#heterogeneous preferences

[tanadrin]

You want students to read stuff that is reasonably heterogenous, that they might not encounter if left to their own devices, and that helps develop their reading and language skills. Classic stuff is good for this, as is modern—preferably you want a mix. But there are other, less immediately instruments reasons why you want students to have a well rounded education, too: like, you can hardly be expected to develop a good idea of what your interests and attitudes are if you are exposed only to the most narrow category of “useful” information.

I think there is in fact an argument you could make for getting students to play video games, by the way—video games are increasingly a major part of our culture! They’re not quite at the same level as novels yet, but they’re certainly no longer confined to a narrow gaming subculture.

[bredforloyalty]

@acquiescest: #noel girly (gn) #BUT! to be clear if i had to choose a side in their silly feud i am team lg #if liam decides to pickaxe noel to death i will be by his side cheering him on 😔

i've been thinking about these tags for a while now and i was already thinking about making a poll to ask about this.. like i've been wondering whetherrrr there are heterogeneous profiles of "liking" and "siding with" the gallaghers?? obviously there are (↑) but i want to maybe know how rare... phrasing it differently, are some of you more attached to/drawn to one of them but think the other one's narrative should be validated (or his motivations deserve more sympathy and his recounts of events are more true to life or something)... sort of like. loving one but thinking the other is right. or that the other is the better person in the context of the relationship. so please look into your heart,

also mutuals and everyone else feel free to leave a reply or an ask (or send me a message even), i'm genuinely curious about what you think of the gallaghers and everything that went down between them !!

[evidence-based-activism]

do attractive women or women who wear makeup do better at jobs/interviews and is it the same for men? are women ''punished'' for not wearing makeup. are both attractive men and women preferred or does one suffer from lookism more

This was incredibly interesting to research! In short, it appears that there is a general attractiveness advantage, but that this may be context dependent (e.g., stereotypically feminine jobs) for women.

---

The "Attractiveness Advantage"

There are several literature reviews [1-5] that suggest attractive individuals tend to see relatively better labor market outcomes. These [2, 4, 5] suggest possible reasons for this effect, ranging from employer discrimination to self-selection to evidence of statistical differences in productivity (e.g., customers buy more from more attractive people).

This paper [5] suggests "interviewers compare traits inferred from a candidate’s physical appearance with traits associated with their prototype for the job position." However, they also make sure to note that "although interviewers more readily infer certain traits, the accuracy of those inferences varies."

A Gendered Phenomenon

More recently, researchers have started to consider whether this effect is gendered.

This 2024 review [1] of almost 60 articles is particularly interesting. It discusses how a similar number of articles have reported a positive effect of attractiveness for both women and men. However, they also note that a number of articles have reported attractiveness was disadvantageous for women; no such evidence exists for men. They conclude "attractiveness is a rather universally beneficial for men, whereas it may be more context-dependent for women".

This review [3] suggests "highly attractive women can be disadvantaged in applying for male sex-typed jobs, and less attractive women can be disadvantaged in applying for female sex-typed and neutral jobs". (This review also noted that "clearly competent women were rated lower than equivalent men for male sex-typed jobs unless evidence of communal qualities was also provided".)

Some specific articles [6-11] documenting the heterogeneity in findings:

This paper [6] found both that applicant attractiveness improved outcomes and that "for the male sex-typed managerial job, men received higher ratings than women, and the opposite held for the female sex-typed managerial job." But they did not find that attractiveness differential benefited women and men from within this framework.

This paper [7] found that "attractiveness of servers positively impacted participants’ perceptions of the servers’ interpersonal skill and participants’ tipping behavior" but the degree of effect was dependent on a complex interaction of many factors including the participant's own personal characteristics.

This Italian study [8] found that "attractive people have a higher chance of being contacted by the employers" and that "the lack of attractiveness produce an evident penalty for women, while being non native reduces the probability to receive a callback for men".

This study [9] found that "attractive applicants received higher hireability ratings than did unattractive ones" and that "being unattractive was more disadvantageous for a female than for a male sex-typed job". (This one has some really interesting interaction graphs if you want to take a look!)

This study [10] suggested attractive men but not attractive women had a "significantly higher rate of callback". (Their conclusions about this are ... fairly sexist.)

This paper [11] found that "attractiveness can be detrimental for women applying for masculine sex-typed jobs for which physical appearance is perceived as unimportant".

There's a few explanations for why we may be seeing these results. For example, perhaps employers are stereotyping attractive women as more "feminine" and therefore unequipped for a "masculine" job. Perhaps male employers are failing to consider more attractive women as anything other than a sex object.

Conversely, perhaps less attractive women are being stereotyped as "unfeminine" and therefore not equipped for a "feminine" job. Perhaps their employers believe customers will be less likely to regard these women positively. (Perhaps customers are less likely to view these women positively; the attractiveness advantage doesn't just apply to employers, it affects the customers as well.)

Makeup

Makeup is connected to this topic in that it is used to "improve" attractiveness. Therefore, the above results (for women) can likely be translated to use/non-use of makeup.

Here's a few articles about this specific topic:

This paper [12] found that, for women, for a salesperson job "professional makeup positively affects recruiter’s perception, and considerably increases the number of convocation".

This paper [13] found: "Women presented wearing cosmetics were perceived as healthier and more confident than when presented without. Participants also awarded women wearing makeup with a greater earning potential and with more prestigious jobs than the same women without cosmetics."

This paper [14] found: "When women did not emphasize their femininity through the use of makeup, counter to gender norms and stereotypes, they elicited higher interpersonal discrimination as a penalty compared to when they used tinted makeup. In contrast, men did not suffer a penalty for appearing in ways that were counter-stereotypical of their gender (i.e. femininity through the use of makeup)."

This old (1986) study [15] reported that "cosmetics use had a negative effect on the expected performance of female applicants for a gender-typed (secretary) position, but no effect on the expected performance of female applicants for a nongender-typed (accountant) position." The second result appears to mimic the results from above (i.e, attractiveness is disadvantages for women in male-typed jobs). The first result is less clear, but the authors note that employers may find "dressing up the office" (i.e., hiring attractive women) more important than highly productive assistants. (In other words, the women who used cosmetics were presumed to be less skilled for a female-typed job, but may be hired anyway due to their employers desire to be around attractive women.)

So, they seem to roughly mimic the attractiveness advantage literature. I didn't find (but could have missed) any more recent articles that specifically examined the interaction between sex, sex-typed jobs, and makeup use. That being said, I think it's a reasonable hypothesis that makeup use is associated with similar labor market effects via the moderating variable of (perceived) attractiveness.

Conclusion

So, it looks like research generally supports the presence of a general attractiveness advantage. However, for women, this may apply to only certain situations (e.g., "feminine" jobs); in fact, attractiveness may even hurt women in some situations (e.g., "masculine" jobs). A similar phenomenon may apply to cosmetics use, but more research is needed to confirm this.

References below the cut:

Kukkonen, Iida, et al. "Is beauty-based inequality gendered? A systematic review of gender differences in socioeconomic outcomes of physical attractiveness in labor markets." European Societies 26.1 (2024): 117-148

Liu, Xing Michelle, and Eva Sierminska. "Evaluating the Effect of Beauty on Labor Market Outcomes: A Review of the Literature." (2014).

Isaac, Carol, Barbara Lee, and Molly Carnes. "Interventions that affect gender bias in hiring: A systematic review." Academic Medicine 84.10 (2009): 1440-1446.

Nault, Kelly A., Marko Pitesa, and Stefan Thau. "The attractiveness advantage at work: A cross-disciplinary integrative review." Academy of Management Annals 14.2 (2020): 1103-1139.

Lowman, Graham H., Peter D. Harms, and Maura J. Mills. "The influence of job candidates’ physical appearance on interview evaluations." Journal of Personnel Psychology (2019).

Dose, Eric, et al. "Attractiveness, gender, aptitude: What effects on hiring for managerial, male and female sex-typed jobs." BPA-Applied Psychology Bulletin (Bollettino di Psicologia Applicata) 67.285 (2019).

Xu, Shi, Larry Martinez, and Nicholas A. Smith. "The effects of attractiveness, gender and self-esteem in service jobs." International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 32.1 (2020): 249-266.

Busetta, Giovanni, Fabio Fiorillo, and Giulio Palomba. "The impact of attractiveness on job opportunities in Italy: a gender field experiment." Economia Politica 38.1 (2021): 171-201.

Desrumaux, Pascale, Sabine De Bosscher, and Véronique Léoni. "Effects of facial attractiveness, gender, and competence of applicants on job recruitment." Swiss Journal of Psychology 68.1 (2009): 33-42.

Ruffle, Bradley J., and Ze'ev Shtudiner. "Are good-looking people more employable?." Management Science 61.8 (2015): 1760-1776.

Johnson, Stefanie K., et al. "Physical attractiveness biases in ratings of employment suitability: Tracking down the “beauty is beastly” effect." The Journal of social psychology 150.3 (2010): 301-318.

Kertechian, Sevag. "The impact of beauty during job applications." Journal of Human Resources Management Research 2016 (2016): a1-7.

Nash, Rebecca, et al. "Cosmetics: They influence more than Caucasian female facial attractiveness." Journal of applied social psychology 36.2 (2006): 493-504.

Bernard, Liana, et al. "Gender benders and job contenders: cosmetics in selection contexts for women and men." Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal 42.6 (2023): 737-753.

Cox, Cathryn L., and William H. Glick. "Resume evaluations and cosmetics use: When more is not better." Sex roles 14 (1986): 51-58.

[nailsofvecna]

Seldom-seen fey creatures that stalk the enchanted forests of the Feywild by night, the moonsworn are elite hunters whose powers wax and wane with the phases of the moon. They come in two varieities: one which prefers the light of the full moon, and one which prefers the dark of the new moon. While the skills possessed by the two types are subtly different, both are equally proficient with their weapons and capable of casting powerful spells.

Moonsworn are vaguely humanoid in shape and size, but are unmistakably alien when examined in detail. Their skins are mosaics of obsidian and moonstone, their long, slender limbs have more joints and fewer digits than any humanoid, and they are far too quick to violence to have any chance of fitting into civilised society.

These creatures live to hunt, and do little else with their time. Usually alone or in heterogenous pairs, they take whatever prey is most abundant at any given time, and stop only when further hunting would destabilise the ecosystem. No one knows how they are able to tell when to move on, but somehow they always do.

[typhlonectes]

Thermal refugia and persistence of Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) in small towns

Mary R. Tucker, Daniella Biffi, Dean A. Williams

Vegetation loss is a primary cause of habitat degradation and results in a decline in reptile species abundance due to loss of refuge from predators and hot temperatures, and foraging opportunities. Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) have disappeared from many areas in Texas, especially from urbanized areas, probably in large part due to loss of suitable habitat. This species still occurs in some small towns in Texas that still contain suitable habitat. Long-term data from Kenedy and Karnes City, Texas indicate that when study sites experienced significant shrub and vegetation removal horned lizards declined by 79%. We hypothesize the decline was due to the degradation of the thermal landscape for these lizards. We determined the preferred temperature range (Tset25 – Tset75) of lizards at our study sites and took field measurements of body temperature (Tb). Temperature loggers were also placed in three microhabitats across our study sites. Shrubs and vegetation provided the highest quality thermal environment, especially for about 5 h midday when temperatures in the open and buried under the surface in the open exceeded the lizards' critical maximum temperature (CTmax) or were above their preferred temperature range. Horned lizard density was positively related to the thermal quality of the habitat across our sites. Texas horned lizards in these towns require a heterogeneous mix of closely spaced microhabitats and especially thermal refugia, such as shrubs and vegetation along fence lines and in open fields. Maintaining thermal refugia is one of the most important and practical conservation actions that can be taken to help small ectotherms persist in modified human landscapes and cope with increasing temperatures due to climate change.

Read the paper here:

Thermal refugia and persistence of Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) in small towns - Tucker - 2023 - Ecology and Evolution - Wiley Online Library

[buggybuggs]

Everyone's favourite foods? :> (couldn't choose one, and after choosing multiple, didn't want others to feel excluded hshshshs)

YOU GOT IT

Ashe - She prefers traditional Monstrin foods, which are typically crunchy friedleafy greens paired with different toppings, luckily Okinomiyaki fits that definition well. She loves barbequed meats, like char siu, and a good lick on a lemon every now and then Aivoni - LOVER of seafood, anything on one of those grill setups too. She loves a good lobster roll or a nice seafood paella, but at home she'll happily enjoy a lazily made pasta dish Vae - ANNNYTHING sweet, but especially pastries. A good carrot cake, or a good cheesecake. she loves carnival type food like funnel cakes and cotton candy too. she also loves to eat raw veggies as a snack, go ahead and give her a basket of turnips and watch... Mastiff - BURRITOS. sure its not what she grew up with, but she LOVES a nice wrapped up giant burrito with EVERYTHING she can fit into it. she likes to put lots of rice in it though! otherwise she loves dumplings and pierogi! -after this point, my gf added her input Vess - smoothies of all types, she loves a good mango and anything thats nice and sweet, she doesnt eat much otherwise Merina - junk foods, anything she can eat lazing around that fills her up, cheap stuff like burgers and fries is her specialty. if you want to treat her? give her some good spicy wings... Okapi - [I need to develop her more, so sorry!!] Prongy - So in Nebraska they got these things called runzas! its bread wrapped around a mix of beef and cabbage with plenty of pepper and spices! she likes one with cheese, and pair it with a kool aid burst!! Cammy - cammy LOVES to grill. a good steak, make it rare, give her an interesting meat to cook with. he'll gnaw on a juicy burger as well, they dont care if a rare burger could give them food poisoning, LOL! Kroma - Cheap ramen, she doesnt do the broth, just noodles with the flavoring. She loves a cheap conveyor belt sushi place too... unless youre paying. then you'll hear her talk all about how much she loves Uni and Otoro. Imp - Anything fried and oily, she loves some takoyaki, calamari, and okinomiyaki (like Ashe, that's the only time they get along). You'll also find her begging for your fries. Sam - Make it cheap, make it fast, unless its a good pizza portuguesa, she'll happily wait for that! She'll help cammy along with grilling and make a really nice chimmichuri, but with food, she aint picky at all Trace - Food? nah, she has a monster energy and a meal replacement. she's more focused on her gaming than to care about having a meal. If you're serving her? it better not have any weird textures. or else she'll be sad!

Maltha and Ly's world is lacking a bit with food BUT Maltha likes salty and savory things, she has a weird relationship with meat as her cloned kin are used in the meat industry but.. she uh.. has a taste Ly has never really had real food other than beet-like vegetables that they fed their livestock, but if offered the taste of a nice meaty thing? they might like it!! (too much maybe!? oh no! they're going after people!!!!)

Truck loves pasta... cheap chain restaurant food that offers all sorts of deals. Or a good deviled egg! Unnamed Magnezone likes food too! but scans it. It likes anything that has a lot of heterogeneity, so anything that has many different things on it to make it happy

Bugg will eat anything thats cheap and tasty. want to treat them though? give it some stroganoff, or maybe some fried scallops, or a nice salad with all sorts of olives on it :3

[librarycards]

As it assumes the form of nonverbal knowing, of a thinking outside of language, what begins as a seemingly scientific, because denotative, act, in spite—or perhaps because—of its ambition to discern and record (thought) objectively, ends up rejoining the literary and artistic forces of modernity to become an exercise in esotericism, in which objectivity seems indistinguishable from solipsism, from the arcaneness of intransitive (because self-referential) speech. Offering the semblance of positivity and universality, the graphs and diagrams are simultaneously cryptic and enigmatic, their readily visible forms impenetrable even to sophisticated readers, who are typically at a loss as to what they mean without detailed explanations, without a careful reconsideration of the words.'' The coexistence of such polarities of meaning making suggests that diagrammatic denotation—or, more precisely, the diagram as denotation—needs to be rethought as an epistemic conundrum, one in which the ongoing modernist sense of a crisis of language continues to play itself out in the form of a collective fantasy. This is the fantasy that language is somehow disposable, that if we could simply find a way to get to the bottom of things—geometrically, algebraically, statistically, or however—we ought to be able to arrive at that utopian, evicted state of not needing language altogether. Beyond the dots, the lines, the curves, the circles, the squares, the numbers, and other figures on the page, there persist a wish and a demand that bestow on diagrammatic denotation the import of something excessive, something obscene. To put it differently, when graphs and diagrams are used in theoretical writings in the literary humanities and interpretative social sciences, they serve in effect as little theaters where the unresolved relationship between words and things repeatedly stages itself as a spectacle, calling attention to what Franco Moretti calls a “total heterogeneity of problem and solution.”'* Side by side with the words, the diagrams appear as something like a language, albeit one that dreams of being without language; something like writing, albeit one that dreams of doing without writing. In their proximity to words, the graphs and diagrams yearn, as though with a kind of mimetic desire, to take language’s place, to usurp writing’s hold on abstraction by becoming the preferred native informants of thought.

Rey Chow, A Face Drawn in Sand: Humanistic Inquiry and Foucault in the Present [emphasis added]

[rlyehtaxidermist]

"shipper?" i prefer the term "heterogeneous catalyst"

[jonathanshaw4747]

Why Canadian Companies Prefer Digital Marketing Agencies over In-house Teams

In the ever-changing digital landscape of Canada, companies big and small have to make one very important decision: develop an in-house digital marketing team or hire the services of a dedicated agency. Far from being a routine operational issue, this choice has great implications for its competitive position, market relevance, and general growth trajectory. With the digital platform becoming increasingly complicated and the stakes of online visibility soaring high, a trend has definitely been witnessed across Canadian companies: that of choosing between the expertise and agility provided by digital marketing agencies over in-house teams.

Expertise and Specialization

This has been one of the major reasons for the tectonic shift in the approach of Canadian enterprises. Digital marketing is not a monolithic discipline but a constellation of specialized areas, each with its own particular demands in expertise. From SEO virtuosos to social media savants, content marketing maestros to PPC prodigies, agencies house a cadre of specialists under one roof. Such an assemblage of talent allows businesses to tap into a wellspring of knowledge that would be prohibitively expensive and logistically challenging to cultivate internally.

What is more, the digital marketing field keeps on changing 24/7, since that is when algorithms, best practices, and consumer behaviors change at the speed of light. This places agencies in a much better place to be updated due to their focus and the heterogeneity of their client base. They undertake heavy continuous learning and serious means of professional development investment to ensure that their strategies remain at the cutting edge of industry changes. This means a commitment to staying current translates into better marketing solutions for their clients-more effectively and innovatively.

Agency versus in-house: financial implications are huge and multi-dimensional. At face value, the retainers or project fees associated with agency services might appear huge. However, a close look will reveal that this is not true on the cost-efficiency level. By outsourcing an agency, a business may significantly reduce overheads like salaries, benefits, office space, and equipment, which are kept by full-time employees.

The next strong economic case lies in the fact that it can make that great sense of scalability and flexibility. It eases the opportunity to adjust marketing spend against seasonal demands, special campaign needs, or fluctuating economies without getting into the complexities of hiring or drastically reducing an internal team. That elasticity of resource allocation permits better budget efficiency and implores optimization of Marketing ROI.

Technology and Tools

The digital marketing arena is the haven for sophisticated tools and platforms-most of which come with heavy price tags, coupled with steep learning curves. Agencies, able to use economies of scale, invest in a wide array of premium software and technologies that would be financially unviable for most individual businesses to acquire. From advanced SEO tools to full-service social media management platforms, agencies arm their clients with the technological arsenal needed to drive marketing effectiveness.

Besides tools, agencies often have state-of-the-art analytics and reporting. These systems allow for the granular tracking of campaign performance, consumer behavior, and ROI. Insights gained from these advanced analytics become the powerhouse that drives businesses into making data-informed decisions and fine-tuning their marketing approaches with strategy precision.

Strategic Objectivity

One of the most overlooked benefits of hiring a digital marketing agency is the fresh perspective it brings to the challenges a brand faces. Sometimes a company's internal teams, despite being quite familiar with the brand, can suffer from tunnel vision or be stuck in paradigms. Agencies, drawing on diverse experience across industries and markets, have become a fertile source of new solutions and unconventional creative approaches, which for those within the organization can be virtually invisible.

This objectivity extends to performance appraisal as well. Large agencies are usually held to very tight KPIs through which they are accountable to deliver measurable results. The setup ensures a very transparent culture of business betterment, whereby the agencies fall under pressure to prove their strategies right and value-proposition-valid on a regular basis.

Time and Resource Management

For most Canadian businesses, more so for the SMEs, the job of dedicating or committing resources to build and maintain a fully-fledged in-house digital marketing team is surely going to distract them from their core business activities. By outsourcing such functions to an agency, this energy is freed for product development, customer service, and other mission-critical activities.

Furthermore, more often than not, agencies are in a much better position than in-house units to implement marketing initiatives. With the established processes, loads of already-vetted resources on standby, and a lot of previous work to its credit, an agency can consequently save time throughout the process from conceiving of the strategy to launching the campaign. This agility is paramount in the fast-paced digital landscape, where usually the early bird catches the worm.

Many of these digital marketing agencies boast of having an extensive industry network, including influencers, media, and technology partners that can open various doors of opportunity to collaboration. Beta programs and early access to new marketing channels/features fall into this category. To Canadian businesses, this is quite an invaluable asset that networks with potential new customers.

Moreover, most agencies have good relations with key platforms, such as Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn, which provide them with the latest features, premium support, and, in some cases, almost privileged rates. More probably than not, such partnerships are passed on as tangible benefits to the clients to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their digital marketing initiatives.

As a sustenance of risks

The regulatory requirements associated with digital marketing, encompassing privacy, advertising standards, and the specific policies of these diverse digital platforms, make hazardous minefields for businesses. This adds further pressure on digital marketing agencies because they possess specialized knowledge and experience in ensuring that their clients work in conformance with these regulations. This becomes even more crucial in instances involving Canada, where there are regulations like CASL, which is anti-spam law dictating strict requirements on electronic messaging.

Additionally, the agencies adapt by nature through adaptation to market changes. Their diversified client bases and regular activities with businesses in various industries enable them to identify and respond to the change in consumer behavior, change in technology, or economic conditions very fast. Adapting to the situation at hand helps hedge against potential risks associated with sudden changes in the market which could render several marketing strategies irrelevant.

Performance and Results

What's arguably most convincing in the move towards agency partnerships is the attention to accountability and measurement of performance. Most of the agencies operate on performance-based models with clear KPIs and reporting structures that generate tangible means through which firms realize their marketing return on investment. In other words, therefore, the approach is results-based, with continuous optimization of marketing to align with business objectives.

As such, agencies can contribute to performing competitive benchmarking. With many years of experience across industries and data, they can paint a view for a business regarding its relative standing in digital marketing performance from its competition and industry benchmarks. Such a comparative perspective may also help them zero in on opportunities for performance improvement and areas of differentiation.

The Future of Digital Marketing Partnerships in Canada

The trend of Canadian businesses partnering with specialized marketing agencies is showing no signs of abatement in the evolving digital marketing landscape. The recipe combining experience, the advantage of being cost-effective, technological advances, and strategic value when working with an agency makes compelling economic sense. And, of course, in-house teams will always have their role; it's actually quite important for big organizations. The passed "advantages to this kind of approach are flexibility and comprehensive capabilities available to organizations of any size.".

The collaboration with a digital marketing agency is considered an investment in terms of growth strategy and competitiveness. Increasingly, this is a cost consideration that Canadian executives are factoring in as Canadian businesses strive to find their way through digital complexities—and as a result, a way to innovate the catalyst for success in the long term.

[pemokiandkenacia]

A More Thorough Introductory Post:

Hello, friends, and welcome to our semi-official P&K content blog. I'm @smzeszikorova, and I'm working with @adrielcastlyre on a series of four books, currently titled Pemoki & Kenacia, though that name may be subject to change. We've spent about ten years world-building and character-building. Not an ideal timeline, but I regret nothing. The joy's in the process.

We've laid out the foundations for all four of our books—made the transition from pantsers to planners. The outline's all there, and though there's a few important details to work out, we know what direction we're taking. Phase one's complete. Once I've submitted my thesis (UPDATE: SUCCESS) , we'll be set to hammer out our drafts.

For newcomers:

Pemoki & Kenacia's a bit ambiguous, genre-wise. The closest thing to it's probably hard fantasy. As for our target audience, I'd go with "adult". our POV characters' age range is pretty broad, and their interests and concerns vary accordingly, but they're written with adult readers in mind. I'm cautious to reduce P&K to a string of TikTok tropes. That said, here are some things you can expect to find here:

Multiple protagonists. Our cast is large. We've got approximately 90 named characters in-universe whose appearances in the end product are more or less guaranteed. Granted, most of these aren't central to the plot. But our main cast is on the large side. Each book generally has one to two protagonists; they change from book to book.

Multiple POVs. And to ensure that each character's arc comes to a satisfying conclusion, I switch between points of view somewhat regularly. (My tendency's to head-hop. For college degree reasons, I read a lot of old-timey Russian literature in the vein of Anna Karenina, and it influences my style, but I know head-hopping's a bit of a controversial writing choice these days. Whether we'll try to shift toward a purely omniscient style is currently under debate. Regardless, expect to get to know a lot of characters.)

War and international conflict. Our story's very concerned with the personal struggles of our characters—familial conflict, romance, friendship, betrayal, etc.—but it all takes place within the broader backdrop of these warring countries we've invented. And the war takes center stage often.

Deep worldbuilding. This universe is large—well suited for such a large cast. Currently, it involves five multinational regions, eleven countries, and nineteen cities. With limited space to explore all these places, we highlight what's essential and let the rest inform the narrative in subtler ways.

More reality than fantasy. People who’ve had a look at our works in progress say that we’re pretty grounded in reality for a couple of fantasy writers. All our main characters are human. Magic is a genetically-inherited phenomenon with rules loosely based in science. And while none of our fantasy regions, ethnicities, or religions are meant to be read as directly analogous to any real-world ones, they do draw influence from the real world at times. I’m sure you’ll notice this in the Russian-based languages of the Sitrii Elariny, the English-based language of Kenacia, and the language of Qhiron, which draws from both but perhaps not quite so obviously. In our worldbuilding, we make a point to give our invented nations believable complexity, heterogeneity, and political and economic motivations. We’re not too big on the “This region is inhabited by the stouthearted, down-to-earth Welverpeople who universally prefer farming tools to swords, are warm and inviting to outsiders, practice simple domestic magic, and make for extremely loyal allies” vibe.

Conlang. Fairly self-explanatory. Usually I'll just say, "[Insert sentence here]," Character X said in Pemokese. But now and again, when I feel it enhances the narrative, I'll leave it in my invented language and let readers draw their conclusions about the meaning.

Problematic characters, dark topics, and complex, incomplete redemptions. It's very important to us that we approach our darker topics with caution and sensitivity, but we're not writing Aesop's fables. Don't expect comfortable, obvious answers to the ethical questions we pose. Folks looking for escapism or retributive justice narratives should probably look elsewhere.

Queerness; disability; ethnic, racial, and religious diversity. Our story isn't really about these elements, per se, but our characters come from a variety of backgrounds, both real and invented, and it does inform the story. (We're both white and culturally Christian, and in terms of our relationships with queerness and disability, we'd both make for lousy representation, so we're operating with the understanding that we're gonna need hella beta reading once all this is done.) And on a similar note . . .

We take some unusual liberties with our world. Fake religions (Dzulyan, Kvotian, etc.) coexist with real ones. And though our languages and cultures are obviously influenced by the real world, they're all explicitly invented. We're not too concerned with making our universe consistent with real-world history, so while we do touch on issues related to queerness, ethnicity, etc., we don't go out of our way to align the experiences of our cast with those of people living within a certain real-world time period. When we decide what scientific knowledge and technology to include, our key is internal consistency. We'll guide you through the rules of this universe as needed, but if at any point you find yourself wondering what time period we're supposed to be in, just know that the answer is "none of the above".

Now, with all that said...

What are you likely to find on this blog?

Updates. If you want to know how P&K's coming along, here's where we'll ramble about the process.

Art or other related side projects.

Requests for beta readers, once we get to that stage.

This blog's a writeblr of sorts, but we won't discuss anything unrelated to P&K here. My coauthor's not very involved with social media in general, and I'm in and out of the writers' community on this site. So if you're here for tag games, community events, etc., @smzeszikorova's where you'll find all that. This blog's essentially a dumping ground for P&K materials. I can't imagine it'll be too effective as a hype builder, but once our books are released, everything we post here will be available for our readers to see. And on the off chance that our books get big (which I'm not counting on, but it'd be pretty cool), those of you who join in the fun now will have special clout. "We were here from the beginning." Do with that what you will.

We take asks! If you're interested in putting our characters in (non-erotic) situations, feel free to send in an art prompt.

As for the books themselves, I've tried to be sparing about plot reveals. (That'll be truer from here on out than it was on my other blog. Current mutuals, I swear I'm not kidding when I say all those art posts, quotes, and snippets I used to post are basically void. That's how much we've changed over the past few months. But the first book's premise remains the same:

As the threat of war looms on the horizon, Catherine Leures, an impoverished Kenacian woman living in the north of Pemoki, enlists in an effort to pull her family from the depths of financial ruin.

(I think I'll hold off on descriptions of the other books for now. They'd be pretty spoilery. But I'll post more thorough blurbs as I start getting these published. We do have titles for the second, third, and fourth books: Fledgling's Descent, Stirrings of a Silent War, and The Fallen Star of Thaeryvon.)

What do I mean when I say everything's changed, then?

I mean the process of filling plot holes, removing extraneous plotlines, and accounting for sensitivity in our characterization has resulted in a good number of our characters' personalities, relationships, and arcs being completely revamped. Lucky you! Aside from knowing the names, national and moral alignments, and general appearances of most of the first book's main cast, you'll be on about the same page as new readers if/when P&K gets published.

Before I go, a couple updates about P&K:

Since I started writing my thesis, my writing style has changed significantly. We've been making stylistic revisions to our original draft. Thankfully for our future editors, our first draft's gotten a lot more concise.

All the canon events are essentially set. The "outline" I did for my thesis is basically one long synopsis. All that's left for our first draft is to fill everything out with dialogue and detail. (Easier said than done, but I'm excited anyway.)

My coauthor and I have been playing with the idea of a character narrator: someone with a personal investment in the story. We're not sure yet, but it's a fun experiment.

If you've gotten this far, thanks so much for reading this incredibly long post.

[tobuzzu]

(Reposted again because I forgot to add the images Ahhhhhhh)

(A couple of headcanons I drew up a couple weeks ago that I forgot to post on this account, happy reading!)

The green pigments on the scales of a leaf wing are the result of a symbiotic relationship with one or more species of algae, with the whole colony being referred to as a microbiome. Colloquially, it’s sometimes called scalegae. (pronounced scale-jay… or maybe scale-gay?) 

Along the surface of a scale there is an array of microscopic nooks and divots that allow the algae to hook on and root in. From there the algae is capable of accessing the leaf wing's bloodstream, where it can exchange nutrients. The health and biology between a leaf wing and their microbiome are heavily intertwined, so if the health of one falters, then the other’s health will falter too.

Leaf Wings are all born a colorless gray upon hatching, but will quickly green up as they develop an algal microbiome of their own. Dragonets obtain the algae accidently either from algal spores lingering in the air and on surfaces, or from contact with another leaf wing who already has their algae. 

First page: Algae Variants

In the past centuries, several hundred strains and variations of algae have been domesticated and selectively bred using leafspeak for more favorable results like improved disease resistance, durability, and speed of growth. Independence can vary among algae, most are able to survive independently when separated from the scale. But others have become so reliant on the leaf wings, to the point where they’ll quickly wither away if scraped off.

Classification Disclaimer: Due to the lack of access to modern day research tech and a standardized classification system, the leaf wing’s classifications for algae is a bit of a mess. This has resulted in organisms of differing kingdoms like bacteria and archaea to be lumped in with algae.

- Green Algae: The most diverse and versatile of the three. Most tend to prefer temperate climates with high moisture and decent sunlight. It’s ease of care has made it a prevailing choice for the leaf wings living inland. Though its  best you keep it away from salt, might you risk bleaching. 

Painted Algae (Cyanobacteria): It looks like algae, it acts like algae, it’s called algae, but it’s not algae, it’s a bacteria, a completely different kingdom from true algae. Despite this difference, Cyanobacteria is still able to perform photosynthesis and participate in nutrient exchange with its host. The leaf wings have yet to figure out it’s a bacteria due to the limitations of their tech, and have instead falsely classified it under algae. It’s been placed in a smaller category under algae called painted algae, named so due to its paint-like viscosity. 

Pink Algae: A vibrant and pink colored algae adapted to extremely high salt environments. It can be quite a burden to care for however, in due to its ravenous appetite for salt. The algae is still a rather popular choice for scale fashioning and the like, typically as a bright highlighter in service of other colors.  It’s typically associated with the wealthy and royalty who could afford the salt and servants needed to care for such an algae. Botanist believe it to be closely related to red algae

- Greed Algae (Haloarchaea): Looks similar to pink algae, and thrives in salt like pink algae, but it is once again not an algae, but an archae. There is still debate amongst the botanical community on whether or not it should be considered an algae, as it’s incapable of nutrient exchange and is seemingly immune to leafspeak. 

Red Algae: A red and brown colored algae adapted to high salt and turbulent environments. It’s quite a  common sight amongst the coastal dwelling leaf wings, in part due to its resistance to the ocean’s salt. It still remains a popular cosmetic choice for those further inland. 

Heterogeneous Mixing: Different species of algae are able to coexist on the same host, allowing for an array of opportunities in terms of self expression and fashion. Saturation of colors can also be controlled, with thick patches of algae resulting in a higher saturation of colors, and thinner patches revealing the more gray scales below. An example of a leaf wing with a heterogenous mix is Cobra Lily, a leaf wing in book thirteen that was described to have red markings along their green scales!

Red Algae Luminant: It looks near identical to red algae during the day, but when twilight falls and friction is applied, the red algae will glow a vibrant blue! This exotic type of algae glows most brightly when the wearer swims in water, though it may also cast a fainter glow during flight. One must remember that red luminant won’t just glow in any dark environment, as the algae contains a circadian rhythm that tells it to brighten only when night falls. Red luminant is quite popular amongst spear fishers, pearl divers, and abyssal explorers as a simple underwater light source.

There are some other applications of red luminent, primarily in the fields of art and fancy light shows. It would be artificially farmed in enclosed bays or other bodies of saltwater. During a special holiday or event, these patches of algae would be released into the ocean, allowing for the formation of a red tide. When night fell, the waves would swat at the algae and produce its signature marodes blue. Such a tradition usually decked the local ecosystem, and the clean up afterwards was a fairly putrid endeavor, as the red tide would begin to rot and plague the beach with a deathly miasma, and recently departed fish and other strange sea creatures would begin washing up on shore, but it was also cool as hell, and that’s all that matters. 

Algae Care: Red Algae can be kept healthy by just swimming in salt water every once in a while, however Pink Algae requires a far more concentrated salt solution than what the ocean could supply. This is typically remedied by making artificial flasks of thicker saline water, and dampening any patches of pink algae to keep its hunger satiated. A diet high in salt can also help, as algae is capable of absorbing minerals directly from the bloodstream. 

If one wants to remove fresh water algae from their scales, they can try to rub saline water on a chosen place to kill the algae. Removing salt water algae may require specialized chemicals. If a leafwing doesn’t mind the wait however, they can also try to starve out the algae by diminishing salt from their diet and avoiding oceanic waters. 

Page 2: Medical Conditions

Torpor: Characterized by the complete lack or  death of the microbiome. Most commonly caused by long periods of smoke exposure. Can also be caused by falling into a cauldron full of algaecide chemicals, though the latter tends to be rarer. 

Rust: Caused by poor care of the algae micro biome and is a step behind torpor. It can be caused by outside conditions and climates harmful to the algae. Can also be caused by poor physical or mental health of the host. 

Scalding: Caused by over exposure to sunlight or high temperatures. 

Bloom: Occurs when algae begins to overgrow past the scales’ boundaries, and is typically caused by poor hygiene. A scale bloom can be easily treated with regular showers and proper scale preening, or through passive flight, exercise, or scale shed. Saline water and algaecide salves also work to an adequate extent.

Toxic: Variants of scalegae that produce toxic chemicals. They are often identical to non-toxic species, making them incredibly hard to spot and diagnose. If left to fester, toxic algae may cause blood poisoning and a medley of other internal harm. Toxic algae can be accidentally picked up by swimming in unclean water, or through spread from another afflicted leafwing. 

. 

Miscellaneous Headcanons

Moss can also grow on a leaf wing, though it usually doesn’t benefit the dragon. Most of the time the moss is merely just a harmless nuisance, defacing one's set of scales. However, if the moss colony begins to grow rather large, it can begin to affect the efficiency of the microbiome, and potentially one’s mobility in extreme cases. Another thing to note, a majority of mosses tend to be edible, so it makes for a filling survival snack if a dragon wants to spend the time to scrap it off. 

Lichens can grow on scales too. The stuff does tend to produce acid though and also might try to eat you, grow in caution. 

Most wild red algae have flagella that allow them to navigate the open ocean. Domesticated red algae on the other hand have devolved their flagellums as a side effect of their more static lifestyle. If domesticated red algae were to be released into open water, then they would wiggle a bit, and then probably die.

Some scale algae can be cooked and eaten. It’s a rather inefficient way of getting food, but some leafwing cultures do it as a tradition. Depending on the species of algae, the taste can range from earthy, salty, or leafy. 

A leaf wing with a healthy algal microbiome may smell like fresh cut grass. If the leafwing has red or pink algae, then they might smell like sea salt. Old algae that’s begun to rot will smell like decay and raw fish.

Rainwings are described as gaining energy from the sun. It's easy to just say they have photosynthesis as well, but I say Nay! and propose another explanation, in that rainwings have a weird circadian rhythm! In this theory the Rainwings have two sleep schedules in a day, with around four hours at noon when the sun is highest and four hours at night. This allows them to spend more time during sundown, making them partially nocturnal, which is why they’ve developed night vision. As for why they sleep in the sun, it could be for energy conservation reasons, disease prevention, or to warm themselves up. (These are the reasons why animals like lizards and lemurs sunbathe). Glory probably has dull scales from abiding by the sleep schedules of the other tribes. And also from the stress of having to live with Kestrel.

Leafspeak limits: On whether or not a leafspeak can affect algae, probably? Sundew was seen controlling sea kelp (a type of brown algae from the kingdom Protista) in book fifteen, meaning that leafspeak is able to affect organisms of different kingdoms. Presumably leafspeak works on anything with chloroplast, and so should be able to affect Cyanobacteria and maybe some animals. I suppose it is possible though that leafspeak doesn’t work on unicellular life, such a thing has never been confirmed.

That’s about all I believe, Cheers!

-Tobuzzu 

[docpiplup]

Fourth part of the bookscans of Al Andalus. Historical Figures, here's the previous part

Umayyad that had settled in Torrox. Abd al-Rahman was achieving his first military successes and the governor of Al Andalus thought of fighting him personally, but part of his troops went over to those of the Umayyad prince and, whether he wanted to or not, he was forced to engage in conversations with the newcomer. He offered him, together with his respect for the dynasty he represented, the hand of his own daughter and invited him to go to Córdoba where he would be treated as he deserved by his lineage, but he had to abstain from all political and military activity.

As expected, the talks failed, and in the winter of 756, any possibility of compromise was terminated.

Abd al-Rahman already had numerous forces made up of Yemenis and Andalusian Berbers. In Archidona he was proclaimed emir. In March of the year 756 he made his triumphal entry into Seville, accompanied of all Yemeni military leaders in the region, receiving the oath of homage of the population.

The governor, Yusuf al-Fihrí, understood that things had come to an extreme so dangerous that he had no choice but to face Abd al-Rahman with weapons. The two armies met, facing opposite, on the banks of the Guadalquivir River. The Umayyad prince, for gaining time, he sent emissaries to the Andalusian governor telling him that accepted his proposals, while his troops crossed the river during the night. It was a trap that was very useful to him. On May 15 756 the battle took place, which was terrible for Yusuf who lost one of his children and

he had to retire. Meanwhile, Abd al-Rahman advanced towards Córdoba, entered the city, the palace of the governor, took charge of the harem and prevented the pillage of the population that his Yemeni supporters had started. They did not like this measure at all, discontent grew and rumors were spread that they were even thinking about assassinating the new emir. When he found out, he made an exemplary lesson among them, so that no attempt at mutiny was recorded again. Abd al-Rahman, installed in Córdoba, received the submission of the population and proclaimed himself emir of al-Andalus in the main mosque of the capital.

Abd al-Rahman was only twenty-five years old He would reign for more than thirty years in which there was everything. They were times of great work, military and administrative. He had to put an end to Yusuf's resistance, to put peace between the different Muslim factions, organize that army that had led to victory, composed of very strong heterogeneous forces , a policy of attraction and persuasion to avoid armed confrontations... There was everything to do.

Many emigrants loyal to the Umayyads arrived in Spain, attracted for the fame and success achieved by Abd al-Rahman I and all he treated them with deference, granting them perks and honors. However, strange as it may seem,the two sisters of the emir did not want to leave Syria. The Abbasids treated them well and were very rich...Al Andalus

seemed like the end of the world to them and they preferred to stay enjoying their priviliged position and their immense fortune.

But the matter of Yusuf and his faithful advisor to Sumayl was ongoing, who trusted in being able to reconquer Córdoba and they were on the verge of achieving it. The new emir chased them through all of eastern Andalusia and they understood that, this time, they couldn't win. They agreed to surrender in exchange for keeping their assets and Abd al-Rahman gladly accepted the proposal. They returned to Córdoba and the young monarch could feel satisfied, since his authority no longer was discussed among Spanish Muslims. He ordered the deletion of sermons mentioned the caliph of Baghdad and did include curses against the Abbasids. However, despite the titles he granted himself, he did not dare to proclaim himself caliph.

But over time, Yusuf broke his word, fled to Mérida where he recruited a strong army of Berbers, for the most part, marching immediately towards Córdoba. He wouldn't reach her. The loyal governors of Seville and Morón defeated him and he had to take refuge in Toledoan lands. There he wandered for several months until he was murdered by his own supporters who sent his head to the emir of Córdoba. After this lesson, Abd al-Rahman did not trust al-Sumayl, whom, on occasions, the emir himself had asked for advice. He imprisoned him and perhaps between the years 759 or 760, he died strangled.

But rebellions within al-Andalus continued. Some were from the Yemeni Arabs; others, from the supporters of the deceased Yusuf, and others, they came from

supporters of the Abbasids. Abd al-Rahman I fought against all and managed to cement his position and who would die with an al-Andalus pacified.

As for the Christians, the Umayyad had little time to fight them. The news is a bit confusing, but some Christian chronicles say that the Asturian monarch, Fruela I, obtained resounding victories over Cordobans armies. On the other hand, Muslim chronicles speak of. victorious campaigns carried out by the freedman Bard in the confines of Álava, around the year 767, approximately. It is believed that from this moment a truce was established between the emirate of Cordoba and the Christians, the latter seeing themselves forced to pay a heavy tax that makes it difficult for Astures could satisfy given their amount and the poverty of the northern Christian states. Fruela's successors, Aurelio, Silo and Mauregato, didn't seem to have bad relations with Al Andalus. Neither one nor the other were in a position to be fought, since the newborn Asturian monarchy also faced numerous internal problems.

During the reign of Abd al-Rahman I the famous Charlemagne's expedition to Spain took place, with the defeat of Roncesvalles, universally known for the French song of deeds La Chanson de Roland. Basque tribes, helped by Muslim forces, destroyed the rear of the retreating Frankish troops. For the French emperor, it was a humiliating defeat, but he discovered the need to have their border lands well defended throughout the Pyrenees, against possible Muslim attacks. Even later, what I think we could

call a safety zone, a kind of bastion that would serve as a "space of shock" in front of the Muslims who tried to penetrate Gallic lands. It was the Hispanic March.

Abd al-Rahman organized his kingdom in the Syrian manner, although the province of al-Andalus now acquired the category of independent principality. He divided the country into provinces, coras, at the head of which he appointed a governor, wali, who generally resided in the capital of the province. He worried about creating a professional army, recruiting mercenaries in North Africa and also recruiting mercenaries from southern Europe. Quite credible sources of the time assure that these non-Muslim mercenaries, reached over 40,000.

During the reign of the "Immigrant", Córdoba began to take shape like the great capital that later was. His name is linked to the creation of the beautiful Cordoba mosque, in which he invested a large amount of money, although his successors did not stop expanding and embellishing this jewel of Muslim art, today a World Heritage Site. He is also credited with the construction of the walls of Cordoba, if Well, a good part of them had already been built by another Muslim, the wali al-Samh ibn Malik al-Jawlani. Although he initially occupied the palace of the Muslim governors, which it had been of the Gothic governors, around the years 784-785, he had a new palace built and, perhaps due to nostalgia for his homeland, baptized him with the name of al-Rusafa, like a summer residence of his grandfather Caliph Hisham, located near Palmira.

Abd al-Rahman's physical descriptions tell us of a tall, blond man, whose hair fell in ringlets over his shoulders, almost always dressed in white, the color of the Umayyads, who was only made ugly by the lack of one eye. His tenacity is admirable, his energy, his confidence in the face of such an uncertain future. It was, without a doubt one of the best rulers of his dynasty, only overshadowed by other Abd al-Rahmans of successive centuries, as brilliant as him.

A good poet and magnificent orator, the first independent emir of al-Andalus died in Córdoba on the 30th of September of the year 788. He had not yet reached the sixty years.

Sulayman ben Yaqzan ben al-Arabí: the "deceiver" deceived by Charlemagne

Throughout the history of al-Andalus it was very common for the cities far from the central power of Cordoba lived in an almost of independence. Cities like Zaragoza, Barcelona and even Valencia, often rose up against said power, not them, but their governors. And there was something of that in the case of this character, whom would be known by al-Arabí, governor of Zaragoza, who firstly showed himself as a firm defender of the Umayyad cause and later did not hesitate to offer to Charlemagne to prepare an offensive against the first Emir of Cordoba. The history of this relationship is quite intricate.

Charlemagne had succeeded his father, Pepin, and had more important things to resolve before worrying about the situation its border possessions with Muslim Spain. After extending his empire through Lombardy, Saxony, Bavaria and the country of the misers to the Danubian, perhaps could have thought of reconquer the

lands that made up the old Visigoth kingdom in Spain, which would increase even more his prestige before Christianity, since would expel the infidel Mohammedans who occupied it, but this is nothing more than a logical assumption.

Neither the Christian nor the Muslim chronicles are very precise about how al-Arabi left to where the emperor of the Franks was to offer him the possibility of surrendering Zaragoza, but the truth is who, with the help of an Arab adventurer named al-Husayn ben Yahya al-Ansari, declared open rebellion against the emir Abd al-Rahman I. The emir immediately sent troops to besiege the rebel city under the command of an officer, Tha'laba ben Ubayd al-Chudhami. This officer was taken prisoner a few days after siege in a sortie carried out by al-Arabi's troops.

Ibn al-Arabí, with that important prize, decided to reach Saxony, specifically to Paderborn where it was in those moments Charlemagne and handed over the prisoner so that he could see the sincerity of his intentions. In Zaragoza, meanwhile, was left in charge of his friend al-Husayn ben Yahya, with the slogan of resisting. It seems that on this trip he was accompanied by another Arab man, possibly governor of Huesca, and that both gave hostages to the emperor.

Without a doubt, they offered Charlemagne a promising and easy campaign because otherwise the emperor would not have embarked on a similar matter. So in the spring of the year 778, Charlemagne, leading his troops, crossed the Pyrenees through the port of Roncesvalles and arrived

to Pamplona, where the Basques, who occupied the city, offered their submission. Everything seemed to work as agreed and the Franks continued towards Zaragoza, passing, possibly by Huesca. In theory, the gates of the city of Ebro would be opened wide to him, as Ibn al-Arabí had promised, but here things were not so easy. The lieutenant, al-Husayn ben Yahya, in the absence of his chief, had gotten used to commanding, he liked it and he was not willing to continue being second in command. The doors did not open and he shut himself up in the square, whereupon Charlemagne had to proceed to lay siege to the city.

The first person surprised must have been Ibn al-Arabi, who was marching with the emperor, and to whom he suggested that he be patient, that the city could not resist for long... but the siege continued and the city did not fall. This was the situation: Charlemagne spiteful for having been deceived, Ibn al-Arabi fearful of the possible reaction of the emperor and impatient to enter again to Zaragoza, fearing the reaction of his former ally. At this moment some couriers arrived bringing for the Frankish king the news that a rebellion had broken out in Saxony. Charlemagne had the perfect excuse to abandon that adventure in Hispanic land...He raised the siege of the city and headed towards Gaul, taking Ibn al-Arabí as a prisoner, blaming him for the numerous setbacks of the expedition that, in theory, was going to be a military parade.

But the return was much harder than the arrival. Maybe a day after the Frankish troops left Pamplona behind and entered Roncesvalles, they were attacked by

bands of Basques and Muslims who decimated the most flourishing of Frankish chivalry and nobility. The Christian chronicles are brief, trying to minimize that defeat, and they are almost the only ones we have. The Roncesvalles pass, very narrow, only allowed the troops to advance in line, one behind the other. The surrounding terrain was, and is, very rugged, surrounded by thick forests that were the perfect hiding place for the Basques who knew the place like the back of their hand. They descended from the surrounding peaks and and they threw the baggage of the Franks into the ravines, killing all the men of the rearguard. According to the epitaph of one of the deceased nobles, this ambush must have taken place on August 15, 778.

The objective of this attack, in addition to taking the loot, it is possible that it was the liberation of the captive Ibn al-Arabi, since it seems that two of his sons participated in it, freeing him and taking him towards Zaragoza.

But the matter did not end there. The Umayyad officer, hostage of Charlemagne ended up being released after the Frankish monarch and the emir of Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman I, engaged conversations. Ibn al-Arabí would end up assassinated, very soon, by his rebellious lieutenant, al-Husayn ben Yahya al-Ansari. Zaragoza was besieged, again, by the emir himself in 781, and in the end, had to surrender. It was a temporary submission, because in the summer of 782 Husayn ben Yahya rebelled again. Again we proceeded to lay siege to the city, attacking it with war machines and, in the end, taken by assault. Al-Husayn, taken prisoner, was cruelly mutilated before finishing him off, and the inhabitants of Zaragoza were also severely punished and, for a time,

[siamesephoenixrandomideatank]

Boiling Isles Cuisines Concept

Influences

Locals/Pre-Covens: 

Varieties of ‘Smaller’ Meat Sources for less risk against larger beasts (Example: Fairies, Jackalope or Slime)

More Relies on fruits, mushrooms, herbs, and numbers of non-starchy plants.

Freshwater from natural sources as the main drink.

Low Carb, Low Fat (Mostly from ‘meat’), and mostly Proteins, Minerals, and Nutrients for magic-based performance.

Prefer to be consumed raw, partly cooked, or boiling as stew/soup. (Nutrition Conserving Values) 

Imperial/Covens: Influences from 18th Century British Cuisine

Starch Carbohydrate for occasions, especially bakery. (Rice, Noodle, and most non-Bakery Flour product are not quite popular)

More refining on food. Examples, jerkies, juice, sugar, or brewed drinks.

Introducing to fermentation/pickling

Covens & Regional Sub-Cuisines

More technique, cooking tools & utensils. 

Liberated/Modernized:

Earth Cuisines Approaching, especially 

American

Caribbeans

East Asian

Italian

South Asian & Southeast Asian

Influences of Nutrition Sciences

De-Covenization & Emerging “Fusion” Cuisines

Earth Technology: Some Embrace, Some Against, and Some Twist

Electricity(Or Magical Equivalent) & Clean Water for All

Examples of the Cuisines

Pre-Coven

Fresh Fairy Herbal Salad: A Heterogeneous Mixed “Salad” of live fairies, sliced acidic juice, and herbs that make fairies weaks(or even passed out without dying before being eaten).

Inspiration: Goong Then “Dancing Shrimp” from Thailand/ Southeast Asian Spicy Salad/ Live Sashimi

Mushroom & Peels Stew: Leftover Fruit Peels sometimes are good to suppress the odor of some foul-smelt mushroom, give some complex flavors, and also less food waste. 

Inspiration: Bowl of Browns from George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones/Worcestershire Sauce/Chinese Herbs

Fire Salamander Molt Rind: Collected Molt of Fire Salamander that fried by reaction between the chemical in it & salt, making it crispy & more edible. However, spicy & coarse, preferred as seasoning. 

Inspiration: Pork Rind, Fire Flake(A:TLA), and “Cruelty-Free Meat”

Golden Snails: The freshwater snail coated & stewed in yolk & herbs/spices-based gravy that made the food look golden. Considered as delicacy for its difficulty from harvesting ingredients to cooking it perfectly

Inspiration: Salted Egg-based Stir Fried/ French Cuisine/ Thick Stew

Coven/Imperial

Fairy Pie

Bard’s Banshee Brew: Drink for the vocal-based bards to have the more enduring, yet, soft & flexible throats. (Alcoholic)

Candied Bile-Apple: Pineapple-like fruit that grew around the right feet of Titan(which have the color & smell of bile somehow, with tastes of complex saltiness, bitterness, and umami). It is candied to be consumed easier, as a health-enhancing food.

Griffon Breasts: Taste like chicken mixed with gamey beef. Usually being cooked as steak for the wealthy, like the Blights. Enjoyed with acidic “gravy”.

Liberated

Boiling Isles’ Curry Stew: Based on Japanese Curry Rice, which is cooked to be eaten by itself. It’s composed of local spices & Earth’s dried spices, protein of choices, and some vegetables (mostly not potatoes).

Nutty O’nut: Doughnut that is made of local nut-based flour & baked instead of fried. Plus, being enjoyed with hot drinks & some fruits.

PB&J (Peanut Blood & Jackalope) Sandwich: Peanut-based version “Apple Blood”, made into jam that enjoyed with Jackalope meat

Smile Dip

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 37, 2023

Population dynamics of head-direction neurons during drift and reorientation. Ajabi, Z., Keinath, A. T., Wei, X.-X., & Brandon, M. P. (2023). Nature, 615(7954), 892–899.

Distinct roles of forward and backward alpha-band waves in spatial visual attention. Alamia, A., Terral, L., D’ambra, M. R., & VanRullen, R. (2023). eLife, 12, e85035.

Landmark-based spatial navigation across the human lifespan. Bécu, M., Sheynikhovich, D., Ramanoël, S., Tatur, G., Ozier-Lafontaine, A., Authié, C. N., … Arleo, A. (2023). eLife, 12, e81318.

Subjective signal strength distinguishes reality from imagination. Dijkstra, N., & Fleming, S. M. (2023). Nature Communications, 14, 1627.

Measuring cognitive effort without difficulty. Fleming, H., Robinson, O. J., & Roiser, J. P. (2023). Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 23(2), 290–305.

Coding of object location by heterogeneous neural populations with spatially dependent correlations in weakly electric fish. Haggard, M., & Chacron, M. J. (2023). PLOS Computational Biology, 19(3), e1010938.

Identifying causal subsequent memory effects. Halpern, D. J., Tubridy, S., Davachi, L., & Gureckis, T. M. (2023). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(13), e2120288120.

THINGS-data, a multimodal collection of large-scale datasets for investigating object representations in human brain and behavior. Hebart, M. N., Contier, O., Teichmann, L., Rockter, A. H., Zheng, C. Y., Kidder, A., … Baker, C. I. (2023). eLife, 12, e82580.

Severely Attenuated Visual Feedback Processing in Children on the Autism Spectrum. Knight, E. J., Freedman, E. G., Myers, E. J., Berruti, A. S., Oakes, L. A., Cao, C. Z., … Foxe, J. J. (2023). Journal of Neuroscience, 43(13), 2424–2438.

Speed-accuracy tradeoffs in decision making: Perception shifts and goal activation bias decision thresholds. Larson, J. S., & Hawkins, G. E. (2023). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 49(1), 1–32.

Adaptive tuning of human learning and choice variability to unexpected uncertainty. Lee, J. K., Rouault, M., & Wyart, V. (2023). Science Advances, 9(13).

Robust deep learning object recognition models rely on low frequency information in natural images. Li, Z., Ortega Caro, J., Rusak, E., Brendel, W., Bethge, M., Anselmi, F., … Pitkow, X. (2023). PLOS Computational Biology, 19(3), e1010932.

The temporal dynamics of the Stroop effect from childhood to young and older adulthood. Ménétré, E., & Laganaro, M. (2023). PLOS ONE, 18(3), e0256003.

Capacity Limits Lead to Information Bottlenecks in Ongoing Rapid Motor Behaviors. Moulton, R. H., Rudie, K., Dukelow, S. P., Benson, B. W., & Scott, S. H. (2023). ENeuro, 10(3), ENEURO.0289-22.2023.

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[joanofarc]

"And I have since been wedded to a torrent. It is a desire to understand, to be sure, or if you prefer, a laboratory of death. For what you take to be a shattering of language is really a shattering of the body, and the immediate surroundings get it smack on the chin. Besides, they exist for no other reason than to take it on the chin, and to resist, if they can. But above all, do not take yourself for someone or something; you "are" within the shattering, to be shattered. Woe unto him who thinks that you are--in good part or in bad, no matter. First, narcissism crumbles and the superego says, "So much the better, there's one problem out of the way." But the body seems to need an identity, then it reacts--matures, tightens, like stone, ebony. Or else it cracks, bleeds, decays. All according to the symbolic reaction that is more or less likely. Then, the symbolic covering (constituted by acquired knowledge, the discourse of others, and communal shelter) cracks, and something that I call instinctual drive (for lack of a better term) rides up to destroy any guarantees, any beliefs, any protection, including those comprised by father or professor. An aimless drifting ensues that reconciles me to everything that is being shattered--rejecting what is established and opening up an infinite abyss where there are no more words. That gives me a fractured appearance that fools the naive observer. In fact, it opens me up to a precise jouissance that few suspect even existed. That is a place one must rush away from; otherwise, two thousand years of nunneries illustrate what might happen. Words come to mind, but they are fuzzy, signifying nothing, more throbbing than meaning, and their stream goes to our breasts, genitals, and irridescent [sic] skin. That could be all there is to it--an "anonymous white conflict" as they said in the nineteenth century. But what would be the point? Now this is the point: my concern lies in the other, what is heterogeneous, my own negation erected as representation, but the consumption of which I can also decipher. This heterogeneous object is of course a body that invites me to identify with it (woman, child, androgyne?) and immediately forbids any identification; it is not me, it is a non-me in me, beside me, outside of me, where the me becomes lost. This heterogeneous object is a body, because it is a text. I have written down this much abused word and insisted upon it so that you might understand how much risk there is in a text, how much nonidentity, nonauthenticity, impossibility, and corrosiveness it holds for those who choose to see themselves in it. A body, a text that bounces me back to me echoes of a territory that I have lost but that I am seeking within the blackness of dreams in Bulgarian, French, Russian, Chinese tones, invocations, lifting up the dismembered, sleeping body. Territory of the mother.

What I am saying to you is that if this heterogeneous body, this risky text provide [sic] meaning, identity, and jouissance, they do so in a completely different way than a "Name-of-the-Father." Not that they do not operate under the shield of a tyrannical, despotic Name-of-the-Father; I understand that, and we could engage in endless forensic contests. But it is only a question of power; the important thing is to see what exceeds it. So I listen to the black, heterogeneous territory of the body/text; I coil my jouissance within it, I cast it off, I sidestep its own, in a cold fire where murder is no longer the murder of the other, but rather, of the other who thought she was I, of me who thought I was the other, of me, you, us--of personal pronouns therefore, which no longer have much to do with all this. For neither body that has become liquid powder nor the shining mercury that founders me can ever abolish a vigil: paternal shadow, Being of language? It even calls on me to represent it. "I" continually makes itself over again, reposits itself as a displaced, symbolic witness of the shattering where every entity was dissolved. "I" returns then and enunciates this intrinsic twisting where it split into at least four of us, all challenged by it. "I" pronounces it, and so "I" posits myself--"I" socializes myself. This is an indispensable and imperative movement, an abrupt about-face when this heterogeneous negative that provoked me to jouissance/death sets to work, wants to know itself, to communicate, and consequently, loses itself. To communicate, to know... All that is, if I may say so, rather perverted. Language is affected by it, the concept is twisted, the murder is disguised as a request that others put some rigor in their thinking. No scholar, no orthodox theoretician can find his way through any of my essays, unless he has experienced this four-sided duel."

Julia Kristeva in the essay "The Novel as Polylogue", defining the perversion, the tightrope act that allows her to "read" a text, here in discussing of Philippe Sollers' H. From Desire in Language, 1980. Translated by Thomas Gora, Alice Jardine, and Leon S. Roudiez.

[grandhotelabyss]

Why do we call the Romantics the Romantics?

I understand Roman > Romance languages > romances i.e. a prose narrative in a language derived from Latin > roman as in French for novel; and I can blur my eyes to see how "Italians are good lovers" combined with "novels and romances tend to be in large part popular for their portrayals of love" becomes our modern small-r romance... but I can't work out where the name of the movement comes from. (Did any of the literary Romantics even call themselves that?)

You're on the right track. I gave a partial answer to this in the (paywalled) Coleridge episode of The Invisible College. I'll provide here the source I cited, the entry on Schlegel, who named the movement, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

What Schlegel meant by the term “romantic” (romantisch) and its apparent cognate Roman (usually translated as “novel,” but having among the Romantics a much wider sense) has long been disputed. Perhaps under the influence of Herder (see Eichner 1956), Schlegel saw the historical origins of “the romantic” in the wide mixture of forms and genres that characterized medieval literature and took it as the point of departure for a genre-transcending notion that allows even Shakespeare’s plays or Dante’s Commedia to be classified as Romane. Seen from this historical perspective, the Roman becomes the central dividing line between ancient literature and the literature of the current age: Greek poetry, he claimed in 1800, “began with and finally again converged in epic; our poetry began with and finally again will converge in the Roman.”

[...]

One of the most important expressions of Schlegel’s claims for the romantic can be found in the much discussed Athenaeumsfragment 116: Romantic poetry is said there to be a “progressive, universal poetry, … the only kind of poetry that is more than a kind, that is, as it were, poetry itself: for in a certain sense all poetry is or should be romantic.” The task of such poetry, he claims in this fragment, should be to “fuse poetry and prose, inspiration and criticism, the poetry of art and the poetry of nature; and make poetry lively and sociable, and life and society poetical; poeticize wit and fill and saturate the forms of art with every kind of good, solid matter for instruction, and animate them with the pulsations of humor.” In a similar vein, he raises the stakes for what should be achieved by the genre that is not merely a genre—the novel: a “genuine theory of poetry would be a theory of the novel,” he claims.

So the Romantics in Germany did call themselves that, and from there it spread to France (Victor Hugo defined it simply as "liberalism in literature") and then to England, according to Wikipedia:

The modern sense of the term spread more widely in France by its persistent use by Germaine de Staël in her De l'Allemagne (1813), recounting her travels in Germany.

Wiki then cites a somewhat ironic reference to the term in a piece by Byron in 1820, suggesting that this was around the time the term began to be used to classify English writers, in opposition to classicists.

In short, it's called "Romanticism" to evoke 1.) the vernacular Romance languages as against Latin, to assert a preference for national-popular democratic and volkish cultural forms against empire, hence the movement's paradoxically progressive medievalism; and 2.) the novel as the freest, most heterogenous of literary forms, the model for all free literature, including poetry, drama, and the essay.