#or just search the explanation from reddit

[honeybee2807]

Your wild guess is correct. Have a cookie! 🍪

But if you do to find the proper explanation: think of the hexagon first and go from there

Good day ppl!

I have a complicated question. A ridiculously complicated question with an answer which was created by a convoluted thought process.

Guess what the answer is. If you get it right, you get a virtual cookie!

[nakakabaliw]

check out my mouthwashing hcs : ] artist notes and explanation under the cut!!!

JIMMY - I found most of their last names in the mouthwashing reddit and as I searched up the surname Zare, it seemed to be of Iranian origin, hence why he's Iranian American to me. I like to think he was already pale and sickly looking before but during the game events he just looks. Worse. DAISUKE- Juarez is fairly a Filipino/Mexican name but I'm sticking with Filipino purely bc i believe he can do the budots. Anywho, I took his Early skintone from the official emojis in the steam page and tried to incorporate the ingame skintone with it, mixing it up a little so hes not completely washed out. ANYA- Im biased when doing her nationality HC bc ive been learning french and I learned from reddit that her last name is Japanese so thats interesting : ] now I think she and Daisuke have something to bond over at least. Anywho, I like to believe she has her particular style of makeup, and she used to have foundation that wouldve made her skin brighter bc shes really pale. Her ingame skintone is even paler than her usual bc of no sun. Also yes, she looks worse bc of fatigue bc i can only imagine the struggle and sleepless nights patching curly up. Shes still very beautiful though!!!! SWANSEA- Nothing much to write home about, just regular signs of aging, searching up his name on google (his name is a welsh town apparently), but his card shows a broken nose! Or maybe its the way the card is bent. I love to believe the former. CURLY - So we dont have a Curly ID so I made my own, freshly promoted Curly. His hair changing is a reference to my hair changing (im also blonde) and bc i think hes p neat so he has that. Hes Canadian British bc hes the whitest white man you can ever white. Maybe a sprinkle of irish but thats it. like 9% Irish from his mother's side or something. His curls stopped curling curling because I doubt he'd have too much time worrying abt them atp when the ship atmosphere fucks it up anyways.

[sossolei]

how i shifted realities accidentally on purpose .☘︎ ܁˖

“What does this even mean?” You may be asking yourself. Well, buckle the hell up because I’m still understanding it myself.

If you’ve never seen me before my introduction post is pinned, there I give an insight on myself and a little bit of my spiritual journey. In it I mentioned that the first time I shifted was random but completely purpose at the same time. Here I will explain how:

When I was around 17 going on 18, I came across a TikTok about a woman talking about this very specific manifesting method that completely altered her life in such a small way she didn’t realize for 6 years. To sum it up, she did this manifestion ritual for something I don’t remember and afterwards thought nothing of it, but then 6 years later she was catching up with an old friend and in their conversations she had mentioned a trip they went on together overseas 2 years prior. Her old friend had absolutely no clue what she was talking about. The woman tried to jog their memory but the friend said the two of them hadn’t seen each other in 6 years, so OP asked her mother if she remembered the two of them taking a trip and her mother said the same thing as the friend. Then OP remembered the manifesting ritual she did and realized that everything people had been saying about it was true and it had altered such a small thing in her life that she didn’t even realize until now.

So, me being 17 and absolutely dyinggg to go shift realities, I read through a couple comments, watched other videos and did a quick Reddit search and they all pretty much said the same thing about how powerful the ritual is, but to be careful because it’ll alter things in your reality.

I did not give a damn about any of those warnings.

Not the best thing to do in hindsight but 🥸oh well.

So I did the manifestion ritual ( im gonna explain it later because I genuinely cannot remember the name of it but I sort of remember what I did so if anyone knows what I’m talking ab, pls enlighten me ) and afterwards I didn’t rlly think about it. I should also mention I was specific with what I wrote down because I ( thought ) know how the universe acts when you don’t spell everything out word for word lmao.

Now this is where you have to hold my hand cause this is going to sound so stupid right now but trust me it matters:

My whole life I’ve had a mole on my LEFT hand middle finger. I love her. I show it off to anyone I get the chance to show it off to. Why? I don’t know, I’ve genuinely just always shown people this mole just because I like it.

The summer of the end of high school, going onto college, I had a lil fling with a guy and again, I showed him the mole on my left hand middle finger. I vividly remember doing this because I do it to everyone.

Then in college around November - December, I get my first ever boyfriend ( not the same guy ). One day we’re hanging out and we’re talking about moles (?) and I instinctively hold out my RIGHT hand to show him the mole on middle finger and…there it is. On my right middle finger. I kid you not, in that exact moment I literally said, “huh, I thought this was on my left hand.” I look at my left hand and there’s no mole??? I brushed that off but when I went back to my dorm, I legit stared at my hands in confusion at how the fuck my mole switched sides.

MIND YOU it’s the exact same mole. Like it looks the exact same, there’s nothing different about the color or shape, it’s just…on the opposite hand???

But since I had absolutely no explanation for it, I just moved on 🤷🏽‍♀️

Life went on, both of my sisters got pregnant early in the year so we were prepping all things baby related whenever I came back to visit. During one of these breaks, my sister is showing me everything she got from her baby shower and one of those things is a bottle warmer. I told her I think a bottle warmer is kinda stupid when you can just use the microwave, especially with how expensive bottle warmers are. And she said to me “yeah why you do you think I’m not buying it with my own money?” You got that? Okay.

The relationship went on as well, and outwardly, the guy was everything I thought I wanted. Nothing against him but he was like the embodiment of everything I read on wattpad growing up and thought was sooo cute. Ex; He was mean to everybody but me, I thought this was so fun and dandy. Anyways, I gradually started to lose interest in astrology, tarot, shifting, manifesting, literally EVERYTHING. So much so to the point where I started to feel crazy because I felt like I was trying to fit into a mold for this guy that isn’t who I am??

But low and behold, THE DAY AFTER we break up, I get the strongest urge to do tarot. Over time I started to find myself in everything I loved and still love to this day.

HERE IS WHERE WE GET TO THE SHIFTING PART

During the summer of 2024, I’m brushing my teeth in my house when I randomly just look down at my left hand middle finger….and there’s no mole. I look at my right hand and what would you know, THE MOLE IS BACK.

I genuinely gasped in the moment and looked at both of my hands side by side to make sure I was seeing everything right. This sent me down a SPIRAL, I legit replayed every interaction I ever had trying to decipher whether or not I was crazy because okay, mole switching sides ONE time is something I can ignore, BUT TWICE??? You must thing I’m stupid.

Then I remember the manifestion ritual that I did soooo fucking long ago by that point. I remember all the stories people had about how small things changed in their reality and all that.

So basically…I had just shifted realities FOR MONTHS, and I did not realize.

But it wasn’t just the mole. Because once I remembered the ritual I did, I tried to look around my daily life and see if anything else had changed and I even asked the universe to show me what changed.

Guys.

I bring my sister a package she got and watch her unpack it…why does she pull out a bottle warmer🧍🏽‍♀️

I said, “girl what do you need two bottle warmers for?”

She said, “what do you mean two?”

I said, “didn’t somebody get you a bottle warmer from your baby registry?”

She says, “no girl, I bought this with my own money and it was expensive as hell, I wish somebody got this for me.”

Oh my god when I tell you, you could have knocked me over with a damn BREATH. I was truly…gagged. Like there’s no other word for it. Bewildered? I don’t even know.

I didn’t even say anything after that cause I just like wow, what is life? LMFAOOO

Now I know you may be wondering why the manifestion ritual didn’t work perfectly if I had specified what I wanted, which was “I want to shift to my desired reality” and I think it’s because before I did the ritual, I was debated whether or not I wanted to shift realities or manifest a SP ( specific person ) and I ultimately landed on reality shifting BUT CLEARLY, the universe had to double it.

Even to this day I’m still processing the shift because when people say reality shifting feels like your regular every day life…I AM PROOF THAT THAT IS TRUE. It didn’t even register that I was in an alternate reality because everything was almost perfect, genuinely, I had a great boyfriend, my friends were thriving, my family was even prospering ( my grades weren’t but let’s not talk about that ) like ??

Now that I’m writing this, I feel like I sound like the lamp starts looking weird story but I swear on everything I have ever loved and ever will love, this is 1000% true and something I’m still reeling from.

If you have any questions I’d be glad to answer but moving on!

TLDR; I have a mole on my left middle finger. I did a powerful manifestion ritual to shift to my desired reality when I was like 17. I got a boyfriend for the first time in college, he was everything I thought I wanted. I showed him my finger mole except it was on my right hand this time and I even said out loud how I thought it was on my left hand. Life goes on, we break up, one day I’m brushing my teeth and look at my left hand but there’s nothing there. I look at my right and BOOM there it is back where it was originally. There is more context pls just read the whole thing lmao.

ABOUT THE RITUAL: okay I don’t remember EXACTLY what I did so do NOT use this as a tutorial, I beg! Basically I had two or three cups of water (?), on a piece of paper I wrote down what I wanted aka “I will shift to my desired reality”, I think I switched the cups to be on top of the paper ? I don’t know y’all, and then I drank the water and kept both things beside me on my nightstand. If anyone knows the name of this manifesting technique, pleasseeee let me know. I’ve genuinely been too scared to look it up myself but ahh I guess it’s time to face it.

Thank you for reading, shifting is so incredibly real, manifesting is so incredibly real and your reality is whatever you want it to be, ritual or not. Thank you! <33

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A media literacy handbook for Israel-Gaza

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

Media explainers are a cheap way to become an instant expert on everything from billionaire submarine excursions to hellaciously complex geopolitical conflicts, but On The Media's "Breaking News Consumers' Handbooks" are explainers that help you understand other explainers:

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-israel-and-gaza-edition-on-the-media

The latest handbook is an Israel-Gaza edition. It doesn't aim to parse fine distinctions over the definition of "occupation" or identify the source of shell fragments. Rather, it offers seven bullet points' worth of advice on weighing all the other news you hear about the war:

https://media.wnyc.org/media/resources/2023/Oct/27/BNCH_ISRAEL_GAZA_EDITION_1.pdf

I. "Headlines are obscured by the fog of war"

Headline writers have a hard job under the best of circumstances – trying to snag your interest in a few words. Headlines can't encompass all the nuance of a story, and they are often written by editors, not the writers who produced the story. Between the imperatives for speed and brevity and the broken telephone between editors and writers, it's easy for headlines to go wrong, even when no one is attempting to mislead you. Even reliable outlets will screw up headlines sometimes – and that likelihood goes way up in times like these. You gotta read the story, not just the headline.

II. Know red flags for bullshit

The factually untrue information that spreads furthest tends to originate with a handful of superspreader accounts. Whether these people are Just Wrong or malicious disinfo peddlers, they share a few characteristics that should trip your BS meter and prompt extra scrutiny:

High-frequency posting

Emotionally charged framing

Posts that purport to be summaries or excerpts from news outlets, but do not include links to the original

The phrase "breaking news" (no one has that many scoops)

III. Don't trust screenshots

Screenshots of news stories, tweets, and other social media should come with links to the original. It's just too damned easy to fake a screenshot.

IV. "Know your platform"

It used to be that Twitter got a lot of first-person accounts from people in the thick of crises, while Facebook and Reddit contained commentary and reposts. Today, Twitter is just another aggregator. This time around, there's lots of first-person, real-time reporting coming off Telegram (it runs well on old phones and doesn't chew up batteries). Instagram is widely used in both Israel and the West Bank.

V. "Crisis actors" aren't a thing

People who attribute war images to "crisis actors" are either deluded or lying. There's plenty of ways to distort war news, but paying people to pretend to be grieving family members is essentially unheard of. Any explanation that involves crisis actors is a solid reason to permanently block that source.

VI. There's plenty of ways to verify stuff that smells fishy

TinEye, Yandex and Google Image Search are all good tools for checking "breaking" images and seeing if they're old copypasta ganked from earlier conflicts (or, you know, video-games). The fact that an image doesn't show up in one of these searches doesn't guarantee its authenticity, of course.

VII. Think before you post

Israel-Gaza is the most polluted media pool yet. Don't make it worse.

There's plenty more detail on this (especially on the use of verification tools) in Brooke Gladstone's radio segment:

https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/episodes/on-the-media-breaking-news-consumers-handbook-israel-gaza-edition

The media environment sucks, and warrants skepticism and caution. But we also need to be skeptical of skepticism itself! As danah boyd started saying all the way back in 2018, weaponized media literacy leads to conspiratorialism:

https://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2018/03/09/you-think-you-want-media-literacy-do-you.html

Remember, the biggest peddlers of "fake news" are also the most prolific users of the term. For a lot of these information warriors, the point isn't to get you to believe them – they'll settle for you believing nothing. "Flood the zone with bullshit" is Steve Bannon's go-to tactic, and it's one that his acolytes have picked up and multiplied.

It's important to be a critical thinker, but there's plenty of people who've figured out how to weaponize a critical viewpoint and turn it into nihilism. Remember, the guy who wrote How To Lie With Statistics was a tobacco industry shill who made his living obfuscating the link between smoking and cancer. It's absolutely possible to lie with statistics, but it's also possible to use statistics to know the truth, as Tim Harford explains in his 2021 must-read book The Data Detective:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/04/how-to-truth/#harford

There's a world of difference between being misled and being brainwashed. A lot of today's worry about "disinformation" and "misinformation" has the whiff of a moral panic:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2023/10/are-we-having-a-moral-panic-over-misinformation.html

It's possible to have a nuanced view of this subject – to take steps to enure you're not being tricked without equating crude tricks like sticking a fake BBC chyron on a 10-year-old image with unstoppable mind-control:

https://sts-news.medium.com/youre-doing-it-wrong-notes-on-criticism-and-technology-hype-18b08b4307e5

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/28/fog-o-war/#breaking-news

[eybefioro]

Happy Valentines, u/catartkd!

My gift for the @goodomensafterdark valentines exchange 💛

(Timelapse and ramblings under the cut as usual :P)

OKAY SO CATARTKD DID SOME AMAZING ARTWORK INSPIRED BY MUCHA A WHILE BACK AND I COULDN'T TAKE THEM FROM MY MIND. That's it 😂 you can find them here:

I really like Art Nouveau. Everything is just so delicate, light and also complex. The curves and the symmetry, it's all so pleasing... and that also extends to the architecture. And one of the things that I find the the prettiest in that architectural style are the stained glass panels and metal work. I mean-

LOOK AT THAT. anyways.

You know what also has a shitton of stained glass?? CHURCHS. Catholic imagery and stuffs like that, and we are talking about an angel and a demon... it just felt appropriate to take inspiration from that too!

(Highly recommend visiting r/StainedGlassHeaven and r/StainedGlass if you fuck with this shit. Humans are fascinating, and the glass work is INSANELY beautiful.)

So I tried to mix all of that - Catartkd's art, Mucha's work, stained glass and religious imagery. This was my brain lol

Did it work? I'm not really sure, but it was fun. Really fun. I loved it and I was able to include a lot of little details that talk about Crowley and Aziraphale, and also ✨️symmetry ✨️. Man. My Brain was so fucking happy with the symmetry. Everything is balanced and has pairs or is mirrored. It scratched my brain sooooo good.

I'm really tempted to point out all the little details that I put there, but what's the fun in that?? The only thing I will say is about Crowley’s hair. I have no real explanation for this but everytime that I saw this type of hair piece/hairstyle in paintings and historical movies I could only think of snakes. I have no idea why. But my brain immediately screams SNAKE everytime I see this shape. So I had to use this shape for naga!crowley's hair.

In my very very basic research for refs I discovered that this thing is apparently French?? So you know, it fits with Art nouveau too in my mind. Same place yk. (Shhhh I know it doesn't make that much sense but as I said, I needed to include it. This is the snake hair after all, the voices in my head said so).

I also played a bit with the composition which was a very good study, but there was two things that I loved the most to learn in this one. The first, was this video I stumbled upon while I searched about Mucha's work:

LINE WEIGHTS. OMG. This is soooo cool. I already use this on a daily basis in my work (we have norms and patterns for line weight we must follow in technical architecture drawings) but for some reason it never occurred to me that I could use it in art??? And that my favorite art works use this very well??? I see this applied constantly in the cartoons I love, in videogames (I'm looking at you point&clicks!!), in classic artworks (like Mucha's)... Idk why I never clocked that, but now that I did I will practice and use that more. I don't think I used line weights in the best possible way in this art work. I feel it could be waaaay better, but I really LOVE how the effect turned out.

The second thing is ✨️body proportion✨️. I was asking for advice and @gribouli as always came to my rescue and pointed out it to me... I didn't know about the head rule-

(This thing)

-and they helped me adjust my drawing and gave me tips and all 😭😭😭 I will never be able to thank them enough. Their support means the world to me and I honestly feel so privileged 😭😭 (I also used Elenthya's wings here again, obv because ever since she explained them to me my life changed)

Just so you can understand this was the sketch before Li's help:

BIG HEADS LOL I know disproportional bodies can be used very effectively (we see them everywhere, especially in cartoons!) But the point is those design choices are intentional. They're choices. These big big heads weren't. I just never studied anatomy and stuff, I'm learning the very basics now, so this was an accident (not a happy one lol).

This is it. I'm really loving learning more about art in practice. Drawing and painting has been kind of therapeutic lately XD and registering the process and the things I've learned in each piece has been especially nice. Being able to look back at my progress is helping me continue!

I'm thinking doing a Steven Universe one next 👀

[kyra45]

Donation scams

(Donation scams)

Donation scams are one of the most common scams you’ll find on tumblr, most often distinguished as being from relatively new blogs whose URL’s are autogenerated though this isn’t quite a reliable method of spotting a scam account. Legitimate accounts will often have these autogenerated URL’s but there is other ways to spot scam accounts. This post combines both donation scams and pet donation scams since both are extremely common scam types.

Both scam account types are usually a few days old, has only a few trending posts, no other original posts beyond pinned, and will usually have a PayPal link (though legitimate accounts will have this too, suspicion should be taken if the country doesn’t match a veterinary bill. Example: The bill says it’s in the states but the PayPal says Philippines.)

—

Pet donation scams are fundraising accounts who take the photographs of their pets from Facebook/instagram/etc and repost them here claiming to need veterinary care for the cat/dog/horse/etc and being unable to afford it therefore needing mutual aid from others. Unfortunately the poster may not actually own the animal and has simply stolen their post offsite with edits made to a pre-existing story.

More often then not, these scams will say they were denied ‘care credit’ and will supply a screenshot that’s often stolen from the original post. Otherwise they’ll show images they don’t own, and won’t be able to show you any other images because they don’t own the pet. The vet bill may be edited to cross out a name since scammers tend to use a different one or on rare occasions will completely copy it for themself.

If you ask them questions about the animal, they won’t be able to answer you honestly and may eventually cease contact. Real pet owners would have extra information on hand if you needed it.

—

Donation scams themselves are just as common, generally taking someone else’s post and passing it off as their own. These range from medical emergencies, health related issues that need immediate attention such as being diabetic and needing insulin, or needing help getting an RV for other reasons. There are other scam types, but this post is for a general idea of what these scams are.

Medical scams are often seen as posts of accounts saying they need Humalog (insulin), or saying they need $350 for it which is “nt much” and occasionally even scams that say their nose freezes. Those who actually have a disability would usually easily be able to catch out these scammers because they’d know how Diabetes and such works. This is not to say everyone who posts these is faking it. Scammers tend to have private PayPal accounts with peculiar names though these names often take from real people.

Donation scams also take images from other websites (even Reddit!) to pass off as their own content. Sometimes these images will have watermarks on them proving they came from someone else.

General scams are usually someone saying they need groceries showing images that are USD prices but then lead to a Philippines PayPal address which wouldn’t make sense if the poster is someone in the states.

—

Also not every gfm post you may see is a scammer; It’s very important to search around and locate further details disregarding posts that tell you it’s a scam but doesn’t provide any reasonable evidence and is just calling it a scam on the spot. With gfm fundraisers often getting closed due to false reports, alternative methods may be used so try and see if someone mentions it anywhere.

—

This post is just a basic explanation of common donation scams. Feel free to share it around, but please don’t use it to say everyone needing mutual aid is a scam. If you know what scams are, then that’s good but others may not.

[yuurei20]

I see people say that the twst tune in Book 5 was removed because of Neige's voice actor but is that true? Where is everyone getting this information?

Hello hello! Thank you for this question! ❄️

To my knowledge have received no official information about why both the rhythmic and the VDC closing scene were removed from Book 5 on EN!

(The "Neige's voice actor" rumor is a little unfortunate as it puts the blame on a person who is possibly entirely uninvolved, and might not even know what happened 💦)

While searching I came across a Reddit thread from three years ago, where someone reports on the email that they received from Aniplex USA in response to an inquiry about the missing content:

I cannot verify the communication personally but from this person's experience it seems that Aniplex USA did confirm that the content was removed intentionally--it was not a bug--but there was no explanation as to why. Which makes sense, as we have never received any official insight into any of the various changes being made to EN.

And that is possibly what has led to rumors like "it is because of copyright" or "it is because of Neige's VA"--it is only natural for people to want closure!

But as of this post everything is just speculation, and as far as we know it is no more the fault of Neige's VA or his agency than it is anyone's fault--it is just a thing that happened!

EN players were provided with the in-game rewards that they would have received for playing the rhythmic so it is just the game itself and the final closing scene that they were unfortunately not able to experience.

A related rumor that I have seen before is that the song is a literal, word-for-word cover of Snow White's original "Heigh Ho," possibly resulting in these unconfirmed copyright issues--but it isn't! And it also isn't the Japanese-language dub of the song.

The lyrics are completely different, including lines such as:

Let’s all spin around and dance, Look, look, now hold hands, Let’s all laugh and dance together. It’s almost time, let’s bake some delicious bread, Bake, bake, come on, sing too, birds Every day is wonderful, it’s so much fun!

Even so, the song is still a remix, so while copyright concerns with Disney USA are not impossible they are also not based in anything but rumor.

I have also seen people say that the song was removed because of the strong backlash on JP, with some people even saying that Rook's VA was threatened, but I have not seen any proof that this is the case!

For reference, here is a collection tweets from the day that Rook's betrayal was revealed in 2021. While there is some negativity about how quickly Rook was forgiven, there are also comments saying they are glad that Rook's role as the hunter included his betrayal of his queen, and how the reveal made them laugh ^^ I have asked on multiple JP-user platforms including friends and people I do not know, and everyone has said that they have never heard of any backlash against Rook's VA, and there are no tweets or official statements from the VA or his agency.

It was a certainly a passionate time for the community, but we have no verifiable reports of harassment or threats and it is always good to be cautious about spreading unverified rumors!

Japan has strict cyber-bullying and harassment laws and a threat against a seiyuu is very likely to result in both a response from their agency and local law enforcement, such when two people wrote threatening comments on a website in 2019 towards seiyuu Ito Ayumi, leading to their arrest.

It is not unusual for rumors of "purported threats" to cycle around without any actual threats being made, as people assume that someone, somewhere is probably angry enough to do so. But "someone told me" and "probably" are very different from "actually happened" :>

While a common rumor in the EN community I have never seen any screenshots of proof, and am wondering if maybe it was just one of those miscommunications that tend to happen when a fandom crosses languages!

And another curious thing is the Twisted Wonderland OST 👀

The OST uses the English-language titles of songs and events instead of their original, Japanese-language counterparts--JP players don't actually know what "Spectral Soiree" or "Twisted Tsumderland" even are!

For us they were "Endless Halloween Night" and "Tsumsted Wonderland," and my guess is maybe the OST was specifically prepared for an overseas audience, choosing song names that English speakers are familiar with regardless of the confusion caused to Japanese speakers who knew nothing but the name "Endless Halloween" for two years before buying the OST and seeing an entirely new name for the first time.

(The "Fellow and Gidel" name is unchanged, but the OST came out before the Playfulland event on EN, and we have seen this discrepency before: If you own the second visual book you may be surprised by how the EN-version name of "Beanfest" is listed alongside the JP-version name of "Endless Halloween Night," but the visual book came out before EN's Halloween event.

It is my theory that some merch, despite being made in Japan, is being localized for English-language speakers, but the changes being made by Aniplex USA are not being shared in advance. Much like how Aniplex USA doesn't seem to know where the story is going, resulting in plot issues born from localization, merchandise manufacturers don't seem to know what changes Aniplex USA will be implementing, leading them to depending upon the original versions of stories and events for things that have yet to reach EN server. Interesting!)

The OST includes 149 tracks, which is a curious number--why not 150? And Neige's song? It is not there 👀

But the rhythmic and closing scene are both available on YouTube, and there is also this advertisement (also on YouTube) featuring Everybody Yaho! with three members of the Night Ravens, the group who performed the opening theme Piece of My World 🎶

[pasiione]

Offline, Online - Chapter 1

[Eventual smut will be in this story]

^ (if you don't like that stuff I suggest not reading)

James "Bucky" Barnes/ReaderJames & "Bucky" Barnes & Reader

Additional Tags: #POV Alternating #Online Friendship #Online Relationship #Online Romance #Chatting & Messaging #Eventual Smut #Eventual Romance #Eventual Relationships #Eventual Sex #Slow Burn #Slow Romance #Bucky Barnes Feels #Bucky Barnes/Female Reader #Winter Soldier #Bucky Barnes #AngstFluff

Summary:

Ever since losing Steve and feeling increasingly isolated, Bucky Barnes finds himself surrounded by familiar faces but still haunted by loneliness. Craving connection outside of his Avenger identity, he turns to the anonymity of the internet—just to talk, just to feel normal. He doesn’t expect much... until a message board about classic literature leads him to an unexpected spark with a stranger named KirbyLuver25.

She’s witty, passionate about books, and totally unaware she’s chatting with the former Winter Soldier. Their late-night conversations start off playful, full of banter about The Great Gatsby and memes he doesn’t understand. But what begins as light-hearted slowly turns into something deeper—a genuine friendship built on words typed in quiet moments.

In a world where he’s always been known as a weapon or a hero, Bucky finds comfort in being just "BucksterBuck07" to someone who doesn’t expect him to save the world—only to show up, reply, and maybe smile once in a while.

The Avengers Tower was a masterpiece of modern design, but Bucky Barnes couldn't have cared less. Tall glass walls, cutting-edge tech, fully stocked kitchens, gravity-defying training rooms—none of it mattered when the echo of his own thoughts was louder than anything else in the building. The place was full of people, sure, but it might as well have been a ghost town as far as he was concerned.

Bob—no one called him Sentry even though he technically was the Sentry—floated past the hallway outside Bucky's room like some kind of golden retriever with cosmic powers. Bucky watched him through the crack in the door, the way his perfect hair barely shifted as he hovered, sipping what looked like some alien herbal tea.

"Hey Buck, movie night tomorrow?" Bob called, already halfway down the hall.

"Maybe," Bucky mumbled, knowing damn well he wouldn’t go.

The door clicked shut, and silence reclaimed the room.

Yelena had tried. A few days ago, she'd barged in with takeout and a grimace, tossing a fortune cookie at his head. "Eat. Be less broody. You are not Batman."

John Walker had tried the opposite approach: pushing Bucky during sparring matches, saying things like "You need to get out of your head, man," which was rich coming from him. Ava occasionally sent memes she didn’t understand. David Harbour had given him a beard grooming kit last week with no explanation.

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate them. He did. But there was a difference between being surrounded and being seen.

Steve used to see him.

Bucky ran a hand over his face and sighed. He was tired of feeling like the ghost of a man who had already done his dying.

So he did the last thing anyone would expect James Buchanan Barnes to do: he opened a laptop.

He wasn’t great with tech. Not in the way his other friends or literally anyone under thirty. But he could type. He could search. He knew how to be anonymous—he was good at that part.

At first, he didn’t know where to go. Forums felt too public. Social media was a no-go. Too many pictures, too many people who’d recognize the face he didn’t want to wear.

Now here he was, 10:49 PM on a Tuesday night, staring at a Reddit thread about vintage jazz albums, scrolling past usernames like “VinylJunkie99” and “DukeEllingtonStan.” He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for. Something to distract him. Someone to talk to.

Someone who didn’t know his name.

He clicked into a music sub-forum. Then out. Then into a forum about old books. Then out again.

He didn’t do much yet. Just read.

One thread caught his eye. “Books that hit different when you're older.” Someone mentioned The Great Gatsby, and Bucky blinked.

He remembered reading it in high school, long before the war. He'd liked Nick. Hadn't thought much about Gatsby himself, other than the fact that the guy clearly had issues.

He scrolled through the replies. Some made him laugh. Others made him annoyed. But for the first time in days, maybe weeks, he felt interested.

He hesitated.

And then he made an account.

Username: BucksterBuck07

Steve would’ve rolled his eyes at the name. Which was exactly why Bucky picked it.

He hesitated again, then typed:

BucksterBuck07: Honestly? Gatsby was kinda asking for it. But Nick deserved better. And Jordan too.

He stared at it for a full minute before hitting send. Once it was out there, a weird tension settled in his chest. Maybe no one would reply. Maybe that was better.

He almost closed the laptop. Almost.

But then—

Ping.

A reply.

KirbyLuver25: wait omg YES. Gatsby was the original red flag. Also Nick is my sweet confused baby.

KirbyLuver25: I have like 7 theories about Jordan and Nick being soulmates. Do not test me lol.

The corners of Bucky’s mouth lifted before he could stop them. It wasn’t quite a smile, but it was close enough.

He typed back.

BucksterBuck07: Ok I gotta hear these theories now.

And just like that, she started typing.

-

Meanwhile, across the building, Bob was floating upside down outside the kitchen, sipping another mug of his suspiciously calm tea. Yelena walked in, saw him, and immediately turned back around.

"What?" Bob asked.

"You’re giving ghost energy," she said, pointing at him without turning.

"I’m meditating."

"You’re creeping."

-

Back in Bucky’s room, he didn’t notice the noise in the rest of the Tower. For once, his world was quiet in the right way. His fingers hovered over the keyboard as the next reply from KirbyLuver25 popped up.

KirbyLuver25: THEORY ONE: Jordan acts like she doesn’t care because she does. She’s just too emotionally intelligent to get caught up in Gatsby’s drama. She sees through it. But she doesn’t know how to let herself be soft with Nick.

KirbyLuver25: THEORY TWO: Nick is queer. I will die on this hill. The way he writes about Gatsby? Sir.

KirbyLuver25: THEORY THREE: They both left NYC and met again years later in a small, quiet place where no one threw giant parties and they finally fell in love.

Bucky sat there, letting the words settle. No one talked like this around him. No one just… daydreamed at him.

BucksterBuck07: Not gonna lie, I think she scared the hell outta him.

KirbyLuver25: He needed a little scaring. He had main character complex.

KirbyLuver25: Also sorry I just brain-dumped on you. Not many people care this much about 100-year-old fictional drama.

BucksterBuck07: I don’t mind. You made me laugh.

There was a longer pause this time. She was typing. Then she stopped. Then typing again.

KirbyLuver25: Then I consider my work here done :D

He didn’t want the conversation to end.

BucksterBuck07: You read a lot of old stuff?

KirbyLuver25: Yeah. Mostly 1920s–50s. Music too. I think I was born in the wrong era.

BucksterBuck07: Yeah… I get that.

KirbyLuver25: Wait really? Most people just say I’m a hipster.

BucksterBuck07: They’re wrong.

He paused, unsure if that came off weird. But her next message came in quickly.

KirbyLuver25: You’re nicer than most trolls on this site lol.

BucksterBuck07: Not a troll. Just a guy who likes old books.

KirbyLuver25: Same. Maybe I’ll tell you about my favorite banned books next time. You know, if you survive all the Gatsby discourse.

BucksterBuck07: I’ll be here. Same time?

KirbyLuver25: Deal. Goodnight, Buckster.

He stared at that last message.

Goodnight.

He hadn’t had someone say that to him—someone who wasn’t on a comm, or bleeding out next to him on a battlefield—in a long time.

He closed the laptop gently.

Somewhere outside his room, Yelena was yelling at David about leaving wet socks in the common area. Bob was still probably upside down somewhere. John Walker was probably lifting something heavy just to grunt about it.

And Bucky—Bucky Barnes—was smiling in the dark.

Not because of a mission. Not because of Steve. Not because of who he was supposed to be.

Just because of a girl who liked Nick Carraway.

And maybe, just maybe, liked talking to him too.

-

The first thing you do the next morning is check your phone, half-convinced you dreamed the whole thing. Admittedly, you’d had a little more wine than planned last night. But to your surprise, all the messages were still there—every reply of your conversation with BucksterBuck07.

Plus, there was a new comment from a random user:

Gr3atGatsbyLver23: Can you guys get out of my post?? Go flirt in your DMs. #thirstyMFS

You snort a laugh, shaking your head. Okay, fair. You tap over to Buckster’s profile and start a private message:

KirbyLuver25: Figured I’d DM you so Gatsby Lover 23 doesn’t explode. lol

KirbyLuver25: Hope that’s okay?

You set your phone down on the counter and head to the bathroom, brushing your teeth and taming your hair into something halfway decent. Once back in your room, you start picking out your outfit for the day, trying not to think too hard about whether or not he’s going to reply.

You were just on your way to the kitchen to make some coffee before work when you heard the familiar ping of a message.

Your heart jumped a little. You didn’t mean to break into a full-speed walk back to your room, but somehow you did. Practically launching yourself onto the bed, you snatched up your phone.

It was him.

BucksterBuck07: What’s a DM?

You blink at the message, then let out a quiet laugh.

KirbyLuver25: Direct Message. This is one. 🙃

BucksterBuck07: Got it. New to all this. Bear with me.

KirbyLuver25: Don’t worry, I won’t quiz you… yet.

There’s a brief pause while you sip your coffee—finally made it to the kitchen—and then another message pops up.

BucksterBuck07: Appreciate the rescue. GatsbyLover23 was about to come at us with a pitchfork.

KirbyLuver25: LMAO right?? I was waiting for them to start tagging moderators 😂

BucksterBuck07: I don’t even know what that means, but it sounds bad.

You can’t help smiling at your phone like an idiot. He’s definitely older than you thought, but not in a bad way. There's something kind of charming about how earnestly confused he is by internet slang.

KirbyLuver25: It’s okay. You’ve officially survived your first online drama.

BucksterBuck07: Do I get a medal?

KirbyLuver25: I’ll knit you one.

BucksterBuck07: Deal. I’ll pretend I know how to accept that.

You sit on the barstool in your kitchen for a second, thumb hovering over the screen. He’s funny. A little awkward. But there’s a softness to him that makes you want to keep talking.

So you do.

KirbyLuver25: So… how did you even find that thread anyway? You don’t exactly seem like the Gatsby discourse type.

There’s a longer pause this time. You wonder if maybe that was too nosy. But then:

BucksterBuck07: Couldn’t sleep. Just… wandered until I found something that felt quiet. Your comment made me laugh. So I stayed.

You hadn’t expected him to say that. Then again you didn't know what you were expecting.

KirbyLuver25: Well… I’m glad you stayed Buckster.

Another pause. Then:

BucksterBuck07: Me too.

BucksterBuck07: Also… Buckster?

KirbyLuver25: I mean, that’s what your username says, so I figured I could call you that.

BucksterBuck07: Right. Forgot about that.BucksterBuck07: You can call me Bucky. That’s what everyone else calls me.

KirbyLuver25: Bucky... I like that! Is that your real name? (If you don’t mind me asking)

BucksterBuck07: Nah. It’s a nickname a friend gave me a long time ago. Kinda stuck ever since.

KirbyLuver25: Oh cool! I really like it. You can call me Kirb.

BucksterBuck07: Okay. Kirb.

You laugh, shaking your head. Something about the way he just dropped your name so formally, like he was testing it out loud, makes it even funnier.

BucksterBuck07: Is that your real name?

KirbyLuver25: Nope. I just picked the name because I love Kirby! He’s so round and pink and adorable.

BucksterBuck07: Pink? He’s a pink man?

KirbyLuver25: NO 😭

KirbyLuver25: You don’t know who Kirby is?? I feel like such a nerd now :(

You watch the typing dots appear… then disappear. Uh oh.

You bite your lip, worried you scared him off with your chaotic pink puffball fandom, but just you were about to take it back...

The dots reappear.

BucksterBuck07: Just looked him up. He is… very pink. And not a man. Definitely not a man.

BucksterBuck07: Also, why would Kirby make you feel like a nerd? If anything, those Gatsby theories were way nerdier.

You actually laugh out loud at that.

KirbyLuver25: LMAO!! You’re hilarious 😂

BucksterBuck07: What?

KirbyLuver25: ??

BucksterBuck07: What does LMAO mean?

KirbyLuver25: It means "laughing my ass off." You’re such an old man. I’m crying 😭

BucksterBuck07: Huh??

KirbyLuver25: Nvm

KirbyLuver25: (That means “never mind,” Grandpa)

BucksterBuck07: Rude. I’m not that old.

KirbyLuver25: Says the guy who had to Google Kirby.

BucksterBuck07: Low blow, Kirb. Low blow.

There’s a pause in the chat for a minute. You glance at the time. You should probably be getting ready for work by now, but… this is way more fun.

Your phone pings again.

BucksterBuck07: I don’t usually talk like this. To people online, I mean.

KirbyLuver25: I figured. You give off “grumpy guy at the bookstore who eventually opens up” vibes.

BucksterBuck07: …You got me.

KirbyLuver25: Well, I’m glad you opened up. I like talking to you.

Another pause.

You wonder if you went too far—but then:

BucksterBuck07: I like talking to you too.

You stare at that for a second, warmth creeping across your face. It's stupid how giddy a message from a strange can make you feel. You sip your now cold coffee and look at the time. 

"Shit, I have to start heading to work." You said to yourself out loud.

KirbyLuver25: Alright, Buckster. I actually have to go to work now :(

KirbyLuver25: Can I text you later?

BucksterBuck07: Yeah. I’ll be here.

KirbyLuver25: Pinky promise?

BucksterBuck07: I don’t know what that is but… yeah. Promise.

You grin.

It’s silly. It’s small. But it makes the whole day feel lighter.

[welcome-to-green-hills]

Bye mystery what are your thoughts on the whole ‘SoNiC cAn’T cRy’ rule on Twitter and from some writers? I find it stupid. He should be allowed to cry.

Hi Hon!❤️✨

Ummm… I feel that we’re missing a bit of information here. It’s became a bit of a meme on Twitter. And I think that the “meme” kinda lost its translation, if you know what I mean.

I’ve looked through fan Wikis, Reddit, Twitter, and other social media outlets to see what these mandates are. I found a Reddit post implying that there are regulations, but suggests that these are for IDW comics only (IDW Reddit, 2020).

Sonic is absolutely allowed to cry, he doesn’t cry in front of others (Ohshima, 2019). To him, in tears are a private feeling. The tears of grief and loss are for him to experience by himself. And that’s not a bad thing. It doesn’t mean that he’s not allowed to cry. It just means that it’s an emotion he feels and experiences himself. Something that he needs to listen to in order to make peace with it.

Let me put into this perspective; when we cry, we’re feel many emotions. Sometimes it’s hard to understand what emotions were feeling and how many we feel when it’s released. And sometimes feeling everything can cause sensory overload. If one cannot begin to identify what we’re feeling at that moment of time, do we really want to share that with others yet? Not necessarily. Sometimes being alone is the best thing. Being alone allows one to contemplate on why they’re feeling all of these strong emotions and provide a sense of inner peace. Taking a step back to feel our emotions allows ourselves to search within our heart and mind to understand we are so moved to begin with. There are times that I may not want to be near others when I cry. Sometimes I need to be alone. Being alone allows me the chance to sit and contemplate on what my heart and mind want me to hear.

I’ve shared with you all in the past that it’s okay to cry. Everyone should cry. What I haven’t done a good job in communicating is that you don’t always have to share your thoughts and feelings right away. I’m sorry for that. When we cry, it’s message from within our heart and soul that is screaming for attention. Sometimes crying and anger and any other strong emotion is your body asking for attention. It’s a message that needs to be heard and reflected upon in order to understand. This message helps us grow and become a better version of ourselves. It’s personal growth. It’s a lesson that only you can understand and appreciate what it’s teaching you. The message needs to be internalized before it can be shared with others. And sharing with others is entirely up to you! Feeling a strong emotion and healing from it could be private. It gives you a chance to look back from where you began and fully appreciate the growth that you’ve made from it.

I can completely understand where this misleading information comes from. He’s not emotionally constipated/out-of-tune as some fans claim. This does not mean that Sonic doesn’t trust his friends. Not at all! He’s very open and honest with others. Taking the time to be by himself to cry allows him a chance to release all of the emotions inside before he shares what he feels in his heart. He needs that peace to understand why he’s feeling the way that he feels in order to properly heal from it.

Does that make sense? I hope it does. If you need further explanation, let me know. I’m more than happy to reexplain if needed! I hope that this answers your question, my dear!❤️✨

[kosmos2999]

Planet Naming Conventions In The Star Trek Universe (How To)

"THIS IS CETI ALPHA V!!! Ceti Alpha VI exploded six months after we were left here."

Khan Noonien Singh (played by Ricardo Montalban (1920 - 2009)) in Star Trek II, The Wrath Of Khan

While I was doing my usual scrolling routine in social media oulets like Facebook, I have found an interesting post in one of the FB pages related to Star Trek.

In the FB page, the administrator narrated in a post an experience of listening to a podcaster and a youtuber complaining about the name of certain planets in the Star Trek universe.

In particular, the format of a name followed by a roman number. Just like Ceti Alpha V and Ceti Alpha VI.

Indeed, this is a common practice of the franchise since its failed pilot episode, The Cage (presented in season one episodes The Menagerie, parts I and II). On it the crew of the USS Enterprise decided to explore a planet named Talos IV after received a distress signal from it.

More than common, it seems to be a standard practice for most of the planets.

It made me curious about finding the official rules of the franchise, if such as those rules exist.

My search for data at Memory Alpha was fruitless. But making a search by browsing about the subject led me to two links with a lot of interesting information at forums of Stack Exchange and Reddit.

From the discussions of some users and the explanation of the FB page administrator, I have to assume this is the rule of thumb for planet naming in the Star Trek universe.

Star Trek's planets naming conventions

According to the United Federation of Planets:

When a new group of planets were discovered, they are given the name of the star they orbit followed by a roman number in ascending order from the planet closest to the star to the farthest.

As an example of this, let's take the star and planets of our Solar System. The star name is Sol, hence Earth have to be Sol III and Mars have to be Sol IV.

In addition, when the race of a given planet made the first contact, the Federation will recognize the names the race gave to their system's planets.

As an example, there are planets like Earth, Vulcan, Romulus and Andoria.

A real-world example

Here on planet Earth, organizations as the International Astronimical Union are in charge of putting names to planets or other kind of celestial bodies.

Let's take for example an exoplanet (planet outside of our solar system), HD 189733 b.

Let's take for example an exoplanet (planet outside of our solar system), HD 189733 b.

The 'HD' part of the name means for the person or research group who found it. In this case, it stands for the Henry Draper Catalogue. The numerical string '189743' stands for the number in the catalog in the order it was found.

The lower case 'b' part respond to the order of its position in the star system. It represents it is the planet closest to the orbit of the star. Other planets of this system must use the lower case letters 'c', 'd', 'e' or 'f' in order of the closest to the farthest they are in orbit of the star.

The upper case letter 'A' is used exclusively for the identifiying the star. Also upper case letters 'B' and 'C' are used only to identify stars in case it is binary or trinary star systems.

An application of what I learned

To illustrate what I learned about the naming convention used by the franchise of Star Trek, I created a star system and for its name, I named the system's star with the name of Cressidia. A very beautiful name it came to my mind.

As you can see, I named Cressidia I to the planet closest to the star and left roman numbers II to VI to the second to the sixth planets of the system respectively.

Food for thought

Names for star can be inspired in every single kind of mythology or influential culture of the World.

If you are a soft science fiction or fantasy writer, you can name stars as you wish, just in case your work does not need for any kind of scientific accuracy.

In case you have to write for an established sci-fi franchise, you better have to made research of its naming conventions.

The Star Trek and Star Wars universes have a lot of resources like star maps you have to read before starting to work on your story.

There is a fantastic material to read more about star names. You can learn about the meaning of star names by reading the book, Star-Names and Their Meanings by Richard Hinckley Allen.

It was published in 1899, making it hard to find in the printed format, but thanks to the people of the Internet Archive, it is available in many different kinds of ebook.

The link to get it for reading online or download for free is the following:

Thank you so much for reading this article. It was done in a rush, so my most sincere apologies if there are some details left in the making.

My best hopes this will be helpful for aspiring sci-fi writers, just like me.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome!

Here is a video of locations in the Star Trek universe. Thanks to the YouTube channel Ressurected Starships for posting:

[bobosbillionsknives]

hello bobo !! I just remembered seeing your post ages ago about a posable knives figure you had and i wondered if you knew what series he was part of???? I've never seen him anywhere but your blog and one extremely expensive ebay listing and i am really curious about him bc i am insane for trigun figures !!

Hello Snail-clops !!

Do you mean this one next to the blown glass bongs and Kiss poster? 🧐

He's a Jazwares figure. Which is bizarre because they produce children's toys, not anime collectables. They make goddamn SQUISHMALLOWS now lol. Trigun aired on Adult Swim in the west, so definitely not targeted toward children. They had other Adult Swim toys but I'm not sure Robot Chicken and Trigun share the same target demographic, which is probably why the production eventually got booted.

They're quite janky and poorly made because I believe they were supposed to be prototypes? That's the only explanation I have for why they were such low quality. Maybe the 18 years have caught up to them tho. As far as I know some unconfirmed force stopped production and they were never actually released in stores. The reason they can get so expensive is because they weren't mass produced and an unknown limited number of them exist.

The only one I have that isn't broken is shirtless Vash. Lol. I cannot stress how low quality these guys are. Knives' arm snapped off, Wolfwood's head popped off, and Vashes legs are completely separate from his body. Something to keep in mind if you're willing to pay top dollar to own carcinogenic garbage. (I am.)

They're absolutely hideous and I'm in love with them.

(not my picture)

I bought the whole character set (besides blue Knives. Still on the hunt for him) for 200 bucks. Steep price I know but I was literally having prophetic dreams about owning this figure I can't stress how insane I was about this. I think he was worth every penny but that's besides the point. These days I've been seeing them individually priced for crazy amounts. Boxed is a bit of a different story, but they are genuinely not worth all that much outside their rarity. Normal prices for Knives on his own is about 40. Frankly anything more than that is robbery. Their intended price in 2006 was 11 bucks.

Don't listen to what the resellers tell you...like these little guys (again, not my pictures) these were gashapon figures. Like those gumball machines with plastic junk but better with cooler plastic junk. Basically they're dirt cheap. And you can get them for dirt cheap on Japanese proxy sites, which is where I got an (almost) full set of the mini busts for 10 whole smackers. Eeyup. eBay is the devil at times.

If you're patient and dedicated you can definitely find a good price. I personally have every Trigun search word I could think of saved with notifications on every seller app imaginable.

This is my hobby at this point.

It's hard to find solid information on these guys, everything I know is either from Reddit (I made a Reddit account for this) or old toy/Trigun websites using the wayback machine. (I'm an insane person)

If anyone has more info feel free to rb!

Anyway. Here's him and my Edward Nygma figure sharing a loving embrace on the most beautiful night of their lives 💚❤️

And here's him seeing a double rainbow for the first time in a strip mall parking lot. Look at how excited he is! This #beautiful #life they grow up so fast 💖

Unfortunately I haven't been able to take him out on many adventures because of how fragile he is. My plan is to get a backup to keep nice and pristine so I can damage this one as much as I'd like without a guilty conscience.

Hope this was helpful !!! 💖💖💖

[max1461]

I had read quite number of logic textbooks from a variety of subfields (e.g. Jech, Kunen, Pohlers, Marker, Dzafarov&Mummert, etc.). They all seems to be filled with notations and technical details. It makes proof really hard to read, even if the proof idea itself is intuitive. A lot of time were spent just explaining what the notations do, including very minutiae details. Now some of the complexity came from the rules of logic itself, many proof boils down to "check all the rules". But I feel like there are too much technical details that it's easy to lose the forest for the tree. Worse off, there are often not enough explanations on what the proof will be, so we are mired into technical manipulation like "let gamma be the largest limit ordinal less than beta, if beta>gamma, let delta be the largest ordinal strictly less than beta" instead of something intuitive like "we can reduce the successor case to the limit case by removing the last element one at a time". Some examples of proofs that I think are often written in an unnecessarily complicated way are the proof of Godel's completeness and incompleteness theorem, Gentzen's cut-elimination theorem, independence of CH, and PCP theorem. Just as a representative example of basic results from various fields. I don't have much issues with other fields; if anything there is a tendency to use very terse notations and terse proof. Is there a reason for it, or do you think logic books are just not written well?

This reddit post hits the nail on the head regarding what bugs me so much about mathematical logic. After some searching I am hopeful that Jacobs' Categorical Logic and Type Theory will deliver me from the logic hellscape. Computer science adjacent presentations of logic seem overall consistently better in this regard.

[doktorblitz]

Creature commandos head canons

also on ao3

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62684284

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I kinda like the chemistry between Victor and Bride and wanted to explore head canons of those two, mostly fluffy touchy feely SFW stuff (much as fucking Frankenstein can be sfw). And since apparently ain't no one touching this one with a 10 foot pole, I may as well be first. I'll also say, if it sounds defensive that's because I've seen entire reddit accounts get their karma nuked into the ocean for discussing Victor's motives, not even necessarily defending him. And if it sounds rushed that's because I wrote this at 2 am instead of sleeping in a creative delirium, lol.

Firstly, I'll also address certain aspects. It's not necrophilia because he wasn't into her because she's a dead girl, she happens to be a dead girl by circumstance.  It's not grooming if 1) he didn't even intend to catch feeling and 2) he waited several years potentially making her a teenager if you wanna count by reanimation time.  And considering Eric literally sees her as an object and doesn't understand NO, Victor is the milder of the two evils, regardless if he(Eric) is "mentally damaged" as Gunn pointed out. Hell Vic actually lets her develop her own person hood and ideas, arguably gives her more room to grow instead of projecting what he wants her to be(you want your bride to be able to speak don't you? Implied speak for her self).

With that out of the way, I have some ideas. 

- when he's testing her to see what she's capable of, strength, endurance, physical evaluation and such, Vic might not be expecting her to be strong like Eric.  - maybe he discovers this when he has her try to lift something or other and she barely strains when a large human man would struggle with it.  - the good doc would probably be amazed and a little bit charmed, given how in canon that didn't stop him from getting intimate. - she gets quite protective of him just as he was of her(he defended her in the flashbacks explicitly risking his own neck for her, pun intended). - what if after said canon attempt to throttle him by Eric, once she came out of shock she picked him up bridal style and helped him to the bed after he got the air knocked out of him. - she happens to find him more than a little charming and he's shared some rather questionable opinions with her, for the time anyway, i.e. questioning God, choosing things outside the norm, etc.  - this is more of a implied background detail potentially but I'd guess he had to run to pokolistan to escape the various countries that wanted him dead for Eric in the first place, so he got asylum from the pokolistan royal family for a price. - part of that price was keeping his cadaver searching on the down low, another was entertaining the royal family occasionally, and the more unfortunate was the 3rd, taking a wife from the locals to keep good relations, albeit probably a slightly smarter more capable woman than the average house maid. - this could even tie into the joke bride makes about the royal bloodline, maybe Vic had made a similar joke to her almost 200 years ago while talking about the royals being inbred.  - my guess is he would've waited a period and maybe even tried to hold her at arm's length until finally he couldn't anymore, or another good explanation/theory I heard and kinda agree, he wanted to show her the better parts of being human. That includes relationships and sex, eventually, and I could see bride being the one to initiate.  - in that vein I could see her making the 1st move and him going all professor explaining the risks and possible outcomes before he agrees to anything. - similarly I have a thought that he may have used the "tell me what you want" method, ala "use your words", explicitly asking for what she wants, as some form of consent, in so much as can be given in that context. - another head canon I have about the unnamed wife is that there was no love lost there, she was an obligation, and that's also why he agrees to give her kids, 2 daughters seem to be implied. It was just the thing to do at the time after all.  - in that case the infidelity holds true only for the formal marriage not any feelings towards the wife, given he ended up sleeping with the bride. 

- Lastly as someone has also said in a couple posts, Eric could've taken a page out of Victor's book and been gentle and patient etc, instead he went and killed Vic and made him a saint in her memory. And he is not teachable, all the while Victor had tried to teach him to be patient and give her time to fall for him.

That's the sfw and canon ish ones I can think of, but I have a whole ass two AU ideas with head canons I could explore if anyone is curious. Hint, one of them involves rocker bride playing guitar. And yes in both I'm still keeping the canon ship of Vic/Bride.

Any takers/curious folk who wanna discuss that kinda thing, I'm here.

[waytootiredstudent]

Working in the office today and gettin waylaid from trying to make my way though legal texts by how fucking awful copilot is.

(there's a push at work to use ai/copilot more and an equal protesting push against how it potentially could be used to spy on employees so I am doing some research on the side on that as well. I also sometimes like to ask ai assistants like copilot about topics I already know about. It gives me a picture about how bad the misinformation is, what to look out for to recognize ai information and what quick shortcuts there are to identify it (for example concrete numbers are easy to look up and it's nearly funny how bad most genai is with them given its you know. A machine. A giant ass calculator that's bad at math), and what information ppl might be walking around with. Know thy enemy and all that. Best way to argue against smth is actually knowing how it works)

Like I asked it for previous verdicts on my current topic and it's like 'oh here are three answers!' and the answers are:

1. Exists and copilot is correctly saying what it is about. Link functions.

2. Doesn't exist, link leads to a general 'here you can look up cases!' website, not the actual case. No mentions of that case can be found anywhere. (Trust me I looked)

3. Technically exists but it's just 1 again with a wrong docket number and a wrong date and a wrong summary of 1

I ask around for a bit until copilot tells me 'hmmm it seems I can't find a publicly available link to this, there might be a mistake somewhere whuupsi' despite confidently telling me a summary of said (fake) verdict one question earlier. In another case it leads me to three different cases, all who have nothing to do with the topic at hand.

I ask the same question that got me those fake cases in the first place again. Same answer but this time the date of the cases is different. When pressed the same as above happens again.

Like I don't understand how people trust these machines so much. I am not even Anti AI in general (it's a complicated topic alright even before ppl started to go analytical AI=generative AI, and I am very much against the fuckening that is currently happening but that's a 'corporate greed bad' issue not a "technology is inherently evil" issue) but this is getting ridiculous. People are asking these things like they're actual search engines. They are not!

But the problem is that most people don't understand how they even work or the dangers of it. Every push for AI assistants is always ignoring the very real danger that they possess and is never accompanied by any real support or explanation.

The least they could do when they're already forcing that bullshit on everyone is to properly give guidelines on how to responsibly handle those AI assistants. They're not intelligent, they literally "generate" answers - they don't look them up! There's a huge difference between those things!

And that's not even touching on the whole privacy and data protection issue! You need to understand what happens when you feed that machine information! You need to understand that so know what kind of information is a security issue or a data protection issue when fed into the machine! Yes, even for when you ask one of those handy new tools to make you a presentation with the data you provide! We handle sensitive data! You need to be careful with that!

Most normal ass office workers don't even fully understand what those AI assistants are. How can you expect those people to know how to actually handle them? What to look out for in terms of bias and unreliability? How the databank these things are built on will influence the responses? How to identify it when the machine starts hallucinating? When it is quoting a reliable source and when it's just a random Reddit post?

There need to be courses about this! Informations, explaintions, guidelines! You can't just throw that at people like 'oh it's so easy to use you'll figure it out :)'! No they won't! Most of my co-workers are already overwhelmed with fucking excel and you want them to try and responsibly handle AI?? You are setting these people up for failure! And the rest who know how to handle it as well! Because actions of individuals have consequences for the whole!

But no. Instead you get messages like *sparkle* how can AI improve your life? It's so easy! No prior knowledge required! Welcome the future with us! *sparkle*

Bitch. Teach and inform people properly or stop shoving this shit down our throats. If you don't start taking this seriously I will start sitting in on your *sparkle* AI Taskforce *sparkle* meetings and make you read every data protection paragraph I can get my hands on until you're puking your fucking sparkles.

[sol-consort]

I always wonder while playing ME. Do Hanar hug you with two tentacles or all tentacles like some facehugger

I've put too much time into researching this and this is what I found so far.

Firstly, I assumed that mass effect wouldn't have addressed the hanar hugging habits at all so I straight up jumped to their real life counterpart, the jellyfish.

And let me tell you how surprised I was to find that no one has raised the question of "can you hug a jellyfish?"

Like we have had heated discussions about how a horse would wear pants, are you telling me that the 21st century humans never imagined hugging the one immortal animal without a brain or bones? Shame on all of us.

But, however, I was delighted to find that people did in fact raise the question of "can you kiss a jellyfish?"

And you can! You might die but I say the price is worth it.

Jellyfish don't seem that friendly to humans either so I question the hanar willingness to hug us.

After finding out that the first page results of two different search engines were completely off topic, I went to the other source of information where people were chronically online enough to ask these questions seriously, tiktok.

I did end up with fruitful results. I found this video and this other one of jellyfish kinda of hugging each other underwater? And as you can see they do use all of their tentacles. I also found a bunch of cute other videos about jellyfish and got distracted for an hour, 10/10 experience.

Now the scales were leaning in the favour of hanar using all of their tentacles to hug you. Finding the barrel jellyfish to be the closest to hanar, here is an image with a human for scale to how the hug might be.

But that raised the question of whether they would fall or float? Which lead to the need to figure out how they even moved because their tentacles looked too fragile to act as legs.

I knew tiktok was too unreliable and search engines too professional so I migrated to the one place where source material is treated like a holy grail, reddit.

Scouring the deserted mass effect subreddit while half lucid on pain killers, I did find some information on how the hanar conducted their day to day surface odyssies.

Based on this one hanar "blasto" from the citidal dlc, hanar do in fact walk on their tentacles as legs. But it's less of walking and more of scuttering around like a tiny crab in a tiny shell. The wiki adds more explanation, they use a mass field effect on their tentacles to carry them since they are in fact fragile and unable to lift up their big bodies.

After reading the wiki that I realised I should've gone to from the start, I found out the hanar have a skull, which means they have a brain to protect inside the said skull. So they are in fact not as squishy as earth jellyfish :(

Then I finished the wiki and still found no information on their hugging habit. At which point I was close to giving up.

Going back to reddit since I had nothing else to do, I suddenly found an oasis amidst the dry desert of hanar informations.

This picture of a hanar hugging an asari! From the "Mass Effect: Blasto: Eternity is Forever"

I was flabbergasted! The exact thing I was looking for, just straight up offered to me on a silver platter! The fates smiled my way.

So the definitive answer is that they seem to hug you with 4 of their 6 tentacles, leaving the remaining 2 in the far back to carry their weight and balance on.

There is however an argument I found that mentiond how blasto is actually considered a bad representation of hanar in the mass effect universe. Blasto seems to deliberately exaggerate and preform un-hanar like behaviour to appeal to the bipedal viewers. One example is carrying guns that hanars are know to be unable to actually effectively use for the lack of fingers.

Which raises doubts about the authenticity of the Blasto hug. Is it how hanar really hug or is this one attempting to appeal to the human-like viewers? Do hanars hug with all of their tentacles underwater and only do a 4 tentacle hug on dry lands? Can you kiss a hanar? Where can I get a copy of that asari hanar tentacle porn game?

I'm afraid to admit that I know that I know nothing.

Here is another cute video of jellyfish.

[multi-bookworm]

If any of you guys are struggling in class like I know you are and instead staying up all night reading fan fics and scrolling because you don't know how to catch up with school anymore and are losing motivation... it's okay :>

You're doing okay.

trust me it will be worth it to learn all that you are taught even math! I struggled so greatly a couple years ago because I was doing exactly that and i was always tired during the day which made me basically incapable of learning, but then I realised I was sort of wasting what I had been given and decided to start learning it in my own time all the things I felt behind in, researching everything until it actually became my hobby and now I absolutely love searching for knowledge.

Firstly, I recommend watching Real Science's YouTube episodes, dont worry, they arent too long, no longer than 30 minutes at most! She has the most interesting facts about such highly important animals that I bet you didnt know about or their startling abilities and get you intrigued about how weird animals evolve. I know this is random and wouldn't seem to have anything to do with any one of your classes but trust me, you will realise with time that ANY sort of knowledge is IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE. And it will hopefully make you want to search for it, additionally, now you know some awesome facts about animals to share with people that make you appear smarter.

Next, think about your subjects (whether you are at a university or school, or even doing a tafe course, or nothing at all, in which case think about subjects you'd LIKE to know more about or were passionate about but never followed up, or are about to, in which case this is a great time to boost your knowledge), alright now think about anything in those subjects you didn't understand or needed more of an explanation in but were too scared to ask or areas you simply know you need to improve! I know I probably don't need to tell you this but the internet has ALL. so do not limit yourself to learning just from the classroom. This was the biggest damn lesson for me, learning that all my questions could be answered by the internet. don't get this info from Wikipedia, or reddit or quora, find actual sites or YouTube videos that are reliable! For me I actually love podcasts, and i needed to know more about the ancient history topics we were learning and there are soooo many podcasts about history and ancient history, and doing this meant I could do something practical while listening, like walking the dog or exercising even just getting ready in the morning, (the most helpful was this podcast called Half-Arsed History, a hilarious Australian history buff who, by engaging me, made me remember way more than I thought I would, and I'd come back to class knowing more than the teacher sometimes). That's just one example of how researching the subject yourself can help you, I've also found much on the sciences! And English topics (sparknotes has great summaries on texts as well as mini analyses!), math can be a tricky one, YouTube has generally the most knowledge, but honestly many of my colleagues and I can agree that the ABSOLUTE most effective study method approaching an exam is doing past papers! This goes for everything! But for math (and physics) oh my God you will have managing time in a different way. Truly it changes your life!

Memorising what you have been taught vs actually learning what you have been taught can be a big different, learning what you have taught, though it takes a little longer than simply memorising, can make all the difference because that process is in your forever whereas if stored only in your short term memory stress can easily make you lose it just like that on the day.

Truly, teaching myself at home these things I was behind in really helped me achieve greatly, I went from Cs to straight As and was first in multiple of my subjects because of this change. Because it allowed me to work at my own pace because nobody else would know better than me how I learn. Lastly, passion is key, if you convince yourself to feel intrigue like Real Science or vox or johnny Harris or other sites actively teaches you to, then everything will become easier, truly my life became so much easier.

So stop saying that there's no hope for you anymore, there's always a chance for you to gain motivation again, and that comes through passion of learning. And it, in my opinion is the most important skill to learn in the whole world. Do not neglect it. You're doing fine.

And pls get some sleep :> you know it's not good for you to be staying up so late, *kisses your forehead and places a rag drenched in chloroform over your mouth, you struggle for a moment* sleep shhh sleep *you finally lie still*

:)