said with finality.

Mr. Kingsley sighed. "Yet another proposal, for my eldest this time."

Xavier scoffed. Copycat, he thought.

Sylus smirked in response. "I've got to hand it to you, Prince. That was a well thought-out plan. Nexus definitely can't refuse that." Then his gaze shifted towards Mr. Kingsley. "When Nyx becomes my wife, it'll guarantee that Onychinus will continue being your partner, for life. You won't have to constantly worry about losing our favor anymore." He continued, arrogantly.

Mr. Kingsley was silent for a while, as if he were pondering.

"Oh, and just in case His Highness over here can't provide you with real, quality Protocores, Onychinus has more of global reach. I can definitely provide you with rarer and better ones." Sylus added.

Xavier rapidly stood in a rage.

A sword emitting substantial light manifested from what looked like small flickers in his hand, and he pointed its sharp tip at Sylus' throat.

"I've had enough of this audacious bastard!" Xavier sneered. "One more sarcastic retort from you and I'll cut your tongue off."

Suddenly, red and black vines of pure energy materialized from out of nowhere, and they wrapped themselves all over Xavier's outstretched arm holding the glistening sword.

"I'd like to see you try, Prince." Sylus taunted.

But the Prince was a lot tougher than Sylus thought. He was trying to pull the sword out of Xavier's grasp with these strands of pure energy, then shove him a couple meters back. But Xavier was standing his ground, not even moving an inch.

Impressive, Sylus thought.

Several minutes passed and neither of them were willing to relent.

"If the both of you don't stop this immature behavior right this instant, I am going to actively reject both of these proposals."

Both the sword and the energy vines disappeared at once. However, Xavier and Sylus were still exchanging rageful, dirty looks at one another.

"Finally." Mr. Kingsley replied, then stood up to approach them. "Now, both of you listen. These offers are undeniably remarkable. Any businessman would accept them without a second thought." He paused abruptly, then his gaze shifted to the wall - there was a portrait of him, surrounded by all five of his daughters. His gaze softened.

"I am going to challenge you both." His calm voice changed to a more serious tone. "One month. I will give each of you one month maximum to convince Celeste" He glaced at Xavier. "And Nyx." He shifted his gaze to Sylus. "To marry you. Our marker to determine if you have succeeded will be a ring. If she is wearing your ring within thirty days, then we will proceed with your proposed partnerships." Mr. Kingsley paused, and this time, his expression had gone even more stern. "If she has no ring on after the days run out, then you will never be allowed to see her again."

Xavier's and Sylus' eyes widened. Before they could say anything in response, Mr. Kingsley continued:

"These are my terms. I am not open to any sort of negotiation." He spoke as he strode forward - towards the same portrait he was staring at earlier.

"My girls have been through so much. I don't wish for them to go through more pain. I know you both came here to gain my favor, and the sheer value of your offers have shown me how much you treasure my daughters. But it is them who must decide if they wish to be with you, I will not decide for them."

"The purpose of my offer was not to purchase Nyx as if she were a thing that could be bought." Sylus interjected. "My purpose was to give you, her father, incentive. To make sure I put the best foot forward, to prove that I have exceedingly more to offer than most men out there." He declared. "Nyx has a mind of her own. It was my intention from the very beginning to let her choose me, freely. And I have no doubt in my mind that she will." He continued, confidently.

Xavier stood there, astonished. Seems he's a little less of a bastard than he originally thought. "It is the same for me as well Mr. Kingsley. I wish for Celeste to choose me, freely, as well."

"Then, do you accept my challenge?" Mr. Kingsley asked.

"Yes."

"Yes Sir."

They replied in unison.

"Very good." Mr. Kingsley replied. "Now that that's done, both of you, get out of my office."

Before either of them could budge, the secretary barged into the room and accidentally slammed the door to the wall in one swift motion.

"Mr Kingsley! There are three men causing a commotion downstairs. Two of them look like they're about to brawl at the lobby. The other one's demanding to the receptionist that he needs to see your daughter, Nerissa, this instant. I would've called for security instead, but one of them is a world famous painter, the other's a world-renowned surgeon, and the last one's the new pilot you just hired."

Mr. Kingsley just sighed heavily in response as he still stood there facing the portrait.

Perfect.....

Hope you guys liked Part 2: Third Convergence💜❤️

This part was supposed to be written in all of the LIs perspectives, but Xavier's, Sylus' and Kingsleys exchanges took too long🥹

So, the part with Rafayel, Zayne and Caleb will be on Part 2: Fourth Convergence😁

Please stay tuned!!!

Tell your thoughts in the comments, what do you think of this series so far?

It will be much appreciated💜🩵🩷❤️🧡

[leonaquitaine]

Virtual Photography Guide: Composition

One of the in-game activities I enjoy the most is trying to replicate real-life photography techniques in gpose, and it’s surprising how much can be achieved. So today, let’s play around with composition!

Leading Lines

Leading lines can help guide the viewer's eye through an image. They’re visual elements that form lines, like buildings or roads, or even an area with high contrast, like the horizon line. So by aligning convergent lines to create these ‘focal zones’ you build a sense of depth and lead the viewer's gaze toward it.

Framing

You can use elements within the scene to enclose or surround your main subject. These elements could be natural, like branches or foliage, or architectural, like doorways or windows. This adds depth and context, and helps the viewers immerse themselves in the scene:

Symmetry

Symmetry creates a pleasing sense of order and balance in an image. You can do this by dividing your frame equally and positioning similar elements on either side:

Depth and Layering

Adding depth to your virtual photographs enhances the sense of immersion. By placing objects of interest in the foreground, middle ground, and background, you can create a layered effect that adds depth and dimension to your composition. DoF (Depth of Field) shaders are particularly well suited for cases like these:

Point of View

Experimenting with different and unusual camera angles and perspectives can yield surprisingly dynamic and engaging shots. For example, positioning the camera at a low angle and looking up at the character can create a very impactful composition:

On the other hand, top-down pictures can not only give the viewer a sensation of being ‘in the scene’ but also help put elements together that would otherwise be scattered around in a horizontal shot:

Negative Space

Negative space refers to the empty or minimalistic areas in your composition. It provides breathing room for your main subject and can evoke emotions, or create a sense of balance and calmness.

And let’s not forget the most important rule of all:

Break the rules

These principles serve more as guidelines than anything. Sometimes trying to force a composition into one of those categories can detract from an unusual yet powerful shot, so trust your eye and aesthetic sense.

I'll cover more composition techniques like the Rule of Thirds, Rule of Odds, Rule of Space, Golden Ratio, and others in part 2. Enjoy!

[tanadrin]

Lane's thesis around the emergence of eukaryotes (and why it was necessary for complex life) seems to be this:

Bacteria (both kinds, archaea and eubacteria) have pretty strict energy limits in terms of growth. One big constraint here is genome size: the more genes you have, the more energy that gets spent on protein synthesis. But the smaller your genome, the faster you replicate, which is important given how quickly bacterial generations turn over; replicating fast is a big advantage. You can pick up any new genes you need from the environment, thanks to lateral gene transfer. This is why bacteria don't have a lot of junk DNA.

You could try to scale up the size of the cell to increase the size of the membrane, which would allow you to produce more energy. But the volume of the cell scales with the cube of its size and the surface area with the square; and, for obscure reasons, it seems like there is a strong evolutionary pressure to keep the genome near the energy-producing membrane. So what you effectively get is a big dead area inside the cell (a vacuole, in some species of huge bacteria), lots of extra copies of the genome, and no extra energy for your trouble (each copy of the genome is a copy of every gene, which requires more energy to support).

Compare chloroplasts, which often have complicated, folded up membranes to facilitate photosynthesis--and also lots of copies of their genome floating around.

You could imagine breaking the genome up into plasmids, rather than copying every gene, and only putting extra copies of the genes needed for respiration near the cell membrane. But then you need complex transport systems (which require energy), and there's no evolutionary pressure for size for its own sake that would encourage you to develop such a complex transport system to support a large bacterial cell, in aid of maybe in the future developing an ATP surplus.

Eukaryotes didn't evolve to produce extra ATP, they evolved to get a consistent source of hydrogen, for cell growth. The endosymbiont provides the host cell with all the hydrogen it needs, and in return the host cell provides a stable environment for the endosymbiont.

In this safe environment, the endosymbiont's genome is free to shrink without limit, down to the absolute minimum number of genes needed to support respiration. Many genes will move to the nucleus of the host cell; others will simply be lost. But this produces an ATP surplus! All of this ATP needs to be used--if the whole pool of ADP gets converted to ATP, respiration stops (bad!), and free radicals accumulate which fuck up proteins and DNA and can kill the cell. So this excess of ATP encourages the host cell to find uses for it--like a cytoskeleton and internal transport mechanisms and new organelles.

Unlike the plasmid scenario, every step of this evolutionary process confers some benefit on both the host cell and the endosymbiont.

You might wonder, given the benefits, why this only happened once with mitochondria! This is sort of related to the fact that all apparent intermediate cells, like the archaezoa, are actually subsequent, reduced forms of the true eukaryote rather than being offshoots of the process of eukaryote development: the early eukaryote would have been genetically unstable, and small in population size. There was strong selection pressure to quickly converge on a single form (the eukaryote LUCA), and intermediate forms would have been quickly outcompeted and driven to extinction. Likewise, this was a feat not soon to be repeated: eukaryotes got lucky.

Endosymbiosis dumped a ton of introns--self-replicating genetic parasites--into the host cell. Some of these could have been from endosymbionts that failed to thrive in the host cell, and when they died dumped their genetic material into the host. We still sometimes see mitochondrial DNA segments invading and disrupting nuclear DNA.

The eukaryotic genome was able to tolerate the invasion of bacterial introns because of the benefit the endosymbionts provided; but initially, the result was a genetically unstable cell. The nucleus evolved to separate the nuclear DNA from ribosomes, giving time and space for spliceosomes to remove introns from transcribed RNA. Excess lipid synthesis from having both bacterial and archaeal enzymes for membrane formation helped promote the creation of the nucleus (and other membrane-bound organelles).

Because of the intron situation and overall genetic instability, the mutation rate of early eukaryotes was high, selection pressure was immense, and there was a lot of variation in the population--just the circumstances which, in mathematical models, favors the emergence of sexual reproduction.

Lateral gene transfer is of limited use as genomes get bigger, and sexual reproduction, with the genetic recombination that occurs during meiosis, makes individual genes much more salient to evolution, as opposed to just whole genomes.

The individual steps for the evolution of sexual reproduction are not so clear, but the mechanical precursors of both the segregation of genetic material and the fusion of cells are attested in prokaryotes. Various effects arising from natural selection also tend to favor two sexes, anisogamy, and the inheritance of mitochondria from only one parent. Handling mutations and the specialization of tissue, and the separation of cells into somatic cells and germ line cells, also led to the evolution of senescence.

the evolution of sex, incidentally, also favors moving as many mitochondrial genes to the nucleus as possible, so more beneficial versions can be selected for. there's no way to repair the mutational load of genes which remain in the mitochondria, and do not recombine.

[jsqforknowledge]

(2024-02-07) Testing Active Directory Replication Latency/Convergence Through PowerShell (Update 5)

A new version of the AD Replication Convergence Check script has been published containing updates, improvements, and bug fixes. Read more about it, and get the new version of the script, by clicking HERE. Any feedback, or feature requests? Just let me know! Oh, and I almost forgot to mention it, make sure to read the documentation first and also try it out first in a TEST environment to see how…

[love-and-deepspace-fanfic]

IN THE NAME OF THE FORGOTTEN

Finally! I have finished this little story for our little fishie's newest card, "Floral Promise," and have decided to take part in the Contest in honor of his first kiss as well.

So I would very much appreciate it if you could give some support to help celebrate this precious kiss together!

Now is the time for some #delulus!

What's going on in Rafayel's mind during his "first" kiss?

IN THE NAME OF THE FORGOTTEN

"Every name holds an invisible thread, binding souls together. Just as I, the moment you called my name, was forever held within your grasp.”

**************************************

I had envisioned today to be a mere excursion into nature's embrace, yet from the moment of our departure to our return, I was enveloped in a symphony of joy alongside you, and even delved into the secrets I long concealed.

Hmmm, where to begin? Perhaps from our journey itself.

The instant my gaze met yours as you sparkled at a couple gifting each other flowers along the way, an irresistible urge to replicate their gesture seized me. But flowers are best admired upon arrival, so my resourceful mind concocted a plan – sketching a flower for you. Much did I long for you to recognize the hidden significance it would hold, for the flower I depicted was the very one I yearned for you to behold today (Fortunate indeed that I carry my pen wherever I roam!).

Yet, what did you say in response? You questioned my sincerity? Could you fathom the depths of my contemplation, seeking the perfect means to convey my heartfelt intentions? For to me, gifting mere flowers felt far too commonplace.

Before I could unveil my grand surprise, you surprised me even further. In a moment of tenderness, you clasped my hand, drawing it closer. Your warm fingers holding the pen you took from me traced the contours of mine, gently caressing my skin, sending shivers of delight down my spine. You lowered your head, your silken tresses cascading over your exquisite visage, leaving a few strands to dance playfully in the breeze. Little did you know, I yearned to embrace you then, but sensing your focused concentration, I restrained my impulse. To interrupt would not only earn me a reprimand, but also deprive me of witnessing the masterpiece you were crafting for me. Indeed, such a blunder would have resulted in a loss on both fronts!

When you finally completed your 'opus' and beamed at me, I eagerly awaited the opportunity to praise your creation. But allow me to inquire...

...what exactly did you sketch?

I am no adept at deception, and upon meeting your expectant gaze, I found myself at a loss for words. 

Could the object you had drawn be... a pot? Round with a handle, it bore some resemblance, I suppose. Yet, when I tentatively sought confirmation, you remained evasive, attributing it to your artistic shortcomings.

Who dares to label your artistry as flawed? Not even I!

But your mischievous habit of withholding information has caused me much distress. For the entire drive, I could think of nothing but the mysterious pot you had bestowed upon me.

Arghhhh! You truly know how to torment me, for even now, despite your explanation, its identity remains elusive!

The phrase 'is it a pot?' echoed incessantly within my mind until we reached our destination. I decided to set aside the enigma for the moment and focus on guiding you through the garden's splendor.

The scenery remained as picturesque as I recalled, perhaps even more vibrant, and with your presence, the surroundings exuded an intoxicating charm.

Dreamy lavender, radiant sunshine yellow, pristine white, lush green – all the colors converging within the garden could not rival the crimson glow adorning your radiant cheeks.

So, this is the essence of 'falling for someone in the midst of a scene.'

Witnessing your blissful smile rendered my every effort worthwhile...

As we savored the fragrance of countless blossoms swaying gently in the breeze, my attention was captured by the iridescent aura emanating from the delicate wings of a flitting butterfly. Upon observing the spectrum of colors shimmering amidst its transparent wings as it alighted upon the very flower I desired you to admire, I couldn't contain my fascination and leaned in for a closer look. The moment the magical hues blended seamlessly, I couldn't help but exclaim at the wonders of nature's artistry.

Sight reveals, but it is the heart that truly perceives. And thanks to you, this entire panorama transcended the mundane hues of the past.

Lost in my reverie, I was unaware of my prolonged distraction until I captured your inquisitive gaze.

As our eyes met, did you realize that yours are the convergence point of 300 million colors?

Behold, you claim to envy my ability to perceive a multitude of shades, yet fail to recognize your own power to illuminate those very hues. At least, in my eyes.

If your eyes cannot discern the 300 million colors, allow me to discern them on your behalf and assist you in expressing them. All you need do is gaze upon me.

Engrossed in admiring the flowers and you, I recalled a task I had pending. And while contemplating its execution, a revelation struck me – why not entrust it to you?

An ingenious idea indeed! For you have already christened my paintings, so naming a flower could hardly be a more daunting feat, could it?

Yet, you initially resisted, claiming the responsibility was too grand. Do you comprehend the sheer effort it takes to name every single existence? In that spectrum of 300 million colors, only the one that stirs my soul is bestowed with a name, much like you, a fiery crimson that embodies the nature of the heart within my chest.

Ah, this notion arrived at an opportune moment, for it would not only solidify my sincerity but also hold profound significance.

For a name is an intrinsic part of every being. Each name serves as a unique identifier for an individual. Even identical entities are distinguished by their names. Just as the flower I rescued is, without a name, merely a temporary replica of an extinct bloom. How utterly tragic to be a distinct entity condemned to the fate of a mere substitute.

Therefore, if it be within your power, I implore you to bestow upon it a name, liberating it from isolation, loneliness, and the ostracization it endures for being unable to embrace its true identity.

Much like myself and the bond I forged with you.

For years, I have not heard you utter my name, for it is the essence of who I am, and thus, the very bond we share seemed veiled in dust. Yet, during our game of color guessing, and as I reminded you of the importance of names, you began to truly acknowledge mine.

You gradually began to speak my name, for it represents me and only me. And in these past few days, you have even issued commands to me unconsciously.

Silly girl! You are becoming accustomed to giving me orders, aren't you? But how can I blame you, when I yearn for you to speak my name?

And in that very instant, the moment you questioned whether a name could be a prison, binding the one it identifies, I couldn't help but urge you to try. Speak my name, for you will witness the mark of our connection, a testament to the vow I eternally make to you.

And as you whispered my name, a revelation dawned upon me – the answer I seek has always resided within you, waiting to be discovered.

For countless times have I been plagued by remorse, burdened by a myriad of questions swirling within me about you, none yielding a satisfactory answer because it did not originate from you, the one from whom I longed to hear it.

Therefore, I have resolved that until my very last moment, I will seek you out to find all the answers I need, the most significant question being...does your heart hold a place for me?

And now, as the sigil etched upon my chest merges with the rhythm of your beating heart, I am undeniably certain of your answer. I have always belonged to you, and so, I beseech you, belong only to me.

Actions speak louder than words. A kiss conveys a multitude of emotions.

And this single mark, a symbol of my unwavering desire – that I, willingly, surrender to your hold.

*************************

I had presumed our happiness would culminate in that passionate kiss, but you truly are a master of surprises.

The very moment you inquired whether you might ever forget me, my heart skipped a beat.

Have you...recalled something?

But upon witnessing your wide-eyed innocence, I realized you had merely blurted out the question inadvertently.

How many times have you left me bewildered? Yet, this time...it feels different...

Much like the sigil that only appears when it detects sincerity in your words.

I shall not divulge the mechanics of the sigil's operation!

But...wait a minute...you...what do you mean by 'meow'?

Haizzz...

Truly...

You are my darling, whimsical enigma. Though oblivious to the specifics, you possess the key. I foresee a future filled with your playful torments.

But what recourse do I have? For whatever you command, I vow to fulfill it with every fiber of my being, my beloved bride.

Therefore, it is your turn to answer my lingering query...

What, precisely, is that strange fishie you claim is not a pot?

[o-craven-canto]

Highlights:

CYLINDRICAL (meridians are equally spaced vertical straight lines, parallels are horizontal straight lines)

Equirectangular (ca. 120 CE): my favorite! X-Y coordinates on the map correspond exactly to latitude and longitude on Earth's surface, simple and straightforward. Parallels and meridians are all evenly spaced perpendicular lines. Doesn't preserve perfectly shapes or relative sizes, but approximates both.

Cassini (1745): the equirectangular projection, if first Earth is rotated 90° so that the central meridian becomes the Equator

Mercator (1569): gets a bad rep because it inflates areas at high latitudes (so mostly northern continents, since the southern are close to the Equator). In fact, it cannot show the Poles because they'd be infinitely far away. However, it perfectly preserves shapes and it's useful for navigation because sailing with constant bearing always traces a straight line on this map. Some variant of it is used in most web maps.

Gall (1855): variant of Mercator's that can actually show the poles. Landmass shapes are no longer perfect.

Gall-Peters (1855): kinda the reverse of Mercator: they sacrifice landmass shapes to preserve perfectly their relative areas. Landmasses near the Poles are squashed rather than stretched infinitely. Lambert (1772) has a less extreme version.

PSEUDOCYLINDRICAL (the central meridian is a vertical straight line, but other meridians may be curves, though still equally spaced on any given parallel; parallels are still horizontal straight lines)

Ortelius (1540): preserves neither shapes nor areas, but compromises between both. All meridians except the central one are arcs of circles.

Mollweide (1855): preserves relative areas. Fits exactly in an ellipse, and all meridians except the central one are arcs of ellipses.

Collignon (1865): triangle. Preserves relative areas, somehow.

Goode Homolosine (1923): preserve relative areas and keep landmass shapes reasonably well, at the price of cutting huge gashes through the oceans.

Loximuthal (1935): constant bearing lines are straight lines on the map, like in Mercator. Preserves neither shapes nor areas. Weirdly asimmetrical hemispheres.

Robinson (1963): preserve neither shapes nor areas, but approximates both quite well. Kavraisky has evenly spaced parallels. The similar Equal Earth (2018) preserves relative areas.

CONIC (meridians are converging straight lines, parallels are arcs of circles)

Equidistant conic (ca. 150 CE): another of the old ones. Preserves only the distances along meridians, like the equirectangular.

PSEUDOCONIC (the central meridian is a straight line, the others may be curves)

Nicolosi globular (ca. 1000): splits the map in two circles, replicating the feeling of watching the world from space from two sides.

Werner (ca. 1500): heart-shaped, preserving relative areas, with the parallels being concentric circles around the North Pole.

AZIMUTHAL (meridians are straight lines meeting at the center, parallels are concentric full circles)

Gnomonic (ca. 580 BCE): probably the oldest map projection. Unfortunately it can only show at most part of one hemisphere, with the Equator being infinitely far away, much like the Poles in Mercator.

Stereographic (ca. 150 BCE): as before, but only the opposite pole is infinitely far away. The far hemisphere is still distorted, so it's still used in two parts, each centered on one pole.

Orthographic (ca. 150 BCE): basically just what the Earth would look like if observed from infinite distance: it shows exactly one hemisphere.

Azimuthal equidistant (ca. 1000): all parallels are full circles centered on the North Pole, and the South Pole is also a circle surrounding all. The map used on the flag of the United Nations. Most Flat Earthers think the Earth has this shape.

Two-point equidistant (1919): preserves distances on the straight line that passes thrrough two arbitrary points. A favorite of history atlases: it's usually used to portray Asia with as little distortion as possible despite its unfortunate proximity to both North Pole and Equator.

Hao projection or plane terrestrial globe (2002): popular in China, replicates as much as possible the curvature of a globe.

PSEUDOAZIMUTHAL (central meridian and equator are straight lines; other meridians curve toward the central meridian, other parallels curve away from the equator)

Wiechel (1879): the meridians form a pinwheel! Preserves relative areas, but which great distortion of the opposite hemisphere.

Aitoff (1889): looks like the Mollweide with diverging parallels. Mostly relevant because of:

Winkel Tripel (1921): arithmetic mean between Aitoff and equirectangular; the map used by National Geographic.

OTHER

Peirce quincuncial (1879): a perfect square that can be tiled regularly in all direction. I think Flat Earthers should start claiming that Earth look like this and that there are infinite copies in every direction.

Van der Grinten (1904): built ad hoc to map the Earth onto a circle, preserving exactly neither area nor shapes.

Craig's retroazimuthal or the Mecca Map (1909): looks crazy, but preserves the direction from any place on Earth to one specific point; in fact it was invented to help Muslims find easily the direction to the Mecca.

Cahill's Butterfly (1909): adorable, and can be folded into a perfect octahedron.

Dymaxion (1943): approximates shapes and areas, and preserves close connections between continents, at the price of a really weird shape.

[machine-saint]

Certainly. Here's a dense, leftist-theoretical argument in three paragraphs linking playing music out loud on the subway to colonialism:

---

Playing music aloud in public, particularly in enclosed, shared environments like the subway, exemplifies a microcosmic enactment of settler-colonial logics of spatial dominance and epistemic imposition. It is not merely a personal act of expression; it is a performative assertion of auditory sovereignty over communal space, wherein one individual or group imposes their sonic regime upon others without consent. This dynamic mirrors the colonial imperative to overwrite Indigenous soundscapes, knowledge systems, and modes of being with hegemonic structures that center the colonizer’s sensibilities. In this way, the act reproduces colonial violence by subordinating pluralistic subjectivities to a dominant, unilateral aesthetic expression, often coded through capitalist, patriarchal, or ethnonational sound forms.

Moreover, this behavior embodies the privatization of public space under late capitalism, where the neoliberal subject externalizes their commodified identity—through curated playlists or aggressive genre signaling—as a tool of social stratification. The subway, historically a site of forced convergence across class and race lines, becomes a contested battleground where the imposition of sound functions as a soft weapon of territorialization. Much like the colonial project justified itself under the guise of "civilizing" or "improving" the Other, playing music aloud asserts an unspoken logic that one's taste, cultural capital, or affective state deserves primacy, regardless of the contextual or communal implications. It erodes the possibility of collective harmony by substituting consent with domination.

Finally, we must understand this phenomenon through the framework of affective colonialism: the colonization not only of land and labor but of mood, atmosphere, and psychological space. The sensory saturation of the subway through uninvited sound becomes an occupation of the auditory commons, mirroring the way colonial regimes occupied and restructured indigenous ecologies. This forced listening replicates extractive paradigms where one's emotional bandwidth is mined, where rest, reflection, or resistance are interrupted by compulsory consumption. Thus, playing music aloud in public is not neutral or benign—it is an ideological act that reiterates colonial patterns of erasure, imposition, and dispossession at the level of everyday life.

---

Let me know if you'd like a version with different political emphasis or tone.

[poetrywhore3000]

Ok, absolutely no one asked but I want to give my opinion on Viktor and Jayce’s relationship because I feel like a lot of people on either sides of the spectrum aren’t really taking everything into consideration. Like, this is the point about these two characters. That you can look at them and feel or interpret anything and everything you want. There isn’t a lot of exploration in to the implication of infinite realities within the series, but their relationship adds a level of depth that surpasses the realm of a regular interaction within a single universe and timeline. They are everything to each other, their best friend, their greatest enemy, the savior of their lives, the destroyer of their world, the dictator of their future and the shaper of their destiny, their greatest love and their greatest failure. They lived and dreamed for each other. Succeed and failed because of each other. Went mad and found sanity, all because of each other. Their relationship is a convergence of every reality and every experience they could have. They spend the majority of their young lives unaware the other existed, seperated, but still acting and reacting in a reciprocating pattern due to the other’s action. When their paths converge, so do their destinies. Everything that happens, every outcome and every truth, they embody it. They sacrifice everything to save each other, their entire dream, their entire reality, so that they can experience what they were always meant to. All that had to be done, the only thing necessary to prevent all of the events that took place was for Viktor to not save Jayce’s life in the snowstorm, but he did. He knowingly and willingly accepted this reality because for him, there was no other choice. The entire fate of the world, and he willingly put it into Jayce’s hands just to keep him alive. And to deny that within this relationship, the literal embodiment of an infinity of realities and possibilities, there weren’t feelings stronger than that of a plutonic friendship is denying the stunning intricacy of their existence, solely intact for each other. They are all of it, all at once. But this is what makes it so hard for some people to understand, because it crosses the boundaries of a possible relationship in the world as we know it. This was magic, the perfect intersection of chaos and order simultaneously self replicating and self annihilating. They were the physical embodiment of the very anomaly they created. They were the forces of the arcane itself, these opposing effervescent possibilities that can only reach their true potential when reacting with each other. They were everything, all of time forming throughout their one reality, and every reality reaching a pinnacle at one point in time.

[leftistfeminista]

Argentine protests against machista violence and femicide.

Under the slogan “ stop killing us ”, left-wing political groups, social organizations and unions joined the call that in Buenos Aires converged in front of the Argentine Parliament and that was replicated in all the cities of the country