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dude1818 · 11 months ago

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The Glass Sentence

Went on vacation last week, which means plenty of time to read on the flight. On the way out, I read The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove, the first book in The Mapmaker's Trilogy. The Goodreads synopsis recommended it for fans for His Dark Materials, but I would go as far as to call it a clone (although without the fun animals). That's not necessarily a bad thing, although it makes comparison unavoidable

The setting is an alternate history that forked from our own when history itself broke. The Earth exploded and reassembled itself with fragments throughout time: the protagonist is from 19th century Boston, Canada has fallen to the prehistoric Ice Age, the Caribbean is in the Golden Age of Piracy, and Mexico and the western US are an amalgamation of anywhen from 500 to 2500 CE. It's a fascinating premise, and I was hoping for a sci-fi version of HDM

The plot is that Sophia (14) comes from a family of great explorers and cartographers. When her uncle is kidnapped by a cult that wants to reforge the world into their timeline of origin, she and her new friend from the West have to take his special glass map to an old acquaintance in Mexico. Along the way, they join a pirate crew who get them across the Gulf and into the palace at Mexico City, while the cult chases them down. Turns out, the Ice Age to the south is actually from a future snowball Earth, and Sophia has to somehow stop its rapid spread north

Pretty early on, we were introduced to the Macguffins of this world, which are weird maps. Clay, cloth, glass, metal, water maps, only the Avatar can read all five. The gimmick is that they all encode human memories somehow, and reading them makes you "remember" various attributes of the location they describe. It was weird, but I guess we can chalk it up to possible future tech and being the one weird thing

But then halfway through the book we get to Mexico, and it turns out there's a whole caste system about people who have plants growing from their bodies and people who have metal bones. Like what the fuck. HDM pulled off stuff like witches and the underworld by establishing them as being weird and exotic to Lyra, but she knew they existed as part of her world. Here, it felt like a complete genre shift out of nowhere. It wasn't until literally the day after I finished reading the book and was complaining to my dad about that twist that I realized it was supposed to be deep foreshadowing of the sci-fi twist in the 11th hour. I had just thrown up my hands and accepted that the story had magic now, because it hadn't established itself as a book where I'm expected to be able to figure out what the twist is

Other than that it was fine. Obviously it's YA, but it felt more YA than HDM, or at least it clicked with me less. Hard to give it a fair shake while I'm still in the middle of the HDM sequel trilogy. I do want to know more about this world, and while the plot beats are fairly predictable, I'm still going to give the rest of the trilogy a shot

The plant/metal twist I didn't get:

Much later after we learned about the plant and metal caste system in Mexico City, the royal botanist examines some soil samples from a new time period that appeared. Planting a seed in it causes the plant to rapidly grow, and it has metal roots. He tries to use that soil to regrow his own wooden leg, but it grows back as metal instead

Later they're escaping through caverns under the palace, and the botanist drops seeds along the path. They instantly grow into metal-rooted trees. We also know that in the future ice age realm, people had invented artificial soils that allowed them to plant plants through the ice and rock of their world. We were supposed to realize this meant the caverns were from that era (which was later explained as being why they survived when the glaciers reached them)

The big twist is that since this artificial soil lay under the city, people who were born and raised after time broke were exposed to the soil as they grew, which is why they had pieces of plant or metal in their bodies. I have no idea how you were supposed to solve that mystery when there was no indication there was a mystery to solve in the first place!

#book review #science fiction #the glass sentence #the mapmaker's trilogy #s e grove #fantasy books

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things-about-cars-in-posts · 2 years ago

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favorite band/artist?

Sheesh. Complicated one.

You see, my music tastes are, to put it mildly, rather varied. I think it showed in my music recommendation post and the post that further explored one of those artists, but to further illustrate, my library includes:

Earth, Wind & Fire

New Kids On The Block's Jordan Knight's first solo single

Dubstep band Hadouken!’s Lana Del Rey cover

A mashup of Wham! and a fishing anime

A Japanese bilingual melodic punk rock band's two songs about bowling

80s remixes of Justin Bieber songs

A Japanese "punk ska and melodic hardcore band"'s cover of Scatman’s World

A 140+ song Beatles remix collection, featuring such gems as "Octopus's 3D Garden", "I Saw Her Yankin' There" and "Help!" (suspicious)

A eurobeat female duo of rotating Italian and British members’ Abracadabra-sampling track about falling in love with a banana

A remix of Azumanga Daioh’s Sata Andagi scene I retrieved from a porn site reupload

Moldovan folk punk band and folk musician duo’s collab about celebrating the reopening of a railroad

The soundtrack of Pictionary for the NES

A mashup of AVICII, Rick Astley and Chumbawumba

An 80s pop Linkin Park remix

Black Sabbath covers by The Cardigans (of Lovefool fame)

JT's solo debut

A Flock Of Seagulls (of I Ran (So Far Away) fame)

One (1) DJ Khaled song

A 2011 My Little Pony-themed song by then commentary youtuber

(And I beg each and every one of the people who read this list and thought "Okay that one cannot possibly be good" to hop in my askbox and allow me to prove them wrong.)

But let's go through bands and artists I've not posted about before.

Two Door Cinema Club Just out of statistics. I can prove I played I Can Talk over a hundred times and I can tell you any number under two hundred is underselling it. There is genuinely some problem with my brain that that intro slots into perfectly.

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Oh also all the rest of their first album this comes from is this great too, and if you ask me what a perfect album sounds like I will tell you it's not that far off their second album.

OK Go Now, I like the music. Actually, I'd left my two guitars alone for years until an easy OK Go song made me think "Oh, maybe I can play this" and realize that rather than -as I had prior- just play the music I'd been taught, I could actually teach myself to play the music I was listening to, which snowballed into playing more OK Go songs and then it expanded and now I have a ukulele, a bass, a third guitar I need to merge with that bass (it's complicated), a fourth "guitar" (it's complicated), a Casio calculator/synth (it's complicated), a melodica, a launchpad and a kazoo. Whoops. But really, all you need to be sold on OK Go is see two of their videos. One to find out what they're like (and you're already good on that front because you have visited the internet ever and have thus seen Here It Goes Again aka "The Treadmill Video" aka what when posted to YouTube upon its CEO begging them to do so became the biggest video of all time) and another to find out that no the first one was not a one-off fluke. I am serious, go click that link, it takes you to a playlist of their videos and each one is crazier than the last. I mean they played a song with a car. A song. That has a guitar solo. With a car. Have you seen the name of this channel.

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Ah, right, the name of this channel. I guess I have to say a thing about that car now. Uhhh this video was sponsored by Chevrolet to promote the Aveo which, despite being badged as a Chevrolet, like many of the more Europe-oriented Chevrolets was made by the automotive branch of Daewoo, brand General Motors picked up after the Daewoo conglomerate (then the second largest in South-Korea which may as well be called Samsungland) went bankrupt in '99 over almost $90B modern dollars in debt. Its founder Kim Woo-chong (because Lord knows the "woo" in Daewoo did not stand for "woo what a great car") earned a ten year sentence, but I feel they focused too much on the wrong guy. The REAL criminal is whoever penned Daewoo cars.

A good person doesn't do this on purpose.

Owl City I have too few of his songs, but I absolutely love how comically upbeat he is. He is so precious. If c: walked this Earth. I mean "Golf and alcohol don't mix and that's why I don't drink and drive / Because, good grief, I'd knock out my teeth and have to kiss my smile goodbye". Protect this man at all costs. Also one time I saw the Fireflies video after what must have been a good decade and you know when you feel near crying? I adored that song when I was a kid and I was right.

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Liquido European one-hit wonders - and not even "people know them just for one song", not even "people don't know them and just know the song"; I found you can tell people the name of their hit and they won't know what you're talking about. But hum the riff and infallibly, invariably any single person in my country (and, in my limited experience, the rest of Europe) will go "Ooooooh, that one". And to be fair, those guys did stumble on one of the most memorable riffs in modern history.

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Not saying this is a hidden gem of a band, I am sure some bigger music nerd would stamp a big fat "SEEN BEFORE" on all their stuff, beyond some enjoyable splashes of "I wonder how much of this is them leaning into it" cheese (yes, even more than that video) - but I've still got their whole discography including all the B-sides, because to me, so what? It's good music and I'll treat it like it. What's the point of praising "groundbreaking", "genre defining" works and then glossing over those inhabiting the ground they broke and making the genres they defined? When I eat bread I don't complain that it doesn't innovate or set itself apart from the rest of the genre, so as long as my music doesn't bore me why should those be problems there? I feel like people have a problem in general separating their enjoyment of a work from its artistic merit. I'm digressing.

The Beatles If you ask me "What's your favorite number of pant legs?" I'm not going to answer five because two would be cliché.

And now we get to the final answer, the real answer, in such a league of its own it deserves to be separated from the rest via a Read More.

I lied, this is under a Read More because it's an entire fucking dissertation. Your fault for asking.

Caparezza I've spent well over a decade of my life mulling over his lyrics to the point me and my ex-flatmate played this game where she told me a random word and I'd try to find it in his lyrics (e.g. the first word of your ask, "favorite", was used in the second verse of the sixteenth track of his sixth album, yes I am neurodivergent why do you ask), and still it happens that as I am going through my everyday life I happen to accrue some information and slam my forehead going "Oh my God THAT'S what he meant there". His songs are more layered, more deep, more thoughtful, more cutting, more witty, more clever than most prose you see around and still he manages to play with his words and rhymes with incredible dexterity.

Take his last record, Exuvia - actually, take the previous record Exuvia picks up from, Prisoner 709:

Its name not only introduces the theme of imprisonment, but also of dilemmas and juxtapositions, since the prisoner's number, 709, stands for the dilemma about the number of the record: it's the 7th in his discography as Caparezza, but the 9th if one also counts the two shit records he made under his previous name Mikimix (we don't talk about those). Its tracklist, indeed, while being as typical for him incredibly varied in topics (from religions to his affinity with Ludwig II of Bavaria to "I'm not [x], BUT-" types) is arranged as chapters of the story of an imprisonment (The Crime, The Punishment, The Weight, The Psychologist, The Letter, The Visit, The Yard Time, The Torture, The Revolt, The Guard, The Infirmary, The Window, The Evasion, The Hiding) and associated to dilemmas - for instance, as the record is about his feeling imprisoned in his body and in his role, the first song -and first chapter, The Crime- is indeed Prosopagnosia (i.e. face blindness), a track about him no longer recognizing himself in the artistic reputation he built himself, with the dilemma being between "Michele", his name, and "Caparezza", his rap name. Oh, and if you also want a taste of the impressive wordplay, well, count the letters of those two names. Yep. Every single one of the 16 tracks is a dilemma is between a 7 letter word and a 9 letter word. Because of course it is.

So now, let's get to the last record, Exuvia.

Nah, the pop-up edition's cover fucks way harder.

That's more like it.

Exuvia is the exoskeletal remains left behind by ecdysozoans after ecdysis, i.e. when creatures like insects and crustaceans develop a new exoskeleton and crawl out of their old one, as this record starts from his escaping from the anguish compounded through all his previous records and through a deep analysis of his past, his self, his surroundings, his fate, condensing it all and moving on to a new self, a new birth, a new shell. (Understand how I feel when people say the greatest rapper of all time is one whose greatest record is called "Damn" because the songs made him go "Damn" and whose biggest song is "Biggie Smalls' Juicy but this time about me".)

Well, in the second track of it, about running away from the dire situation of hatred, decay and persecution described in the first track, he says, and I paraphrase,

I give it all up, I'm dying, I retreat - Caporetto plus Waterloo Dripping and smelling like my head was in a station's toilet- oh.

introducing the desperation and hopelessness of military defeats and immediately following it up with an image whose comedic nature makes a contrast so stark as to surprise even him while still, being a reference to the military's hazing and bullying, latching back to the line before. While the prose I represent it with is deliberately poor, the concept behind the words is brilliant enough that it would be a good line if it didn't rhyme at all. And yet the original lines rhyme for twenty syllables. TWENTY.

Thing is, you can be as clever as you want, but the underlying music, you know, it can't be clever, it can just be good or bad. One would think. And yet the music is not just good but full of clever, witty samples and ideas that don't just reinforce the track's mood but tie the instrumental inextricably into the lyrics' themes, like Larsen (the track about his tinnitus, which he calls by audio feedback's technical name of Larsen effect) using high-pitched synths and emphasizing cymbals, Prisoner 709's title track being 79bpm (I wager 709bpm was a bit non-doable), House Credibility's instrumental featuring intercom buzz and cowbells reminiscent of cookware, or, well, everything in Exuvia's second single. See, that song is about the choice he faces between the story of Beethoven, who despite all his challenges kept devoting himself to music until the day he died, or that of Mark Hollis, lead of Talk Talk, who despite all the fame peaced out to focus on his private life - and the entire instrumental is devoted to that concept: the verses' reference Für Elise, the chorus Such A Shame, and the bridge I Believe In You; and when you tun into the background choirs you find they are rhythmically repeating "I don't know".

You start to get a clue why there's three years between his records.

So if his songs are so fucking good, why is he not famous? Well, he is! Except for his first album which no one really noticed (fairly so in my opinion - while I like a few songs I feel he really got going in his second one), the following records did really well for someone with such dense content: his third record has been certified gold! And all the others platinum. Some twice. Never since the first one did a record of his peak under 5 in the charts, and he's got 8 gold singles, 3 platinums and a double platinum. And don't get me started on the shows.

(That's me in the background!) Hell, he's even been on the cover of Billboard! So why've you never heard of him? Well, see the word next to Billboard.

Yep. The man, Michele Salvemini, is an Italian born and raised and, like any proper Italian, doesn't speak a whole lot of English, so pretty much all the English you'll hear in his music are the handful of English features, like Michael Franti, DMC (!) and Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley, with which he made a song about Italy's emigration crisis.

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Emigration that is also internal, from the underdeveloped, falling aparty and criminality-run south of Italy to where all the industries are, the richer and we-pretend-it's-not-criminality-run north. And since he's from Apulia, Italy's heel (his rap name in fact means "curly head" in Apulian dialect), he's made a song about its woes too, featuring the music of the tarantella, Apulia's traditional dance. (I don't know why y'all add an A in front. It's fucking "Puglia", y'all.) Here's an imperfect translation with a couple of helpful explainers to the asterisked terms over in the video's description.

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It depresses me every time I think about it that all the English speakers I know will never be able to fully appreciate his lyrical brilliance. But oh well. At least y'all can appreciate the music... so fuck it, have that song whose music I yapped about so much. You'll hear the choirs in the background say "non so" (I don't know)... and a bunch more Italian words (translated here for those on desktop who want to follow along).

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Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

#does it show #does it at all show #that you happened to tap into another one of my passions #music #chevrolet aveo #daewoo tacuma

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 9 months ago

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Scottish and Irish rocks confirmed as rare record of ‘snowball Earth’

A rock formation spanning Ireland and Scotland may be the world’s most complete record of “snowball Earth”, a crucial moment in planetary history when the globe was covered in ice, finds a new study led by UCL (University College London) researchers.

The study, published in the Journal of the Geological Society of London, found that the Port Askaig Formation, composed of layers of rock up to 1.1km thick, was likely laid down between 662 to 720 million years ago during the Sturtian glaciation – the first of two global freezes thought to have triggered the development of complex, multicellular life.

One exposed outcrop of the formation, found on Scottish islands called the Garvellachs, is unique as it shows the transition into “snowball Earth” from a previously warm, tropical environment.

Other rocks that formed at a similar time, for instance in North America and Namibia, are missing this transition.

Senior author Professor Graham Shields, of UCL Earth Sciences, said: “These rocks record a time when Earth was covered in ice. All complex, multicellular life, such as animals, arose out of this deep freeze, with the first evidence in the fossil record appearing shortly after the planet thawed.”

First author Elias Rugen, a PhD candidate at UCL Earth Sciences, said: “Our study provides the first conclusive age constraints for these Scottish and Irish rocks, confirming their global significance.

“The layers of rock exposed on the Garvellachs are globally unique. Underneath the rocks laid down during the unimaginable cold of the Sturtian glaciation are 70 metres of older carbonate rocks formed in tropical waters. These layers record a tropical marine environment with flourishing cyanobacterial life that gradually became cooler, marking the end of a billion years or so of a temperate climate on Earth.

“Most areas of the world are missing this remarkable transition because the ancient glaciers scraped and eroded away the rocks underneath, but in Scotland by some miracle the transition can be seen.”

The Sturtian glaciation lasted approximately 60 million years and was one of two big freezes that occurred during the Cryogenian Period (between 635 and 720 million years ago). For billions of years prior to this period, life consisted only of single-celled organisms and algae.

After this period, complex life emerged rapidly, in geologic terms, with most animals today similar in fundamental ways to the types of life forms that evolved more than 500 million years ago.

One theory is that the hostile nature of the extreme cold may have prompted the emergence of altruism, with single-celled organisms learning to co-operate with each other, forming multicellular life.

The advance and retreat of the ice across the planet was thought to have happened relatively quickly, over thousands of years, because of the albedo effect – that is, the more ice there is, the more sunlight is reflected back into space, and vice versa.

Professor Shields explained: “The retreat of the ice would have been catastrophic. Life had been used to tens of millions of years of deep freeze. As soon as the world warmed up, all of life would have had to compete in an arms race to adapt. Whatever survived were the ancestors of all animals.”

For the new study, the research team collected samples of sandstone from the 1.1km-thick Port Askaig Formation as well as from the older, 70-metre thick Garbh Eileach Formation underneath.

They analysed tiny, extremely durable minerals in the rock called zircons. These can be precisely dated as they contain the radioactive element uranium, which converts (decays) to lead at a steady rate. The zircons together with other geochemical evidence suggest the rocks were deposited between 662 and 720 million years ago.

The researchers said the new age constraints for the rocks may provide the evidence needed for the site to be declared as a marker for the start of the Cryogenian Period.

This marker, known as a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP), is sometimes referred to as a golden spike, as a gold spike is driven into the rock to mark the boundary.

GSSPs attract visitors from around the world and in some cases museums have been established at the sites.

A group from the International Commission on Stratigraphy, a part of the International Union of Geological Sciences, visited the Garvellachs in July to assess the case for a golden spike on the archipelago. Currently, the islands are only accessible by chartering a boat or by sailing or kayaking to them.

TOP IMAGE: Artist's rendition of a fully-frozen Snowball Earth with no remaining liquid surface water. CREDIT Oleg Kuznetsov

CENTRE IMAGE: A view of Garbh Eileach, the largest island in the Garvellach island chain where the gradational transition into snowball Earth is recorded. Credit Credit: Graham Shields

LOWER IMAGE: An outcrop called ‘the Bubble’ on Eileach an Naoimh (Holy Isle). It shows a huge white rock fragment, tens of metres across, which was originally part of the underlying rock sequence. The layering in the carbonate rock has been squeezed tightly under immense pressure and transported by thick ice sheets to its final resting as one of many different rock fragments within a moraine. Credit Graham Shields

BOTTOM IMAGE: Standing on limestone beds of the pre-glacial Garvellach Formation, looking North from Garbh Eileach over to Dun Chonnuil. Due to tectonic tilting, the sedimentary layers get younger, and closer to the onset of glaciation, as you move to the right. Credit Elias Rugen

#science #space #astronomy #physics #news #astrophysics #earth science

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forst-some-guy · 2 years ago

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are you working on a sequel?

YES. I am working on a sequel. A bit ago I posted a sample of my sequel regarding Princess Iron Fan and her name.

I always wondered why people call her princess when she’s supposed to be a queen of the Bull Demon Kingdom, but then I realized that’s she could’ve been a divine princess before she became a pseudo-demon. I thought, “What if she, deep down, respects her former title more than her current one?” Maybe being a heavenly princess impacted her so much that she chooses to be regarded by one millennia after her fall.

From there things have kindof snowballed into a sequel about her character and grief and how she influences Wukong and Macaque’s healing.

I realize that the potential sequel after this one about shadowpeach is probably much more anticipated since PIF doesn’t get much attention in the fandom, but I think her story can work rlly well with our favorite monkeys’.

(Dw it’s not just gonna be abt her, more like her and how her opinions of Wukong and her protectiveness over Macaque impacts their relationship).

#lego monkie kid #lmk fanfiction #shadowpeach #macaque can hear the future and past bc i said so #this is talked abt a little #princess iron fan #QUEEN iron fan??#journey to the west

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repairingtomorrow · 2 years ago

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Operation: Poisoned Earth

(This story is another type of writings I'll do. They're going to be more "set up" types. Hopefully they don't end up too boring, but I feel it's inevitable so bear with me)

To Master List

The Amazon Forest, on the route to Ecopoint: Amazonia - Five months before the Null Sector attack on Paris.

Mei let out a yelp as she bounced in the driver seat of the car. "Ugh, why couldn't we have paved the road when we built the ecopoint here?" She complained, adjusting her glasses. Snowball was strapped into the seat next to her, making a beep that sounded like a sigh. After a few more minutes, she pulls up to the ecopoint. It was a grand base, built around a large, thick tree trunk. "We made it, Snowball. This part of the forest looks fine so far, the damage must not have made it here yet." Mei walked to the back of the car and pulled out her luggage, and slid the backpack that powered her weapon onto her back.

The door slid open and she walked into the base. It was dark, and a thin layer of dust settled over everything. "Shut down too...I'm not surprised. Lets hope they were collecting data like we were in Antarctica." Mei started heading toward the data room, when she heard footsteps. "Hello?" She called out, readying her Endothermic Blaster. She crept over, nervously scanning the room. "Don't shoot! I'm coming out!" A man's voice called, and Mei gasped in fear. The man stepped out into the room with his hands up, and she sent an ice spike at him. He quickly dodged it. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She squeaked, putting away her weapon.

The man flashed her a charming smile. "That's all right, I didn't mean to startle you." Mei scanned the young man. He was tall with long, flowing white hair. She examined him closely. "Wait, I think I have seen you somewhere before." He shrugged. "The wanted posters don't really do me justice. I'm Niran Pruksamanee, but you can call me Lifeweaver. And you are Doctor Mei-Ling Zhou, aren't you?" Mei looked surprised. "You've heard of me?" She asked. He nodded. "Of course. I read your journals! They are quite fascinating." He chuckled, and she grew flustered.

Niran walked to a shut down computer and sighed. "What are you doing here?" Mei asked, searching the room. "I'm here because I heard that the Amazon Forest was rapidly dying. Brazil and other countries claim it's because of air pollution. While that's technically true, it shouldn't be to this extent and this fast." He replied, looking out the window. "I'm assuming that's why you're here too." She nodded, walking to the power room. "I hope you realize you're trespassing." The climatologist chided, examining the power stations. Niran followed her and he laughed. "Yes, I need to see the data they gathered. Also, aren't you trespassing too?" He said, plugging in power cores with her. She scoffed and looked at the power levels. The ecopoint slowly buzzed to life.

"Perfect!" He cheered, clasping his hands together. Mei smiled, and then walked back to the main room. "Let's see what we have." She said, bringing up the data on the holo table. "Oh my gosh! It's not air pollution, Niran! There's something wrong with the roots, not the leaves like it would for air pollution!" Niran grew serious, looking at the diagram for the trees. "Someone is poisoning them at the root." He said, gripping the table. Mei sighed and walked away. "I can't really do anything about it. I'm a climatologist, not a biologist." Niran started for the exit. "But I am. Come on, lets grab some samples and figure out what's going on here."

They both got in the car and drove out to the sickly parts of the forest. "Wow. I knew it was bad, but I didn't think it would be like this." Mei looked at the fallen trees. The trunks were still strong, but the roots could not hold it anymore. She ran over and cut samples of the root, while Niran looked around. He closely examined the ground, and noticed tire tracks. "Dr. Zhou." He said, crouching down to look at them. She walked over. "We're dealing with bioterrorism." He nodded. "Good thing you brought your blaster, hm?" They both ran back to the car, and took off in the direction of the tire tracks.

They ended up at a healthier area of the forest, and they hid in some bushes. Mei took some samples of healthy trees to compare, while Niran watched the clearing. Some soldiers wearing red and black were about to inject the roots of the trees with something--persumably poison. He flicked his right hand, spikes popping out on his prosthetic arm. Mei wrung her hands nervously. "Niran? I don't think we should attack. It is just the two of us." The biologist flashed her a smile. "It'll be okay, we have each other. Besides, I can heal you if we have to. We don't want them to keep killing the forest." Mei sighed and prepared her blaster. "You're right."

After a few heartbeats, they jumped out of the bushes. The soldiers noticed them and started shooting at the duo. Mei quickly made an Ice Wall, and they took cover. Lifeweaver looked out from the side and shot a volley of thorns into a couple of soldiers. This subsequently caused them to drop their weapons and pin them to a tree trunk. Mei reached around and shot some ice spikes into a few more, hitting their helmets and knocking them out. The ice wall eventually collapsed and the other soldiers started shooting. Lifeweaver manages to dodge their shots narrowly, and he fires back, pinning more men. Mei then starts to freeze a soldier in front of her, when another two try to ambush her. Niran pulls her away to his side. "I've got you!" He shouted over the sounds of battle.

After a few more minutes, all the soldiers were incapacitated. "Well done, Dr. Zhou! You're much scrappier than I thought!" Niran praised her. Mei blushed. "Thanks, you too..." She replied. "I'll take care of the soldiers so they don't try this again for a while. You grab the toxin, maybe this can be stopped before it's too late." He said, walking over to the guards. Mei grabbed the syringes, while Niran grabbed the weapons and their communication devices. They put the items in the car and left.

The next day, Mei woke up and put on water for tea. She yawned and sat down at a table in the main room. "Good morning!" Niran cheered, giving her a wave. She waved back, then paused. "Did you stay up all night?!" He nodded, giving her a smile. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to use my biolight against the toxin to make a cure." Mei walked over and put her glasses on. "Did it work?" She asked. "I think so. We just need to plant the seed." He held up a metallic looking seed. "Should I let you go to bed? We can plant it later today." She asked, her voice full of concern. He tried to suppress a yawn, then nodded. "Yeah, probably. I would like to be coherent for this moment."

Later in the day, the duo went to the area of the forest where it was dying. Niran started to dig a hole in the ground. Then, he touched the top of the metal seed, which made it blossom into a flower resembling a lotus. It had a vial in it, presumably the anti-toxin. "It'll take some time, but we'll ideally see improvements." He said, placing and covering the device. Mei smiled. "I hope it works." He stood up, then leaned against the car. "I'll let you know if it does." She looked around at the forest. Many of the trees and bushes looked sick, withering and falling over. It was a sad sight to see, but part of her had hope it would heal. She was desperately trying to fix the world before it fell apart. She was an optimist, and she can tell that Lifeweaver is a kindred soul.

"Um, Niran? Do you...want to join Overwatch?" Mei asked, wringing her hands. He raised an eyebrow, then smiled at her. "If it means if I get to save the world with you, then of course!" Mei did a little happy bounce. "Yay! We'll go to the nearest city and go our separate ways for now. Overwatch isn't exactly...reinstated yet. But when it does, I'll contact you!" She explained. "Sounds like a plan. Looking forward to it." The duo drove off, looking forward to a healed future.

(Thanks for making it this far! Hope you enjoyed!)

#overwatch #mei ling zhou #niran pruksamanee #my overwatch rewrite #lifeweaver #mei overwatch

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sonicasura · 1 month ago

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That would help a lot really. And I don't speak only for myself either when it comes to those links. No matter what one does it here on tumblr, the tags are gonna become a mess one way or the other. Its a inevitable outcome.

Don't forget a face full of slduge too, should the one chasing Skully being more persistent then he likes. Or maybe just screming very loud right into the ear should he be captured by said chaser.

Oh they are most certainly relieved, until they learn that his combat power will incrase dramatically when in battle. And what his special ability is. I see a lot of scientists lossing their minds over these two at least half the time at the minimum. They are gonna be very persistent in their own way to try and get samples and approved missions to try and find the nest. Which will be a wild goose chase since both Kafka and Skully lives in the city not in the woods.

And thats just on the mild side. Some of the more crazy or too eager ones are no doubt making plans to hope fully actally get to capute the whelp to do some test they can't in the wild. Completely forgetting that its a snowball chance in hell such thing will ever be allowed whatsoever. Normal and weaker whelps, specially if they know its has become a orphan, is all well and find. But one who's parent is a 9.8 on the fortitude scale? Isao might personally knock them out with a blow to head if they continue to insist.

The only way I see that happening is when its revealed who No 8 is, and thuse they can being these tests. But under very strict supervision as none want Kafka to go full kaiju mode should Skully feel he is in danger or get hurt.

Soshiro is not the only one Skully will seek out in the force Sonic. Reno is there as well, given the kid is already in on the secret and Skully already knows he can trust blusih-silver haired boy. Big brother is always safe to be with after all. Mina is also someone I can see Skully go to too if neither Reno or Soshiro is available, given he also knows her through his mama and the visits the woman take when she can.

Btw way Sonic, will Kafka have to move to a bigger apartment due to Skully? No offence meant, but I can't see Kafka's place having enough space for the little whelp in the long term. It barely looks big enough for Kafka himself.

And this might be very crule of me, but what do you think will happen if Skully appeared in the entrance exam? Specifially when 9 resurrect that dead kaiju that Kikoru just killed and both she and Skully are in danger? Or when Reno and Iharu face 9 for the first time? I get the feeling Kafka would be one step away from full riot mode either way. Maybe even worse for that matter.

Though if it is the latter, it means the musrhoom will now know of both Kafka and Skully, and most like try and capture the latter. Which will not really end well for the musrhoom.

Tumblr is definitely a lot less organized than one may think.

Skully will spit up in someone's face honestly if push comes to shove. The stuff will dry out human skin and make someone sick so it's best to clean it off quickly. It is made out of waste particles in the body after all. Defense Force don't usually get a pass as they wear masks for a reason.

Reno and Mina are definitely on the list of people that Skully would go to. Hell, it isn't uncommon for someone in this small group to be called because the whelp is being extra problematic. The little guy is pretty chill unless told otherwise.

Isao has received requests for more questionable experiments with the whelp. Skully is the only recorded Amplifier class kaiju even w/o the Mimic ability. No other species has been shown to enhance another's power before, nevermind symbiotically.

The only test he gave the greenlight to so far is the nest search. Being able to monitor No.8's movements at some capacity will come in handy, especially if the family ever gets any bigger. Even once they know about Kafka's secret, certain experiments with Skully shall remain difficult or banned either way.

Our himbo does move out of the apartment as he's pretty clueless on his whelp's potential growth rate. Cue him squatting inside an abandoned warehouse until the man finds a place since a nest and food storage must be available to keep his kaiju side at peace. Kafka is caring for a whelp so these instincts are much worse if certain things are absent.

Things will be even chaotic once No. 9 finds out about Skully's existence. If we're going with Single dad then the earliest is the Entrance Exam as the little guy would want to cheer Reno on. The Mushroom Man will try to capture the whelp especially for his unique amplifying ability.

A massive death wish in my opinion as Kafka will go into Riot Mode for Skully's sake. It's slightly more controlled since this is a mutual goal between him and Tiny than with Canon Isao. The whelp is able to calm his Mama even in such a berserk state as their species are very familial in nature.

#sonicasura #sonicasura answers #asks #gigilalaka #kaiju no. 8 #kaiju no 8 #kaijuno.8 #kaijuno8 #kaiju number 8 #kn8 #kaijuu no. 8 #kaijuu 8 gou #monster no 8 #monster no. 8 #skully #skully hibino #skully hoshina #kn8 oc #like a starfish

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literaturereviewhelp · 2 months ago

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The study case is called the New York youth violence study, it involved the interviewing of several youth from two dangerous neighborhoods in New York, over a period of three years.2. The participants of the study were chosen using three methods, people convicted for illegal gun possession or a violent offence, people who had been hospitalized with injuries from violence, those actively involved in violence in the last six months.3. The independent variables are; the number of cases & the number of interviewees. The dependent values are; the percentage analysis results.4. This case study is can be generalized, this is because the world is full of cities like ne4w York where there are dangerous neighborhoods. Thus, the results that were attained from the case study can be applicable in all general areas. 5. The data in this study is qualitative since each percentage of the data depicts the intensity of the problem; qualitative data is data does not involve behavioral study.6. The author’s hypothesis is these youths and young men had developed internalized scripts that help them respond in dangerous situations. The author says that the problems will persist in the younger generation if not addressed immediately.7. This case study had a control study that was conducted in 1991 involving a number of U.S Army solders, who had fought on the war fronts.8. The method of data collection in this case study is the interview based data collection method.9. The author can use the results from this case study and compare them to results after a youth treatment program; he will be able to see the extent to which the treatment program has helped the youth.10. The effect due to the involvement of the national institute of justice will have; some of the youths have spent time in jail for crimes committed and may not feel free to attend any function that is promoted by the institute.11. A theory is a statement that may not be necessarily true but has facts and evidence to support it.12. Research is important in criminal justice to help in the understanding of criminals and their livelihoods so that the justice system can make good rulings on the type of punishment to be given.13. An independent variable is what the analyst changes of enacts in order to carry out the analysis, the dependent variable depends on the outcome of the independent variable.14. The four types of research areQuantitative researchQualitative researchPragmatic approach to research (using fixed methods)Advocacy approach to research method.15. Qualitative data example is the information that the analysts of the case study attained from the study that is what causes the high rates of violence; Qualitative data can be used to show the extent of a problem. Two results from survey can be compared by looking the intensity and the effect of the problem.16. In Deductive Reasoning, you start with a hypothesis, which is used to develop your argument and moves to specific reality or fact.17. Validity in a study is the determined by how effectively the study was carried out. It is very important since a case study should be used as a reference model to other cases.18. Five things consent should containName of consenterWhat is being consented toWhen the consent took placeTerms and conditionsSignature of the consenter19. 4 Units of Measurementa. Qualityb. Quantityc. Advisory20. Snowball sampling is a technique for developing research samples where the existing subjects recruit future subjects from among their acquaintances. It can be used to analyze for crime causes in dangerous areas where a victim of an attack names a friend or person who has undergone the same and can be interviewed.21. A focus group is a qualitative method of research, here the group is asked questions on believes, opinions and perceptions towards a product, concept, service or an idea. A focus group is a good method of research when if comes to matters that affect the society at large e.g. in the study of drug abuse.22. A researcher may have the problem of time constraints for open ended questions and will finally not get the best answer and results from the interview. It may be difficult for a researcher to get the respondents full attention.23. Going native refers to case where the researcher stops acting as a researcher and becomes a full member of the group, participating fully in the group events. Read the full article

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erigold13261 · 10 months ago

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… I like to think that that dream of yours is some flavor of canon… with Ilia’s powers, Mahito can observe any timeline/AU that Ilia is in! (Does Mahito have any favorite AUs?)

Oh yea! That is why he was looking at timelines!

I have this alt alt timeline where Ilia is not a universe jumping character and just someone who can see into alternative timelines (she, in this universe I think, ended up being picked up by Satoru close to the beginning because she saw the Roppongi Curse jump out the window and showed signs of being able to see curses so Satoru took her in and made her a student).

But yea, at some point Ilia revealed the power to look into alt universes and I don't know who was first to ask for an alternative universe to see, possibly Satoru. But what I do remember was Yuta asking, and we got to see him talking to Rika at a customer service desk as he was a customer service worker while Rika was a delivery/order picker and was like on break or something. The two were shit talking Mahito who was also an employee there, and a humanoid Dagon ended up walking by and helping with orders as Rika wasn't doing shit at the moment as she was talking with her fiance.

THEN it turned to Mahito asking for a random timeline related to him, and he got a few with him working at the same job as the Rika and Yuta above where (he was really good at his job but was kinda weird and so not a lot of people actually liked him. Rika actually made the joke that Yuta was intolerant and how would Muta react to hearing Yuta didn't like a guy because of his scars, and then Yuta got defensive and had to explain it wasn't about Mahito's scare but about how he acts fucking weird and how a lot of the times he needed to report shit to Satoru or Suguru the managers.).

But yea, after that one we got the universe where the curses were fully encased instead of being exercised. Because in this universe, sorcerers thought it would be best to not release all that cursed energy into the world by exercising cursed spirits, but instead keeping them captive. ESPECIALLY the special grade ones.

In this one, Mechamaru and Yuji were used to get samples from Mahito, as neither could be affected by his cursed technique (at least his cursed corpse puppets couldn't for Mechamaru), and Yuji would would directly hit Mahito's soul whenever he tried to move (even from pain thanks to Mechamaru taking samples). So yea, very sad AU for Mahito, even cried in a pathetic way in pain and fear as he had no leverage or control of the situation (so obviously this was not his favorite AU out of the ones shown. Actually probably his least favorite and he said to go to another universe instead).

I think afterward we got an AU where the JJK characters are actors and we saw the scene where Nobara called Mahito a bitch, and actor Mahito burst out laughing and they had to cut the scene. It was a much more light hearted universe, based off of those drawings where the JJK universe was a show (I don't know the artist sorry). Actor Mahito was very good but had a slip up moment thanks to actor Nobara's improv, which is rare but it shows just how amazing acotr Nobara really is!

Either that or he saw the scene where he was running away from Yuji and crying to live. Throwing snowballs/mud and stuff.

After that I think we got the scene where my swap Yuji kills swap rainbow dragon (Tatsuki) in front of swap Mahito, like how Mahito killed Junpei. Very much Swap Mahito crying and starting to fight swap Yuji.

Though honestly there were a lot of instances where I was debating what scene OG Mahito saw for his swap universe. Another one was swap Mahito training against swap Rika and her taking a LOT of liberties in "training" Mahito by just beating the crap out of him and mentally tormenting him with her "Death Trap" technique. Literally Miyo or Sukuna had to come in and tell her to stop because what she was doing was WAY too far for any training practice.

And either after THAT or possibly before the swap stuff is the universe where Yuji and Mahito are both schoolmates and beating the shit out of each other. Mahito getting his shit kicked in by Yuji even thought Mahito was the one who did the jumping at first. Again, Mahito ended up crying in fear and pain after he realized he wasn't winning this fight against Yuji.

So yea. Mahito did not really have a favorite universe out of any of these. Mainly because they all were him getting his ass kicked, crying, or breaking character. Before he could ask for more universes, I ended up snapping out of my dream (either it was a full dream or a daydream I can't remember), so he didn't get his fun little AU where he was the cool character.

#jjktalk #eritalks #noart #asks

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rpmtrish · 1 year ago

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RPM Mag releases the May 2024 Issue! Check it out Today!

Join RPM Magazine for another fantastic issue with the release of the May 2024 Issue. Click the cover below to view the sample copy or subscribe to receive the full magazine. A limited number of printed copies are available if you are interested reach out to [email protected] for more details. FEATURE CAR - NEXT LEVEL - Ziff Hudson's vicious Vette runs 3s in the 1/8th! Ziff Hudson is one of those names that seems to always be the topic of conversation in the world of small-tire drag racing. He’s fast and he wins. He started racing at the tender age of 17 in his '71 small block nitrous-assisted Nova, dominating local street car classes at several tracks. While life took hold, he took some time off for his two girls and started his towing company at age 21; Ziff never lost the addiction to drag racing. SUPER COUPE - Corey Binkiewicz' first build went way further than he could have ever imagined. After a steep learning curve at young age, hopping up his 1990 Ford Thunderbird Super Coupe came naturally to Corey Binkiewicz, so he ran with it. “My parents always said my first word was ‘car’,” Corey said with a smile, “My dad was always working cars or the house and I was familiar with tools, etc. So, once I was old enough to get in trouble, I was constantly taking things apart to see how they worked or if there was a way to ‘soup’ them up.” ICONIC - This stunning 1985 Chevy C10 has a blown small block to go along with its good looks! Third Gen, Square Body, C-Series, no matter what you want to call them, Chevrolet’s 1973 to 1991 model full size pickups have become iconic and are now one of their most sought after generations of trucks. They are getting snapped up for street machines and street/strip builds alike and this low-slung 1985 C10 of Chad Gower is an example of the latter. It snowballed from his first vehicle that he drove daily through high school and college, into a nasty blown small block that he can take his kids out for ice cream in and then go hurt some feelings at the track. SUPER KID - Drag racers take note, there's a new kid in town, and his name is....Most every story in the world of fast cars and motorsports starts with something like, “I have been into anything with wheels since I was a kid”. For Brodie “Super Kid” Brown, it all started on his 1st birthday when he was given a Pocket bike. While he couldn’t ride it yet, his parents Jackie and Rob would push him around on the front lawn of their property. HIDDEN GEM - Barry Cunningham's 1940 Willys Coupe - HOT ROD DREAM - Barry Cunningham’s 1940 Willys is one sweet ride! Barry chose the cool hot rod rake with the rear sitting just a bit higher than the front. The Willys is just one of those cars that you can get way with darn near anything when it comes to stance. #ziffhudson #C7corvette #Iconic #Supercoupe #Barrycunningham #coreybinkiewicz #brodiebrown #chadgower #nextlevel #hiddengems #rpmmag #rpmmagazine #rpm25yrs Read the full article

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jcmarchi · 1 year ago

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Meteorites - Earth's Building Blocks - Contained Water - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/meteorites-earths-building-blocks-contained-water-technology-org/

Meteorites - Earth's Building Blocks - Contained Water - Technology Org

When our Sun was a young star 4.56 billion years ago, what is now our solar system was just a disk of rocky dust and gas. Over tens of millions of years, tiny dust pebbles coalesced, like a snowball rolling larger and larger, to become kilometre-sized “planetesimals”—the building blocks of Earth and the other inner planets.

Image credit: Caltech

Researchers have long tried to understand the ancient environments in which these planetesimals formed. For example, water is now abundant on Earth, but has it always been? In other words, did the planetesimals that accreted into our planet contain water?

Now, a new study combines meteorite data with thermodynamic modeling and determines that the earliest inner solar system planetesimals must have formed in the presence of water, challenging current astrophysical models of the early solar system.

The research was conducted in the laboratory of Paul Asimow (MS ’93, PhD ’97), Eleanor and John R. McMillan Professor of Geology and Geochemistry and appears in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Researchers have samples of the solar system’s earliest years in the form of iron meteorites. These meteorites are the remnants of the metallic cores of the earliest planetesimals in our solar system that avoided accretion into a forming planet and instead orbited around the solar system before ultimately falling onto our planet.

The chemical compositions of meteorites such as these can reveal information about the environments in which they formed and answer questions such as whether the building blocks of Earth formed far from our Sun, where cooler temperatures allowed the existence of water ice, or if they instead formed closer to the Sun, where the heat would have evaporated any water and resulted in dry planetesimals.

If the latter is correct, then Earth would have formed dry and gained its water through some other method later in its evolution.

Though the meteorites themselves do not contain any water, scientists can infer its long-lost presence by examining its impact on other chemical elements.

Water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. In the presence of other elements, water will often transfer its oxygen atom away in a process called oxidation. For example, iron metal (Fe) reacts with water (H2O) to form iron oxide (FeO).

A sufficient excess of water can drive the process further, producing Fe2O3 and FeO(OH), the ingredients of rust. Mars, for example, is covered in rusty iron oxide, providing strong evidence that the Red Planet once had water.

Damanveer Grewal, a former Caltech postdoctoral scholar and first author of the new study, specializes in using chemical signatures from iron meteorites to gather information about the early solar system.

Though any iron oxide from the earliest planetesimals is now long gone, the team could determine how much iron would have been oxidized by examining the metallic nickel, cobalt, and iron contents of these meteorites. These three elements should be present in roughly equal ratios relative to other primitive materials, so if any iron was “missing,” this would imply that the iron had been oxidized.

“The planet-formation community has somewhat neglected iron meteorites, but they constitute rich stores of information about the earliest period of solar system history, once you work out how to read the signals,” says Asimow. “The difference between what we measured in the inner solar system meteorites and what we expected implies an oxygen activity about 10,000 times higher.”

The researchers found that those iron meteorites thought to be derived from the inner solar system had about the same amount of missing iron metal as meteorites derived from the outer solar system. For this to be the case, the planetesimals from both groups of meteorites must have formed in a part of the solar system where water was present, implying that the building blocks of planets accreted water right from the beginning.

The signatures of water in these planetesimals challenge many of the current astrophysical models of the solar system. If planetesimals formed at Earth’s current orbital position, water would have existed only if the inner solar system was much cooler than models currently predict. Alternatively, they may have formed further out, where it was cooler, and migrated in.

“If water was present in the early building blocks of our planet, other important elements like carbon and nitrogen were likely present as well,” says Grewal. “The ingredients for life may have been present in the seeds of rocky planets right from the start.”

“However, the method only detects water that was used up in oxidizing iron,” adds Asimow. “It is not sensitive to excess water that might go on to form the ocean. So, the conclusions of this study are consistent with Earth accretion models that call for late addition of even more water-rich material.”

Written by Lori Dajose

Source: Caltech

Meteorite gifts – find the perfect meteorite gift for someone out of this world!

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smartplantationmanagementsyst · 2 years ago

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Securing the Digital Frontier: Exploring the Global Cyber Security Market and Emerging Threat Landscape

Market Overview: According to the DataM market research report, the global cyber security market reached US$ 163.5 billion in 2022 and is projected to witness lucrative growth by reaching up to US$ 200.6 billion by 2030. The market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 11.3% during the forecast period (2023-2030). This can be mainly attributed to the increasing number of cyberattacks, growing spending on cloud computing technologies, rising adoption of cloud encryption solutions, surging acceptance of Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD), snowballing implementation of Machine learning (ML), computer vision, big data analytics, and Internet of Things (IoT), and increasing need to safeguard computers, networks, and databases from unauthorized access, coupled with an intense focus toward meeting compliance requirements. Moreover, the rapid adoption of cloud computing technologies is the key factor resulting in the increasing implementation of cloud-based IT security solutions, which support the market growth globally. Nowadays, organizations are focusing on transferring information to the cloud owing to enhanced accessibility, reduced IT expenditure, high-storage capacity, and easy integration of software with the cloud platform. Hence, with the deployment of cloud computing technology, the market is projected to achieve significant growth in the coming years.

Market Drivers: In recent years, targeted attacks have increased, infiltrating targets& network infrastructure while maintaining anonymity. Attackers with a specific objective typically target endpoints, networks, on- premises devices, on-premises applications, cloud-based applications, data, and other IT infrastructures. The primary objective of targeted attacks is to breach the network of the targeted company or organization and take sensitive data. As a result of these targeted attacks, organizations suffer business disruptions, intellectual property loss, financial loss, and the loss of critical and sensitive consumer data. Targeted cyberattacks have an impact not only on the targeted organizations but also on domestic and international consumers. Market Restraints: In an increasingly digitized world, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be overstated. With the rapid growth of technology and the internet, cyber threats have become a significant concern for individuals, businesses, and governments worldwide. The major restraint in the global cybersecurity market is the lack of awareness and a shortage of skilled professionals. Market Opportunities: As cyber threats become more sophisticated, organizations will seek comprehensive cybersecurity services beyond traditional solutions. Managed security services, incident response services, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing will be in high demand. Companies providing specialized cybersecurity services will have a competitive edge. For more details on this report - Request for Sample

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Recent Developments in the Industry:  On July 2022, Bishop Fox Inc. raised $75 million in funding as the company set itself for a worldwide expansion through the channel in the upcoming years. Carrick Capital Partners led this series B funding. The company Bishop Fox has a platform called Cosmos that provides simulated cyberattacks to detect and identify various vulnerabilities in the customers IT systems. The above funding will be focused on enriching the core technology platform of Bishop Fox.  On March 2022, a senior official said TCS's cyber security deals increased 3X over the past 12 months. The big IT services provider anticipates growing by 3,000–3,500 personnel in FY23, just for cyber security. Deals involving cyber security for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have multiplied by at least 2.5-3 times during the past year. According to a senior TCS executive, the major IT service provider is already expanding its offers in this field. In FY23, it plans to hire between 3,000 and 3,500 new people just for cyber security.  On May 2022, a new office for Capgemini with a dedicated Cyber Defense Center (CDC) and a Cloud services Center was established in Malaga, Spain. The CDC will fortify the Group's global network of Cyber Defense Centers, focusing on incident response, ERP security, and cybersecurity services utilizing artificial intelligence (AI). To assist national and international businesses in pursuing the goal of the intelligent industry, Capgemini will also offer specialist cloud technology services in Malaga.

Market Segmentation: As per the research analysis, the global cyber security market is segmented by solution into threat intelligence & response, identity, and access management, data loss prevention, threat mitigation, encryption, firewall, unified threat management, managed security, and others; by type into network security, cloud security, application security, end-point security, wireless network security, and others; and by industrial sector into BSFI, IT & telecom, government, healthcare, aerospace, defense & intelligence, and others.  Based on type, in 2021, the network security segment held more than a 20% share of the global market. The segmental growth is attributed to an increase in the number of malware assaults and the adoption of the BYOD trend. Network security includes firewall, antivirus/antimalware, Unified Threat Management (UTM), NAC, Intrusion Detection System/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS), Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation, Data Loss Prevention (DLP), secure web gateways, vulnerability scanning, sandboxing, and others.

Geographical Classification: The global cyber security market is segmented into North America, Europe, South America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America Cyber Security Market:

North America has the largest share of the cyber security market and is likely to maintain its dominance during the forecast period. The increased use of cloud-based solutions by numerous sectors, including military and healthcare, as a result of technical improvements and government spending, drives market expansion. Furthermore, the market grew as a result of the widespread use of cybersecurity solutions in North America, particularly in the government and education sectors. For instance, in June 2019, the IT system of the University of California was involved in a ransomware attack by a hacking group known as Netwalker. Asia-Pacific Cyber Security Market: Due to an increase in external threats such as virus operations and phishing from different neighboring nations, Asia Pacific is predicted to demonstrate a consistent growth in cyber security. The strong need for cyber security in China to safeguard national and state sovereignty, as well as to close the gap with international counterparts in the U.S. and the European Union, supports the expansion of the cyber security industry.

Competitive Landscape: The major global players include Check Point Software Technologies, Fire Eye Inc., Intel Security, Cisco Systems, Inc., IBM Corporation, Symantec Corporation, Dell Technologies. Inc., Cyber Ark Software, Inc., Palo Alto Group, and Herjavec Group. Additional Benefits Post Purchase: 1) Unlimited Analyst support for a period of 1 year. 2) Any query with regard to the scope offered will be addressed within 24- 48 hours. 3) An Excel sheet with market numbers will be provided separately. The Full Report has the below insights:

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o By Solution: Threat Intelligence & Response, Identity and access management, Data Loss prevention, Threat mitigation, Encryption, Firewall, Unified Threat Management, Managed Security, Others

o By Type: Network Security, Cloud security, Application Security, End-Point security, Wireless network Security, Others o By Industrial Sector: BSFI, IT & Telecom, Government, Healthcare, Aerospace, Defense, and Intelligence, Others o By Region: North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa

 Identify commercial opportunities in global cyber security market by analyzing trends and co-development deals.  The report also covers data insights on various industry forces such as Porter's five forces analysis, supply chain analysis, pricing analysis, and regulatory analysis.  Excel data sheet with thousands of data points of global cyber security market-level 4/5 segmentation.  PDF report with the most relevant analysis cogently put together after exhaustive qualitative interviews and in-depth market study.  Product mapping in Excel for the key product of all major market players  The report will provide access to approximately 61 market data tables, 64 figures and close to 180 pages.

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#cyber security market #DataM Intelligence

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thedisneychef · 2 years ago

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African Meat Bobotie Recipe Easy – Boma and Tusker House

When I decided to make this recipe, it was only because it has been requested several times in the last few months. Honesty, I’ve never had it in the parks and looking at the recipe itself this looked totally unappetizing. Raisins, sugar, and meat? I just wasn’t seeing the attraction. It just seemed… Well… Gross. Even my husband, who’s usually up for anything Disney food related was making other plans for dinner. It was just too exotic for him. I was dreading putting this on the table for dinner. There was no way this was passing the picky eater kid test. But this is a signature dish, a classic recipe from Boma and Tusker House. People rave about it and every time I go to Tusker House, the bobotie pan is completely empty. “You have to go to Boma” is always paired with “try the bobotie!” on Disney food forums. Surely, this has to be better than it looks? More Delicious Recipes You Will Love: - Mealie Pap – Tusker House - Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Cake: Recipe and Instructions - Mickey Pretzel Recipe From Disney Parks I think I started to clue in to just how delicious this recipe was after I sampled while I was cooking. The smell was certainly enticing (it reminded me of the samosa stand at our local farmer market) and almost exotic… And when I took a sample spoonful, which shortly turned into a sample serving, I was in love. Sweet and savory with a great, creamy texture and an unbelievable aroma, I couldn’t wait to try it when it was finished with the egg custard topping. My husband wasn’t sold until he saw it come out of the oven and “I can make my own dinner, it’s not a problem” turned into a tepid “I guess I’ll try it.” But even he, who’s a much less adventurous eater than I am, really enjoyed it and that first uneasy bite turned into a request for seconds and I think even thirds. I’m amazed to say that this even passed the kid test… Everybody ate their food with a minimum of complaining and truly enjoyed it. Who knew something with crazy ingredients that I barely wanted to make would turn into a family favorite? I certainly didn’t. Meat bobotie is an African meat pie dish (introduced to Africa by Dutch traders of all things), almost like cottage or shepherds pie in England. However, instead of being topped with potatoes, it’s topped with eggs and the meat itself has a sweet, very mild spicy kick with nuts and raisins added for texture and flavor contrast. It’s so hard to describe, but honestly one of the most interesting dishes I’ve ever eaten and one I can’t recommend enough. Exotic, unique, really flavorful, and fairly easy to make. A great way to try some new flavors and foods while still using fairly common and “safe” ingredients for picky eaters. When I made this recipe, I used a meatloaf mix of beef, veal, and pork… Ground lamb isn’t something I can find in the grocery stores around here (not that there is a snowballs chance in summer that anybody here would eat lamb) and I felt that the meatloaf mix would give me meat that easily kept its shape after cutting while staying moist. While it’s been awhile that I used curry in a dish, I was instantly reminded (and thought I should remind readers) that the stuff stains like you wouldn’t believe. Clothes, counter tops, napkins, you name it. While a shot of bleach spray gets it out pretty easily, work with it carefully. My only other note was that this recipe does not call for using a water bath. However, I think that cooking this in a water bath may be actually better than just putting it in the oven. Not that going without it will ruin the meal, I think that if I had used it I’d have gotten a more even cook on the custard while reducing the time in the oven. No big deal. My most important note on prep for this is to make sure… Really, really, really, really sure… That when you drain the meat after it has been cooked on the stovetop, make sure you get as much fat out as absolutely possible. When it cooks in the oven, the fat actually seeps up around the edges and on to the custard, seriously impacting both cook time and the level of browning on the custard. If you find that fat has risen during baking onto the custard, gently use a spoon to try to scoop it out… And be warned again, the only thing that stains worse than curry is curry infused fat. I know how crazy this recipe sounds. Even typing it out, I can’t believe all of the ingredients came together into something that tastes as wonderful as it did. But honestly, this is one of my new favorite family meals. It may even be my new “company is coming over, let’s serve something neat” meal. It’s certainly well worth making and I promise, especially for the folks out there who need their Boma fix, this will hit the spot. In addition to the delicious food and recipes, Disney World is also known for its unique dining experiences, such as character dining and themed restaurants. Whether you want to have breakfast with Mickey Mouse, dine in a replica of a sci-fi drive-in theater at Hollywood Studios, or enjoy a meal with an ocean view at the Coral Reef Restaurant in Epcot, there's something for everyone. And with the help of Recipes Today and the How to Make category, you can even recreate some of these magical dining experiences in your own home. So why not start planning your next Disney-inspired meal or dining experience today? Read the full article

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paradisetemporarilymisplaced · 4 years ago

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So I was being a basic bitch the other day and listening to my true crime podcasts when it occurred to me just how suspicious Nile’s “death” would look to everyone not in the Guard, leading me to a train of thought that, 2200 words later, absolutely got away from me but I can’t let go so I’m inflicting it on all of you!

To set the stage, we know the movie takes place over approximately a week. Here’s what happens to Nile from the military’s point of view:

She dies is very seriously injured

She heals without a scratch

Just before she’s supposed to be shipped out to Germany, she vanishes, leaving two men concussed (and presumably reporting being knocked out by a woman with short hair wearing civilian clothes)

She goes AWOL for several days

They get word from the CIA that she is to be reported killed in action (details unclear)

So, at the beginning of this very weird week, the USMC has to tell Nile’s family of her death critical injury. What her family was told depends on how long she was dead – a Google search tells me that family will be notified in person within 8 hours of a soldier’s death, but we don’t know how long her first death lasted. For an injury, however, they’d get a phone call to notify them and the unit would arrange for them to visit as soon as the soldier is transferred out of a combat zone. Like I remember when I was in high school, a guy from my church who was a Marine was really seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Iraq and from what I could tell, his parents were told immediately and were flown out to Germany to see him, so it stands to reason that Nile’s family would have been informed relatively quickly after her throat was slashed, one way or another.

And then, she goes AWOL. Her family would be notified while the USMC tried to figure out where she went, not least because the military would want to know if she’s contacted them. (And it’s possible that her family may have been on the way to Germany to see her since we know that’s where she was supposed to go!) So for several days:

Nile’s mom and brother have no idea where she is

They know she was seriously injured and most certainly should not have been moving around on her own

They can’t get a hold of her

The military can’t tell them anything

And the next thing they know for sure is that she was “killed in action.” After being injured and vanishing into thin air. And they presumably cannot produce her body or any concrete evidence of her death. In any case, something sketchy is going on, so they’re like. SMELLS LIKE A MILITARY COVERUP.

In a surprise to probably no one, there is a well-documented legacy of mysterious US military deaths, particularly of women of color (TW for sexual assault in these links). The cases of LaVena Johnson and Vanessa Guillenin particular have made national news because of their families’ persistence in seeking justice. Likewise, Nile is a Black woman, and her mom and brother are most certainly hypercognizant of (a) state violence against Black people and (b) these high-profile cases of suspicious military deaths. So her family are seriously side-eyeing the situation, knowing that (a) the military has a serious incentive (and a documented history) of covering up things that make them look bad and (b) nothing about Nile’s disappearance and supposed death are adding up.

And Andy’s right. Nile does come from warriors. And you know who else does? Her brother.

Don’t get me wrong. Nile’s mom would absolutely not back down. She’d know something was up and want to get to the bottom of it. But based on what I know about Gen X parents (mine), they’re not the most technologically savvy. Like they can use the internet, but they didn’t grow up with it the way we young millennials and Gen Z did. So Nile’s brother takes the lead. And what do zillennials do best?

Social media.

Nile’s brother starts going hard on any site he can, trying to get the word out to see if anyone knows what happened to his sister. He starts a Reddit thread. He starts a Facebook group. He reaches out to the media and true crime bloggers and podcasters à la Sarah Turney, getting loud and being a general nuisance in hopes of getting some answers. He gets his friends and Nile’s friends involved. Maybe eventually Dizzy, Jay, and others from Nile’s unit hear about it and reach out, telling him what they saw and how weird it all was. He’s drumming up interest, and soon “Nile Freeman” becomes a household name (at least among the true crime fans).

Copley is, of course, trying his best, but at this point there is just so much that it’s impossible for him to scrub everything. Sure, he can erase new footage of Nile and the Guard, but what can he do about Reddit threads and podcast episodes that are speculating something weird has happened? Maybe he could hack the sites and shut those things down, but honestly, that’s the last thing he’d want to do, because that only adds weight to the theory that Nile’s disappearance is a military coverup. So eventually he has to tell Andy what’s going on.

Andy, obviously, does not take the news well. However, she is also completely computer illiterate, because that’s Booker’s job and he’s the only one who ever bothered to learn what the internet is in any meaningful way. (She probably calls Booker for advice, and for the record, I think Booker would have no qualms about shutting down conspiracy threads, tinhats be damned, but Copley is too concerned about the consequences. He’s ex-CIA for crying out loud, he knows how it’ll look if they scrub every mention of Nile’s name from the internet.) Maybe she confers with Joe and Nicky but, let’s be honest, they’d be equally unhelpful. So at this point, she knows they have to bring in Nile.

But the thing about Nile is that she, too, knows how to use the internet (duh). Aside from her being a young millennial/digital native, we know from the cave scene where she’s giving Booker suggestions on how to track Copley that she clearly is even more computer savvy than the average person. And for that reason she almost definitely took over the day-to-day tech stuff after Booker’s exile. So I think it would be foolish to expect her to be unaware of what’s happening. She’s not contacting her family or posting on the message boards or anything, but she knows what’s up. So Copley and the team probably sit her down to “break the news,” but we know the girl does not have a poker face (see: literally shooting herself in the foot and not being able to play it cool whatsoever) and cracks immediately, telling them she’s seen everything about her case – she’s not interacting with any of it, she certainly didn’t instigate anything, but she knows. (And she is so goddamn proud of her brother.)

At this point, I’d like to pause and consider Nile’s role in the overall narrative of this movie. She’s set up as a foil to Andy, obviously, but she’s also a foil to Booker. Booker, who, like Andy, is a serious pessimist, but who, unlike Andy, still has very fresh memories and trauma associated with being the new kid, which have destroyed him. In his mind (and Andy’s), if Nile communicates with her family, she’ll become just like him in a century or two – bitter, alone, and stuck with her grief and memories of watching her family die and knowing they died resenting her. It’s a small sample size, but this is the only experience they have to go off of.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

There’s been a lot of discussion of TOG being a fundamentally queer movie – a group of people brought together because of something inherent about themselves that is different, that must be hidden, that causes others to hate, fear, and reject them. Booker’s backstory is the archetypal traumatic “coming out” story – his family learns who he is, hate him for it, and attempt to cast him out of their lives. He’s stuck with his trauma, his pain, his loss, and it consumes him.

But what if Nile’s family would be the opposite? What if her “coming out” to them as immortal is met with acceptance, love, celebration? What if her family is just overjoyed to have her back, and they don’t care what the circumstances are? I'm reminded of this incredible post from @shitty-old-guard-deaths a while back, where Nile’s mother hits Booker with a frying pan because “my baby let me believe she was dead for FIVE YEARS based on your bad advice???” (which may or may not have inspired this whole tangent). Nile takes the advice of someone who did the same thing she wants to do because she doesn’t want to risk her family’s rejection. She wants the good memories with her family and is afraid that showing them her true self will bring her unbearable pain, forever replacing those memories. But, with high risk comes high reward.

Anyway. Nile and the team are trying to come up with a plan for how to handle this whole thing, but she’s not really participating because she’s too afraid to hope. Until finally, quickly, so she doesn’t lose her nerve, she suggests she reach out to them, knowing that, realistically, that’s the only solution before things snowball even further out of control. The team is shocked, but realize that she has a point. They decide that Copley should actually be the first point of contact, posing as a US government official to talk with them and test the waters.

So Copley goes to Nile’s family’s house to talk with her mom and brother. They’re probably distrustful and apprehensive, but nonetheless secretly ecstatic that their work has paid off. They talk and review all of the information that they’ve collected, including testimonials from the people on Nile’s base and recent sightings (along with photos) of Nile (with the same three people) over the last few years that people have sent them but they haven’t posted publicly. At this point, Copley’s like, yeah this is about to blow up, we gotta put our cards on the table. He convinces them to come with him to some safe house/black site/whatever he can get that is technologically impenetrable (I’m picturing them in like, an interrogation room at a police station kind of deal), takes their phones, locks the doors, and brings in Nile.

What follows is the most delightful reunion scene of all time, bringing Joe, Nicky, and even Andy to tears as they watch and listen from outside the room. With Copley’s help, Nile tells her mom and brother about her immortality and what’s been going on since she died (within reason, of course), and they are thrilled. They don’t understand why (because no one does) but they don’t question it and they see it as a gift from God – she’s been resurrected, she will live, and she has a purpose. Her mother and brother are so happy to see her again and are willing to agree with pretty much anything to stay in her life as long as they can.

So. They set up some complicated agreement (they bring in the other three for support/intimidation as needed) setting the terms of their relationship. They swear Nile’s family to secrecy, maybe bringing up the lab to show how high the stakes are, and they readily agree. They come up with some cover story for Nile’s brother to share on the message boards (maybe that the government has opened an investigation but because it’s an open case he has to shut it all down? Tells people to direct their tips somewhere else? Something to that effect). There’s still speculation, of course, but without Nile’s brother at the helm providing the energy, the hype dies down as news stories are wont to do without any movement. And Nile’s family goes to work for the team. The experience has taught them that Copley can’t possibly do everything himself, especially when it comes to social media, so Nile’s brother takes the lead on the day-to-day tracking/social media while Copley and her mom focus on finding jobs and scrubbing their traces afterward.

So there you have it: Nile gets to integrate her biological family into her found family and spend the rest of their lives with them as it should be, Copley gets some badly needed help managing the reality of social media, the team finally has a positive narrative surrounding outsiders Knowing About Them AND about interacting with people from their previous life, and the audience gets the happy ending to this very lovely and very queer story to counteract the pain associated with Booker’s family.

Plus, you know, I’m a sucker for both a good government conspiracy theory and for Nile getting every good thing she deserves.

#the old guard #tog #tog fanfiction #tog meta #immortal family #nile freeman #mine #damn look at me contributing to a fandom! that’s new #pls reblog if you like this my self esteem could really use it #I just love nile so much and I’m being the nile-centric content I want to see in the world #it is just genuinely nuts to think abt how this situation would be perceived by anyone outside the narrative #she just mysteriously heals from a fatal injury and then VANISHES!!! this should be national fuckin news #also I do think there’s a major hole in the story when you think abt social media #like the only time it’s even hinted at is right at the very beginning when Andy erases that girl’s selfie #and the concept of fuckin Reddit is not even brought up despite Copley’s stalker board being analog Reddit #there’s just a lot of places one could go with this which is very much what we got here #1k

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vivacissimx · 3 years ago

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Arya Stark has depression

Beginning in AGOT and running through ADWD, Arya displays symptoms of neurodivergence. Learning to cope with it helps to save her life & identity.

Like most children who experience mental illness, Arya develops coping mechanisms that allow her to hide the extent of her depression from the adults around her. This starts earlier than commonly realized. Where initially it seemed her first depressive episode follows Mycah's murder it's actually fair to say she exhibits these patterns of behavior prior to that.

Arya in Winterfell doesn't meet the benchmarks of girlhood that are used to predict a successful future transition into the role of noble womanhood. Arya is aware of this in no small part because her peers (who refer to her as 'Horseface') and the adults in her life (her parents & Septa Mordane who uses Arya as a scapegoat/the "anti-girl") make her aware of this. Given the small scope of her world & her young age, Arya extrapolates that small sample into everybody.

Sansa's needlework was exquisite. Everyone said so. "Sansa's work is as pretty as she is," Septa Mordane told their lady mother once. "She has such fine, delicate hands." When Lady Catelyn had asked about Arya, the septa had sniffed. "Arya has the hands of a blacksmith."

Everyone was looking at her. It was too much. Sansa was too well bred to smile at her sister's disgrace, but Jeyne was smirking on her behalf. Even Princess Myrcella looked sorry for her. Arya felt tears filling her eyes. She pushed herself out of her chair and bolted for the door. Septa Mordane called after her. "Arya, come back here! Don't you take another step! Your lady mother will hear of this. In front of our royal princess too! You'll shame us all!"

-AGOT, Arya I

"Lyanna was beautiful," Arya said, startled. Everybody said so. It was not a thing that was ever said of Arya.

-AGOT, Arya II

This last quote isn't necessarily factual (Arya tells us in ADWD The Blind Girl that her parents and Jon did call her pretty), but it's true in the sense that Arya sees her nonconformity as a personal failure.

This could very well be depression speaking, and it starts early. When Arya fails at a task she isolates herself to the extreme: runs away in tears, doesn't believe she can go to her parents or siblings for comfort, decides nobody loves her.

Arya wonders if she's an imposter.

Arya thought that Myrcella's stitches looked a little crooked too, but you would never know it from the way Septa Mordane was cooing.

Nymeria was waiting for her in the guardroom at the base of the stairs. She bounded to her feet as soon as she caught sight of Arya. Arya grinned. The wolf pup loved her, even if no one else did.

Jon had their father's face, as she did. They were the only ones. Robb and Sansa and Bran and even little Rickon all took after the Tullys, with easy smiles and fire in their hair. When Arya had been little, she had been afraid that meant that she was a bastard too. It had been Jon she had gone to in her fear, and Jon who had reassured her.

-AGOT, Arya I

Arya withdraws socially from places where she believes she cannot succeed or receive affirmation - she leaves the embroidery lesson in a blaze of glory, refuses Queen Cersei's tea invitation on the trip to King's Landing, forgoes attending the Hand's tourney, flees the Brotherhood without Banners. Arya is on average an intensely social creature, however her first line of defense to hide her feelings of inadequacy is not showing up in the first place.

And that's all set in place before the Hound kills Mycah.

In King's Landing, Arya experiences what is possibly her first depressive episode.

Arya had loved nothing better than to sit at her father's table and listen to them talk. She had loved listening to the men on the benches too; to freeriders tough as leather, courtly knights and bold young squires, grizzled old men-at-arms. She used to throw snowballs at them and help them steal pies from the kitchen. Their wives gave her scones and she invented names for their babies and played monsters-and-maidens and hide-the-treasure and come-into-my-castle with their children. Fat Tom used to call her "Arya Underfoot," because he said that was where she always was. She'd liked that a lot better than "Arya Horseface."

Only that was Winterfell, a world away, and now everything was changed. This was the first time they had supped with the men since arriving in King's Landing. Arya hated it. She hated the sounds of their voices now, the way they laughed, the stories they told. They'd been her friends, she'd felt safe around them, but now she knew that was a lie. They'd let the queen kill Lady, that was horrible enough, but then the Hound found Mycah. Jeyne Poole had told Arya that he'd cut him up in so many pieces that they'd given him back to the butcher in a bag, and at first the poor man had thought it was a pig they'd slaughtered. And no one had raised a voice or drawn a blade or anything, not Harwin who always talked so bold, or Alyn who was going to be a knight, or Jory who was captain of the guard. Not even her father.

"He was my friend," Arya whispered into her plate, so low that no one could hear. Her ribs sat there untouched, grown cold now, a thin film of grease congealing beneath them on the plate. Arya looked at them and felt ill. She pushed away from the table.

-AGOT, Arya II

To recap, symptoms of (childhood) depression Arya experiences here are: social withdrawal, heightened anxiety, loss of appetite, sudden changes in mood, low self-esteem, isolation from loved ones.

Notably, Arya's depression lifts when she's a) affirmed by Ned, b) in a manner that shows Ned values her, and c) is set to a task with a teacher who encourages her rather than berates her.

"We have come to a dark dangerous place, child. This is not Winterfell. We have enemies who mean us ill. We cannot fight a war among ourselves. This willfulness of yours, the running off, the angry words, the disobedience… at home, these were only the summer games of a child. Here and now, with winter soon upon us, that is a different matter. It is time to begin growing up."

"I will," Arya vowed. She had never loved him so much as she did in that instant. "I can be strong too. I can be as strong as Robb."

[Syrio] tossed her one of the wooden blades. She grabbed for it, missed, and heard it clatter to the floor. "Tomorrow you will catch it. Now pick it up."

-AGOT, Arya II

Panic gripped her throat like a giant's hand. Arya could not have spoken if her life had hung on it. Calm as still water, she mouthed silently.

-AGOT, Arya III

Her water dancing lessons provide her with progress she can be proud of, and mantras for self-soothing, which help her hide her anxiety & depression. This is a coping mechanism she relies on throughout the books.

Arya experiences another pronounced depressive episode when she begins her travels through the Riverlands, after her father has died and her family is splintered. She has volatile reactions to Hot Pie & Lommy teasing her, and her social withdrawal strikes again. Once again, she relies on what she learned from Syrio to soothe herself.

Arya slid into a water dancer's stance and waited. When he came close enough, she lunged, right between his legs, so hard that if her wooden sword had had a point it would have come out between his butt cheeks. By the time Yoren pulled her off him, Hot Pie was sprawled out on the ground with his breeches brown and smelly, crying as Arya whapped him over and over and over. "Enough," the black brother roared, prying the stick sword from her fingers, "you want to kill the fool?" [...] "Every time you look at him, he twitches," the Bull told her as she walked beside his donkey. She did not answer. It seemed safer not to talk to anyone.

-ACOK, Arya I

In the Riverlands, Arya adopts another coping mechanism: she dissociates.

There's no doubt that Arya is a strong warg and that her bond with Nymeria is intense even for the starkling standards. Yes Arya dreams as Nymeria, uses her wolf dreams as escapism from a world in which she feels helpless, but in ACOK Arya speaks of herself as a wolf before her wolf dreams start up again.

I won't cry, she thought, I won't do that. I'm a Stark of Winterfell, our sigil is the direwolf, direwolves don't cry. [ACOK, Arya I]

By the time they marched, Arya knew she was no water dancer. Syrio Forel would never have let them knock him down and take his sword away, nor stood by when they killed Lommy Greenhands. Syrio would never have sat silent in that storehouse nor shuffled along meekly among the other captives. The direwolf was the sigil of the Starks, but Arya felt more a lamb, surrounded by a herd of other sheep. She hated the villagers for their sheepishness, almost as much as she hated herself. [ACOK, Arya VI]

Yes, Arya thought. Yes, it's you who ought to run, you and Lord Tywin and the Mountain and Ser Addam and Ser Amory and stupid Ser Lyonel whoever he is, all of you better run or my brother will kill you, he's a Stark, he's more wolf than man, and so am I. [ACOK, Arya VIII]

Help me, you old gods, she prayed silently. Help me get those men out of the dungeon so we can kill Ser Amory, and bring me home to Winterfell. Make me a water dancer and a wolf and not afraid again, ever. [...] I'm not an evil child, she thought, I am a direwolf, and the ghost in Harrenhal. [ACOK, Arya IX]

She had been better off as Squab. No one would take Squab captive, or Nan, or Weasel, or Arry the orphan boy. I was a wolf, she thought, but now I'm just some stupid little lady again. [ASOS, Arya III]

Salty is a stupid child, she told herself. I am a wolf, and will not be afraid. She patted Needle's hilt for luck and plunged into the shadows, taking the steps two at a time so no one could ever say she'd been afraid. [AFFC, Arya I]

Arya conceptualizing herself as a wolf (which includes her lambasting herself for not being one) and Arya's wolf dreams are two different things. Arya is a wolf when she feels brave and powerful, whereas Arya dreams as a wolf when she is at her most vulnerable e.g. when the Bloody Mummers are set to discover her, after the Red Wedding, when she loses her sight.

It's a cycle of idealization and devaluation not uncommon to children's black-and-white thinking, but it's often pronounced in neurodivergent kids. At this point, Arya has experienced several traumatic incidents and largely been left to her own devices to grapple with them. While she rightly blames others for her suffering (Ser Gregor, Dunsen, Polliver, Raff the Sweetling. The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, King Joffrey, Queen Cersei), those people are all far away. Her pack is ever morphing. The only consistently available person she can take anger out on is herself, and her mechanism for doing this is by comparing herself against the ideal version of herself. The self that can be summarized as: the wolf.

By AFFC, she's done this process so much it's seamless. In fact, she can do it in her sleep.

The wolf dreams were the good ones. In the wolf dreams she was swift and strong, running down her prey with her pack at her heels. It was the other dream she hated, the one where she had two feet instead of four. In that one she was always looking for her mother, stumbling through a wasted land of mud and blood and fire. It was always raining in that dream, and she could hear her mother screaming, but a monster with a dog's head would not let her go save her. In that dream she was always weeping, like a frightened little girl. Cats never weep, she told herself, no more than wolves do.

-AFFC, Cat of the Canals

After the Red Wedding, Arya experiences her strongest depressive episode to date.

Some mornings Arya did not want to wake at all. She would huddle beneath her cloak with her eyes squeezed shut and try to will herself back to sleep. If the Hound would only have left her alone, she would have slept all day and all night.

And dreamed. That was the best part, the dreaming. She dreamed of wolves most every night. A great pack of wolves, with her at the head. [...] They would never leave her. [...]

They were never my pack, not even Hot Pie and Gendry. I was stupid to think so, just a stupid little girl, and no wolf at all. [...]

Some of the women tried to put her in a dress and make her do needlework, but they weren't Lady Smallwood and she was having none of it. And there was one girl who took to following her, the village elder's daughter. She was of an age with Arya, but just a child; she cried if she skinned a knee, and carried a stupid cloth doll with her everywhere she went. The doll was made up to look like a man-at-arms, sort of, so the girl called him Ser Soldier and bragged how he kept her safe. "Go away," Arya told her half a hundred times. "Just leave me be." She wouldn't, though, so finally Arya took the doll away from her, ripped it open, and pulled the rag stuffing out of its belly with a finger. "Now he really looks like a soldier!" she said, before she threw the doll in a brook. After that the girl stopped pestering her, and Arya spent her days grooming Craven and Stranger or walking in the woods. Sometimes she would find a stick and practice her needlework, but then she would remember what had happened at the Twins and smash it against a tree until it broke.

-ASOS, Arya XII

Recap: Disruptive sleeping habits, antisocial behavior, sudden changes in moods, low self-esteem, loss of interest in hobbies, isolation. Her coping mechanisms (water dancing [self-soothing through repetitive movement & mantra], positive relationships with others [creating a pack], & dissociation [striving to embody the wolf]) fail her entirely.

In AFFC/ADWD, Arya is in Braavos with the House of Black and White, an arc that nearly succeeds in fracturing her identity. However it's her reliance on her well-honed methods of coping with depression that guide her through this. Syrio taught Arya to practice repetition - as a water dancer, true, but Arya went on to use that to comfort herself, to keep her list of enemies, to consistently return to her ideal wolf persona as a touchstone. It’s already second nature to her in when she serves in Harrenhal, when she’s becoming accustomed to life on the run, as her various roles in Braavos.

Themes of return. An expansive internal world kept secret from adults. Places Arya is always going to retreat to because the world has always felt hostile to Arya Stark.

She padded to her basin on small, bare, callused feet, silent as a shadow, splashed cool water on her face, patted herself dry. Ser Gregor, she thought. Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling. Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei. Her morning prayer. Or was it? No, she thought, not mine. I am no one. That is the night wolf's prayer. Someday she will find them, hunt them, smell their fear, taste their blood. Someday. [...]

Skinny as they were, her legs were strong and springy and growing longer every day. She was glad of that. A water dancer needs good legs. Blind Beth was no water dancer, but she would not be Beth forever.

She knew the way to the kitchens, but her nose would have led her there even if she hadn't. Hot peppers and fried fish, she decided, sniffing down the hall, and bread fresh from Umma's oven. The smells made her belly rumble. The night wolf had feasted, but that would not fill the blind girl's belly. Dream meat could not nourish her, she had learned that early on.

-ADWD, The Blind Girl

Enough slaps, and she might stop chewing on her lip. Arya did that, not the night wolf. "I do deny it." "You lie. I can see the truth in your eyes. You have the eyes of a wolf and a taste for blood."

Ser Gregor, she could not help but think. Dunsen, Raff the Sweetling. Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei. If she spoke, she would need to lie, and he would know. She kept silent.

Arya bit her lip. She did not know what she wanted. If I leave, where will I go? She had washed and stripped a hundred corpses, dead things did not frighten her. They carry them down here and slice their faces off, so what? She was the night wolf, no scraps of skin could frighten her.

-ADWD, The Ugly Little Girl

So yes, Arya is neurodivergent. She copes with depression, trauma, and the everyday horrors of girlhood through repetitive soothing tasks & thought processes. Normally diagnosing ABC with XYZ is something I'd abstain from because it can be tricky, but Arya's experiences are so compelling in this frame, so age-specifically intentional, that I think it's worthy of discussion. I know there are a lot of conversations as to whether Arya really comes across as an eleven year old, but in this specific respect I'd say she hits the mark.

#arya stark #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #canonarya #aryastarkmonth2022 #text

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