#instability

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

A Stellar Look at NGC 602

The young star cluster NGC 602 sits some 200,000 light years away in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Seen here in near- and mid-infrared, the cluster is a glowing cradle of star forming conditions similar to the early universe.  (Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/JWST; via Colossal) Read the full article

[gothicseverance]

In its later incarnation in fantastic or surreal literature, Gothic narration shifts from impossible happenings intended to produce terror in its readers to emphasizing its own uncertain position between the real and the unreal through the use of unreliable or unstable narration.

—Being a Gothic Body in Mary Barton

Gif by @dailyflicks 🖤

[thirdity]

The things the spectacle presents as eternal are based on change, and must change as their foundations change. The spectacle is totally dogmatic, yet it is incapable of arriving at any really solid dogma. Nothing stands still for it. This instability is the spectacle’s natural condition, but it is completely contrary to its natural inclination.

Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle

[tilbageidanmark]

Australian summer

[writing2changetheworld]

This screenshot was taken just now.

I'm tired of talking about Smosh having auto-generated captions, but I'm not going to stay silent. So let's address what else this means.

Inconsistency. Unreliability.

Smosh adds (maybe) correct captions anywhere from immediately to days after posting. I have no idea if I'll be able watch a video.

This instability is not okay, Smosh.

[frickyesforumweapons]

[the-potato-slayer]

[no0dlru]

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

"The Ballet of Colors"

Thomas Blanchard's short film "The Ballet of Colors" plunges viewers into a warm spectrum of roiling oil and paint.  (Video and image credit: T. Blanchard et al.) Read the full article

[unwelcome-ozian]

[katietheweirdgirlinclass]

Why's Nate always ending up in the wrong universe?

(*shrugs*)

[dk-thrive]

Maybe it was easier to keep living with the fantasy of stability glowing on the horizon

Reading a biography of Susan Sontag that winter, I put three exclamation points in the margin next to a quote from her diaries: “I’m only interested in people engaged in a project of self-transformation.” It summoned the pattern Kyle had described. But what did this pattern mean? Why did I keep pursuing these thresholds, even as I told myself I wanted something else? Maybe every rupture offered the chance to emerge as someone else, slightly altered, on the other side of each crisis.

Or maybe I wasn’t seeking what lay beyond each threshold but the experience of threshold-crossing itself. Maybe it was easier to keep living with the fantasy of stability glowing on the horizon, perpetually elusive, than it was to dwell inside the experience of stability itself—its vexations and claustrophobia, its permanence.

— Leslie Jamison, Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story (Little Brown and Company, February 20, 2024)

[wingedsnail]

I am not slipping into madness. I am marching right in there with my head high

[diggerunit]

Full-circle of instability, 1 year later

I didn't know yet, but one year ago I was already mourning a version of me that was about to be gone. It was a version of me shaped by circumstances and decisions taken out of habits and inertia. But also stubbornness, because I thought I knew what my life was meant to look like within the next few years.

It felt like I was so strongly committed to a picture that I had in my mind, and I had been fighting for it for months, ignoring the reality in front of my eyes. Until it all kinda exploded into my face and forced me to take new decisions, in a new, scary direction.

It was awful. The feeling of deep loneliness, betrayal, of looking around you and seeing absolutely no-one. Out of a huge list of people on the WhatsApp conversations, all of a sudden that multitude reduced to 0, 1, 2, 3 people. And I will always be extremely grateful for them, because I don't know what would have I done without them, back then.

I even quit my job 1 day prior to pass the probation period, because it felt like the wrong place for me, and embarked on a temporary adventure. 3 months only, I hadn't had a temporary contract for over 10 years, when I was doing internships. And yet, there I was, 30+ and temporary. But the need for a change and follow my instinct was way stronger than any fear of the unknown.

It felt like for once, I needed to say "fuck it all" and jump into instability, learn to let go of control and just surf onto life.

It turned out pretty well, I can say that one year later. But it was a hell of a ride: work-wise, instability was a constant in my life from July until December. I didn't know if the temporary 3 month contract was going to be renewed (in the end it was), for how long (they did it twice, 6 weeks + 5 weeks, and with very short notice period), then I interviewed for a permanent position, then they disappeared with no feedback for about 2 weeks, and then the very last day of my temporary contract I did receive an offer for a permanent contract in my dream company (like, literally).

But there's more: turns out that in my dream company, probation period is not just a formality. Unlike 99% of other companies where I've worked at, you could actually fail here and lose your job. And you have specific targets to reach, and if you don't, you are out.

Imagine how that made me feel for the past 6 months. I was struggling with the goals, and at some point I realized I was not gonna make it. So I raised all the flags, put in all the work I was capable of, and ultimately and most importantly, decided to trust the process. I knew I was giving it my all. If things didn't work, then at least I would have been in peace with myself.

That shift of attitude changed everything. I had more energy, a clearer mind, better prioritization skills. I easily focused but not obsessed, and that helped me to crawl back. Until yesterday, when I received the "unofficial" confirmation that the intention is to keep me in the permanent position.

I am just 1 conversation away, which is scheduled for next week. 1 year and a half later, I will finally go back to having a stable job, being able to plan holidays, and life in general. And most importantly, I will be able to shift my focus on my next goal.

[fuckyeahfluiddynamics]

Visualizing Unstable Flames

Inside a combustion chamber, temperature fluctuations can cause sound waves that also disrupt the flow, in turn. This is called a thermoacoustic instability. (Video and image credit: J. Delfin et al.; research credit: J. Delfin et al. 1, 2) Read the full article

[kamalkafir-blog]

Portugal's election result doesn't end political instability : NPR

[News] Incumbent Prime Minister and leader of the center-right Social Democratic Party Luis Montenegro gestures while addressing his supporters following Portugal’s general election, in Lisbon on Monday. Armando Franca/AP hide caption toggle caption Armando Franca/AP LISBON — Portugal’s third general election in three years has failed to deliver the result that could break the worst spell…