#problems with ship electrical system

[apopic]

Control relays and timer modules on ship's electrical system

Control relays and timer modules on ship’s electrical system

Contactors and relays from certain manufacturers are constructed to work with a separately top-mounted ‘shock absorber’ mechanism. It is attached as an accessory to the basic unit, preventing immediate full motion of the contacts when the coil is either energized or de-energized. This addition provides the ordinary relay with time-delay actuation. Time-delay modules are constructed to delay…

[dollcherray]

⋆˚ 𝜗𝜚 LIMBO ˚⋆

₊⊹ N with a sleepy s/o who falls asleep randomly.

𓏲 ๋࣭  ࣪ ˖ Pst! Cherry says: HAIII, i know requests and updates are slow now but i swear its for a very personal reason ☹️ I'm tryin my best to give you guys more updates but its kind of complicated rn, reader is a drone in this, kind of short.

۶ৎ Type: Romantic, Fluff, Headcanons

✧₊⁺ Song: Melting !!

₊⊹ While he mostly finds your antics endearing, it also worries him to death, because sometimes you guys could be in a dangerous place and you just suddenly drop to the ground, just sleeping peacefully as if you guys aren't in a life or death situation.

₊⊹ N tries to help you by giving you pills, energetic or anything that makes someone electric, while it may work for some time, when it wears off you'll just instantly flop down to the ground and proceed to sleep for hours because of whatever he gave you.

₊⊹ But even though he usually gets frustrated because of your odd behavior, N finds it somewhat cute? it's just how sleepy you sound when you're not sleeping but on the verge of it, you look so peaceful and unbothered it just makes his frustration fade away.

₊⊹ After some time, N just knows when your about to pass out, so when you just sleep, he scoops you with his arms and take somewhere your safe to rest.

₊⊹ Already let you go with him and the others to explore... lets say you and everyone almost died that day because you simply slept in the middle of something chasing you guys.

₊⊹ Now when he's about to wander off with Uzi and V, he made you stay in the ship or somewhere safe and isolated from where their going all the time, sorry but he can't risk putting you in danger because of ability to just sleep even in the most threatening situations.

₊⊹ It kinda bugs him off because when he's just chatting with you, he has to keep an eye on you to not let you fall asleep while he talks, it's kinda annoying to him at times like these but he knows you can't control it so he just sucks it up deals with his own frustration.

₊⊹ Despite everything, he does enjoy sleeping with you for hours when he gets the chance, don't get him wrong, N is not the type to sleep for too much time but for you? he would sleep for days if that made you happy.

₊⊹ N does kinda worry for you, as he thinks it may be a problem on your system and it can affect you, but when you just sleepily explains to him its just your way of being, he feels calmer and less worried.

₊⊹ In general you drive him nuts but he deals with it for you <3

𓏲 ๋࣭  ࣪ ˖ "NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO SLEEP"

[marlynnofmany]

Other Uses for Packaging

I waved goodbye to the customers — other humans this time — then sat back and waited for the trash pickup. I didn’t blame them for not wanting to take all the packing material out into the spaceport. They hadn’t brought a hovercart or forklift, and had been unprepared for the huge crate full of bubble wrap and foam.

Other times, our little courier ship had done deliveries where time was short or regulations were tight, and all we would have been able to do was advise them on where to rent a hovercart or buy a crowbar. Luckily for these customers’ convenience and my conscience, today we could stick around and help them unpack the custom end table or whatever that was.

They’d left happy, with something much easier to carry, and Captain Sunlight had headed for the cockpit to call in the station’s trash crew. (Apparently this was a regular feature at this space dock, which was a nice change from the last few where we’d had to move the ship’s garbage over to the trash area under our own power.)

Zhee looked over the crate that he’d just taken great joy in disassembling. “Wood may be valuable here,” he said with a thoughtful click of a pincher arm. “If not to the station at large, then surely to another ship. I wonder if the captain thought of that.”

I glanced back at the open cargo bay. “Probably?”

“Probably,” Zhee agreed.

We were both silent for a moment while the spaceport bustled around us.

“I’m going to check,” he said, tapping his way up the ramp on his many bug feet. “Make sure none of that blows away.”

“Sure thing.” I looked at the piles. The only breeze in here was the faint wafting of ventilation systems and the occasional gentle landing of other ships at a safe distance, but I understood the impulse to be careful. That one package awhile ago, full of styrofoam beads, had been memorable. And terrible. The darn stuff was almost as bad as glitter, what with the way it stuck to things with static electricity. Nobody wanted a repeat of that.

This set of packaging was much better. The boards made a tidy stack, the foam was in rubbery sheets that didn’t leak bits everywhere, and even the bubble wrap was in long rows instead of individual panels. This was no top-of-the-line cryo suspension or force field generator, but it was respectable.

I organized the mess a bit while I waited. The rest of the crew either had stuff to do on the ship or out in the station, so despite all the ambient noise, things were quiet.

I started rolling up the bubble wrap, thinking someone might want to use it again, but found that many of the bubbles had gotten popped in the disassembly, leaving it only good for one thing.

The first bubble popped with a satisfying snap. By the third I’d pinpointed which direction the sounds were echoing from most, and I enjoyed the different noises I could get by tilting my head. None of the pedestrians were close enough to pay much attention, so I happily worked my way down the roll. I’d seen multiple other types of bubble wrap, some made by different cultures and different materials, and most of them didn’t actually pop. What a simple joy to find the regular old Earth kind again.

Mur’s voice from the cargo bay asked, “What’s making that sound?”

I sighed and turned. “Don’t tell me, this is another swear word in your language.”

Mur waved a tentacle. “No, of course not. I just wanted to know what’s breaking out here. It sounded like a problem.”

Before I could answer, Paint appeared behind him in a rush. “Is there a problem??”

“No,” I hurried to say. “Everything’s fine. It’s just bubble wrap. See?” I held up the section I’d been working on and popped another bubble.

Paint winced. “Is there something wrong with it?”

“No, it’s just garbage.” I rolled up the part I’d already flattened, then twisted it to pop the next row all at once.

“Okay, that almost sounded like a swear word,” Mur admitted.

I had to laugh at that. “Of course it did.”

Blip and Blop hurried out to join the growing crowd in the cargo bay. “What keeps breaking?” Blip asked, frills waving anxiously.

“It’s just bubble wrap!” I exclaimed. “See?” I held it up and popped another one.

Instead of nodding and going back to whatever they’d been doing, my alien coworkers remained perplexed. “Why does it keep popping?” Blop asked. “Are you doing that?”

“Yes!” I exclaimed.

“Why?” asked both Frillians at once. Paint and Mur also looked curious.

“Because it’s fun?” I replied, scrambling for an answer. I hadn’t thought this needed explaining. But apparently it did.

Paint asked, “How is that noise fun?”

“Well, it echoes—”

“You don’t need to worry about condensing materials for the trash pickup, if that’s the concern,” Mur said.

“Yes, I know—”

“Are there food items on your planet that you have to open like this?” Blip asked. “Large fish eggs, maybe?”

“No, ew! It’s just—”

A shadow loomed taller than the Frillian twins. “It is violensssss,” Trrili hissed, making them twitch. (I don’t know how she found a shadow in the cargo bay. Sometimes I think she brings them with her.) “Small-scale, sanctioned violence. These can be destroyed without repurcussionssssss.” She was choosing which words to hiss on, for effect.

“Sure,” I said, spreading my arms and lifting the bubble wrap. “Let’s go with that.”

Trrili wasn’t done. “Each tiny section can be crusssshed individually, with precision, or multiples at once for maximum volume.” She glided forward on quieter feet than Zhee’s, and the others made room for her.

I held out the bubble wrap. “You want a turn?” Her pincher arms didn’t seem suited to it, but I was curious to see where she’d go with this.

“Plasssssse it on the floor.”

“Sure.” I flapped the row out in front of her like a red carpet, and she moved like the predator she was to crush one after the other. With precision. And shiny black bug feet.

It gave me an idea. “Hey, wanna see who’s faster?” I grabbed another section and laid it out to one side. “You’ve got more feet, but my shoes are bigger.”

Trrili spread her mandibles in her favorite creepy smile. “Challenge acssssssepted.” She crouched like a spider and waited for me to be ready.

I glanced back at the others. “Anybody else wanna race?”

Mur spun on his tentacles and scooted back into the ship. “No thanks! I’m going back where it’s quieter.”

“Me too,” Paint said. “But thank you!” She scampered off.

Blip and Blop looked at each other in silence for a moment, fins waving. Then they turned to me. “We’ll judge,” Blip announced.

“All right!” I said. I wrangled my own section of bubble wrap, roughly the same length as Trrili’s, and struck my own ready pose. “Say when!”

The twins chorused, “Start!” and we were off. Pops filled the air along with Trrili’s delighted hisses and my laughter. There were probably people staring, but that didn’t matter.

Maybe I could talk Trrili into a dance-off afterward. On whatever was left when one of us was declared the champion of small-scale, sanctioned violence.

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[earthstellar]

Just jolted awake at 5 AM to share this idea lmao:

Cosmic Storm: Accidental Alt-Mode Swap Scenario

Some kind of cosmic electrical storm hits the Lost Light and everyone switches alt-modes

They can't figure out how this is even possible, best they can figure is that one of the waves of cosmic electricity rolled over the ship and bypassed their shields enough to affect the crew, just this huge arc of space electricity scrambling everyone all at once

And as it arcs from crew member to crew member (and zaps the shit out of the ship too), somehow this messes with everyone's systems enough that their t-cogs all attempt to reboot while everyone is still connected by the cosmic storm energy

Which results in everyone's t-cogs getting alt-mode data confused, as everyone simultaneously tries to stabilise their systems by purging stored energy so they don't get fried, so because they're all connected by this singular pulse of space bullshit it's like one massive accidental transfer of spark energy, personal systems data, and cosmic electroshock

It's 5 AM sorry if I'm not explaining this very well LOL

But nobody dies, and their systems actually seem to be relatively OK afterwards as far as they can tell, so nobody actually realises there's a problem until First Aid and/or Ratchet asks everyone to book in follow up appointments for full systems checks just to be sure

And as part of checking t-cog function whoever the first patient of the day is gets asked to transform briefly as part of a physical exam designed to help spot any non-critical t-cog damage

And there's no t-cog damage, not to the t-cog itself. Scans come back okay, everything looks good, so OK, time to proceed with the transformation test. Root mode to alt-mode, and then back to root mode.

If the t-cog and associated systems are functional, it should be pretty straightforward.

And the bot does successfully transform...

..Just, into the wrong alt-mode.

And immediately, The Problem Of The Day becomes clear.

Gradually people around the ship figure it out on their own as well, while the Med Bay staff are trying to figure out what the fuck is going on

Over in the Science Lab, Perceptor is messaging Ratchet frantically because he's realised the problem as soon as he tried to switch into his alt-mode to study some samples of a metal panel from the ship which has some damage from the cosmic electricity and uh oh turns out he's a fucking helicopter now

It's a problem that also alters their root modes, but only after their first transformation post-space storm. Something fully triggers whatever is wrong with their t-cog data only once they enter alt-mode, their root modes then re-configure to accommodate these changes following that initial "wrong" transformation sequence.

They have their own colours, their paint nanites etc. remain the same as always, but their modes have changed. So they get any kibble etc. that might come with that new alt-mode.

So Brainstorm goes to pick up some energon for both of them, then comes back and Perceptor suddenly has rotors and holy shit

Eventually everyone on board figures out something weird/potentially bad is happening with their t-cogs. Some people are too scared to test it and find out, while others immediately can't resist their curiosity or think it's better to figure out as soon as possible so they can adapt, and test it as soon as they hear some bots are just turning into completely different things, totally reconfigured.

This could be fun, also sort of terrifying (there is potential for body horror to some degree), and either way it's chaos.

When Drift triggers his alt-mode, he turns into a cat-- Seems like he's got Ravage's t-cog data. Nobody can find Ravage, and Megatron makes it clear that he'll be the only one to attempt to find him.

Rodimus turns into some kind of aqueous vehicle. Maybe Camien in origin. (Turns out it's Nautica's t-cog data.) He's fine with it as soon as he realises he's space flight capable for short distances and Magnus has to talk him out of trying to race the ship.

Of course, because it's Nautica's t-cog data, when he reverts back to root mode, he has a distinctly femme Camien-style frame. He loves it, because his armour isn't as heavy in this form, so he can go faster. (Once this is all over, he is strongly considering keeping some of these femme frame alterations...)

And if you want to use this as a setup for any shipping, yes indeed, some bots inevitably try to test out their newly altered frames with their partners or amicas. (The medical staff all advise against this because oh god nobody knows all the functions of their new systems yet, please do not end up in the Med Bay with "makeout related injuries" they are dealing with so much right now LOL)

Anyway my moving date is 25/01 but as soon as I'm settled into my new place I might turn this into a fic if I have time lmao

[coffeeadict61]

Humans Are Weird: Auditory Processing Disorder

Report # 306

Topic: Auditory Processing Disorder

APD: disorder of the auditory (hearing) system that causes a disruption in the way that an individual's brain understands what they are hearing.

Four days ago I was doing my monthly meeting with the electrical department, receiving updates on our monthly usage, needed parts, and checking up on general morale. (The transcript of that meeting is already turned in.) After the meeting we had refreshments and I discovered Lucy (previously mentioned in report #286) pouting in a corner. I inquired what was bothering her. She said, "The ship's head medic just diagnosed me with APD but he wasn't trained to treat it." I asked for further information on the condition. She listed several of her personal symptoms. "It means I don't always catch what people say. It feels like my brain doesn't want to listen. In one ear and out the other making me look stupid to however I talk to. It's connected to my misophonia, and the fact I was born really premature."

I was unsure how to comfort her so I made no effort. This seemed to work for Lucy kept speaking.

"And what's worse is there's nothing I can do! We don't have a speech therapist aboard or even any research materials! Its starting to affect my work performance. On top of decoding, hypersensitivity, and prosodic problems, I have integration issues which mean its really hard for me to focus on what people are saying when I'm doing something. Which freaking sucks when you're part of a team!" I had no clue what she was really talking about but gave her a hug (human gesture of enveloping one in your arms as a sign of comfort or safety), and she apologized for "venting" to me.

She then spoke on how her crew mates just thought she was "slow" or wasn't good at her job. They questioned if she was capable because she would follow directions incorrectly and she was worried she'd be replaced with someone "less problematic". I tried to assure her that I would help anyway I could on her behalf. Never again will I doubt a human's sincerity.

After some of my own personal research I have made a list of the different types and their definitions for your education on the subject:

Hypersensitivity – Hypersensitivity to sound is often diagnosed as misophonia or hyperacusis. Misophonia is when people have adverse physical reactions to sounds, such as becoming nauseated by the sound of chewing or slurping. Hyperacusis, on the other hand, is characterized by a sensitivity to sounds. For some, this means that white noise can be deafening, even causing physical pain.

Decoding – Decoding difficulties involve a lack of figuring out words that are spoken. They hear the sounds, but their brains do not process them as words.

Integration – Integration applies to those who struggle to do multiple things while listening. Such multi-tasking may be writing notes and listening, or having conversations while typing an email.

Prosodic – Prosodic refers to people who have trouble with tone, inflection, and implied meaning. A question and exclamation are processed identically in their brains. Their speech is also often monotone.

Organizational – Finally, organizational, or output, is often characterized by not recalling information in a specific order or having difficulty with noisy situations.

Honestly, Humans are so diverse and unpredictable. To think that different "problems" or " abnormalities " within their mind or body can lead to even more similar issues astounds me. They are so intricate in a way my species has never been. Despite the struggles that their disorders, and conditions being, I think it's strangely beautiful. Maybe that's just me, but I have a new appreciation for them.

I am requesting the presence of a speech therapist, whether physically or digitally, to be readily available to our crew. We must also add APD onto our medics research requirements. It is not an overly complicated subject to be fluent in. I also request that Lucy's diagnoses be added to her list of wrongful termination along with her gender, age, and race. No one should feel their position is at risk because of a disorder or disability. I also request that a written copy of daily instruction be printed for her if necessary. She is one of our best electricians and I mean to keep her employed here as long as she wants.

Human Observer #5743

[pointycorgiears]

The All-Seeing Eyes

An AU to how Mihawk meets his Seraphim clone.

Content warning: Injury, blood

~~~~~~~~~~

Karai Bari was under full assault.

Luckily, they had time to prepare in the form of the Straw Hat Pirates and one of their allied crews arriving ahead with a warning. They had escaped Egghead, and the World Government was not happy about it. It was time to take things to the Emperors themselves and deal with the problem before it could even become an issue.

The Navy brought a few of their new weapons along for good measure. One of them, Mihawk was watching intently, with curiosity and concern. The Seraphim creature with a sword was busy twirling on the sky in a duel with an unknown pirate from the Straw Hat Fleet. Mihawk was busy on the ground with his own opponents, but his eyes were keenly aware of the situation above him. Just how much similar was this...boy supposed to be to him?

A blast of fire from the ships offshore drew Mihawk's attention and he deflected. At the same time, a sudden pressure wave broke the air above him, rattling his senses and he braced. He looked up.

Mihawk saw it too late.

The chil-the clone he'd been observing during the assault had been temporarily disoriented by an explosion of conqueror's haki, leaving themselves open to attack. As Yoru repelled a barrage of cannonfire from the sea, Mihawk watched as the winged creature received a single, devastatingly powerful blow with a seastone weapon from its opponent, knocking them out of the sky.

Mihawk couldn't peel his eyes away. The Seraphim crashed into the scorched sandy beach of Karai Bari, its sword tumbling from its hand and stabbing the earth next to it. Then, there was a scream. Mihawk flinched and something tore through his very being, leaving a thrashing animal inside him in its wake. A child screamed in agony, and Mihawk's feet had never ran faster.

~~***~~

S-Hawk knew it was too late to correct. In that split-second slip up, he'd left himself open, and his opponent smashed into him. Everything went black for a moment and then just as quickly, the red warning signals flashed across his vision. It was too late. He dropped his sword He was falling out of the sky.

His back crashed into the ground. Warning signs and bells flashed in his mind. He couldn't focus on any of it to see what was wrong. All he knew, was that something was definitely wrong. All he could feel was…pain.

Terrible, agonizing pain.

The first time he'd ever felt such a thing.

The sensation overrode his automatic self defense systems and sent a million fold of electrical signals to a reflex he did not know he had. He screamed.

In that instant, every other protocol he had shattered, and S-Hawk screamed in agony. In hurt. In fear. He was frozen on the ground, unable to move, completely open to his enemies, and he was scared. His eyes became wet and burned. All he could do was scream and cry. Because it hurt so much.

~~***~~

Mihawk dashed over to where the Seraphim lay. Above in his periphery, the attacker was preparing a final blow. Mihawk willed every ounce of haki down his arm and into his sword and launched Yoru with that force of will directly in the path of the oncoming attack. The blade landed upright at the Seraphim's side, precisely where it needed to be to blow back the assault and send the attacker flying across the bay.

Mihawk arrived at the scene of the wailing creature. The wings were flared out in a crooked manner, feathers tangled in each other. The arms and hands scratched at the sand beneath, trying to grip something, while the legs bent and spasmed with the pain from the open wound in the torso, just below the ribcage. What he could only assume was blood, green and vibrant, seeped out and stained the pure white shirt. Mihawk then looked at the face, and he fell to his knees.

This was a child.

He leaned over the Seraphim, his hat blocking the sunlight from above. The sudden shadow caught the child's attention and the tear swollen eyes focused on him in shock. Mihawk could see the boy's fear and hurt, and that sight twisted his throat and collapsed his chest.

"It's okay," Mihawk said once he found his voice again.

The wailing suddenly stopped, turning into rapid whimpers as the child heard his words.

"It's okay, little one. I'm here."

The boy's breathing became calm and he stared at Mihawk, unblinking.

Mihawk couldn't look away from him. Everything stopped around him and was silenced as he gazed into the strange, yet familiar visage. He felt something click in his brain, sprouted from his very being, and it spread to his eyes and his vision and cleared away his old perceptions of the world.

This was his existence now. This was a clone made of him. This was his child.

A long whistle came from the distance, piercing the silence around him, and he turned his eyes upward at a cannonball heading straight for his head.

Before he could reach Yoru, the ball was sliced in two and detonated harmlessly along the beach. "Watch your back, old man!" Roronoa Zoro chided as the Straw Hats' swordsman landed gracefully beside him.

Mihawk ignored the annoyed look. "Zoro! Take his sword!"

Now there was a confused look. "What?"

Zoro did not get an explanation though because Mihawk picked up the wounded Seraphim as gently as he could, and ran from the beach to the treeline. Zoro could only follow with Yoru and the Seraphim's sword in his hands.

~~***~~

S-Hawk still felt the pain. He still felt the fear. The warning signs still flashed red across his mind. But, somehow, he felt calm.

As soon as he saw the shadow above him, as soon as he saw the face that was seared into his data banks, as soon as he saw the golden eyes…he felt calm wash over him. And he stopped screaming.

He never looked away from those eyes. He focused on them and it had a secondary effect on his life support systems. He wasn't sure how, but his body was able to run its diagnostic command and begin treating the injured area. The most critical internal damage was given priority and repaired to ensure he would not go into a stasis lock, but there was still a warning message that he needed external treatment.

S-Hawk kept that thought in his mind, but he wasn't as concerned anymore. He wasn't as scared. Those golden eyes shown on him as bright as the sun and he was made visible and seen by them, and he was going to be alright. He still didn't know how he knew that. He just did.

There was some shouting from somewhere, and then S-Hawk was picked up. The lift disturbed his wound somewhat and he grimaced, but he didn't cry. He only stayed focused on the eyes and the face of Dracule Mihawk, his prototype, as he was carried away. His head was leaning on the man's shoulder. He heard every racing breath, felt every pounding heartbeat. S-Hawk was soothed by the sensations and he almost cried out in protest when they disappeared while he was put down on the ground again.

They were now in the safety of the trees, no longer out in the open. The battle sounded so far away, and all his ears registered was Mihawk calling out for a medic.

A little creature with a funny-looking hat appeared at his side and began speaking about him with its high-pitched voice.

"He is bleeding, but the source seems to be sealing on its own."

"Can you help him, Chopper?"

"It looks like the internal damage is already taken care of somehow, but I still need to patch up the open wound so it doesn't worsen while he heals."

"Look out!"

The green-haired swordsman yelled out and dashed away to block what could only be another attack. S-Hawk couldn't see what was happening. He only heard the sounds of a counterattack by the swordsman and the sudden rushing of sand.

A dark canopy enveloped them, creating a barrier that sheltered them from any other assaults. S-Hawk recognized the looming figure of his sister's prototype, Sir Crocodile, standing over Mihawk. He didn't like the feel of the cold purple eyes, and sought out the warm gold instead.

"You're sure about this, Hawkeyes?"

"I was not going to leave him like that, Crocodile. He's just a child."

"Yes…he's your child, by the looks of it. Jinbe and Straw Hat are currently pushing the Navy back, so this is your last chance if you want to send him back to his commanders."

The golden eyes stared at S-Hawk, soft and determined, possessive and protective, completely different from the emotionless, analytical gazes S-Hawk was accustomed to.

"I will never do such a thing."

The eyes pierced into S-Hawk's own and he got the strange feeling of being exposed, opened up, as if his prototype could see every circuit, every command code, every warning signal, lacing S-Hawk's entire being. However, they also saw every feeling encapsulating him right now, every fear, every little hope that he didn't have to fight anymore, at least for today. Even though S-Hawk was completely silent, save for a rattled breath here and there, he felt he did not have to explain himself. He did not have to justify his tears or his screams earlier. He didn't have to ask for the safety he was hoping to receive among this band of targets he was sent here to eliminate. That initial directive had been strangely corrupted. He did not have to say anything, because his prototype already knew what he wanted. The golden eyes saw everything as it was.

The tiny medic continued to work. The tall Crocodile kept standing guard. S-Hawk was surrounded, but not by hostiles. He reached a shaky hand up, and Mihawk immediately took it in his own. He held onto the boy with one strong, powerful hand while the other stroked the white hair matted to the tear-stained face.

"It's okay. I'm here. You're safe with me."

S-Hawk smiled at his reflection in the golden eyes.

~~~~~~~~~

This idea attacked me at 4am this morning and would not let go until I wrote it down. It's just an alternative scenario to how Mihawk first meets S-Hawk. I don't know if I'll incorporate it into Talon's story or not, just playing around for now. Also pretending the Seraphim may not be as indestructible as they seem under certain circumstances lol.

[headspace-hotel]

a friend of mine said that the environment would be better if everyone lived in cities and basically left the rest of the natural world alone... i felt like there was something wrong with that argument but i really dont know enough about it to have a real point against it. i might be biased though cause i love being around nature and want to be able to live rural without killing the environment? idk im just wondering if she's right and how to live in a way that isnt negatively impacting the world

love your blog btw, it's been the thing that's helped me understand ecology for once

the idea that humans Are Bad for the ecosystem—not that particular activities or practices have particular negative effects, that just humans existing harms the environment—is in fact the worst idea ever

I mean, first of all, where does your friend think food comes from?

"Food" is one of the problems. It's one of a lot of problems. Some other problems include "all other natural resources besides food" and "human rights."

It's not just your friend, this kind of thing has been suggested in varying ways by self identified "leftists" a bunch of times, and I genuinely hope they're mostly random laypeople who can't really be expected to know more than they can learn from being terminally addicted to Twitter, because otherwise I will call them "dumber than a sack of hammers" in those exact words.

No offense to your friend. Your friend is a laypeople. And sadly, non-experts end up with ass-backwards ideas about how conserving the environment works, because of all this commonplace nonsense about humans being a cancer upon the planet. I'm not angry about those people, just sad.

But my serious answer is—The world's most intact and best managed ecosystems are found on land owned and managed by Indigenous people, who do what with the land?

LIVE ON IT.

And these groups of people learned to manage and care for the land how?

BY LIVING ON IT.

Conventional (white, Western) intuition holds that human management of an ecosystem should reduce biodiversity, but what science shows—I mean what study and observation and data and more study and more observation and more data shows—is that indigenous land management practices can do better than Nature can on her own.

I mean, for one thing, if you don't live in a place, you don't observe it every day. You don't see how the ecosystem and its inhabitants change over time. You can't learn about it, and therefore you don't know about it.

Disconnection from nature is ignorance about nature and ultimately apathy towards nature, and that's the worst and most disrespectful thing we can do.

And like I hope it's clear that even in the imaginary scenario where everyone lives in a city, even if this was possible (it's not), the city dwellers who are separate from nature are living a silly little lie. You're part of the ecosystem. Don't like it? Go become a rock in space.

The electrical signals moving through your brain right now are rays of sunlight that were soaked up by a plant that grew in dirt. Do you know fruit? Do you enjoy fruit? I enjoy fruit, I'm drinking a smoothie right now! That fruit y'all love so much was pollinated by a bug.

A bug did that for you! Because you're family! Because you're part of this world, because you belong to this intricate and ancient community of living things that need each other, that were shaped by evolution to need each other, and nature cannot abandon you.

But more on the cynical side of things, even if you don't know where the hell a berry grows or how, someone has to grow and harvest and ship that berry to you, someone who has to live somewhere, and you should care who is doing it and how they're being treated and paid, and ultimately you should want for them the same things you want for you.

Urban life is just rural life with extra steps my friend.

Like, @ all the "put everybody in cities" crowd, what is the plan here? Fancy ass indoor aquaponics systems notwithstanding, we're not technologically at a point where we can just, like, build giant multi-story factory buildings where we grow food under special lamps, and even being at that point wouldn't make it a good idea. With all the hype about solar power, you'd think people would look at plants (have been using solar power just fine for like a billion years) and think, "Neat how those things can just make food when you stick 'em in the sunshine."

I'm sorry, I'm never going to be psyched about technological innovations that are like "We took a plant and put it inside."

There is so much I could say here. The brainrot in the wake of "cottagecore" discourse where a bunch of well meaning white people got convinced that farming was racist. The idea that rural people are somehow more complicit in colonialism than urban people, and that rural land is, I don't know, landier than urban land, and the correct and moral thing to do if you live on stolen land is to....what? Live on land that has a protective layer of concrete in between it and your racist feet?

Land ownership is a whole fucked up beast, but you're not cultivating a non-exploitative relationship with land by living in a city. There's just extra steps in between you and the land.

"Homesteading" as seen on cottagecore boards on Pinterest has a lot of white supremacist wet dream mixed in, but listen: It is not only okay, but GOOD, to want to live in close relationship with the land, with the food you eat, with the trees and plants that fill your lungs when you inhale. It's IMPORTANT. It's VITAL.

What has to change is that this relationship can't be based on ownership and dominance. Ecosystem is community and that ain't it.

My ancestors were colonizers, the land I live on right now was violently stolen, the ecosystem that once was very carefully managed so that it flourished with life was ravaged, and I don't even know the names of most of the life-forms that ought to be here. What now?

You belong to the ecosystem that takes care of you. You can't wash your hands of this and run away.

I feel like I'm getting off topic, but it's very much on topic actually. What I hope for the future is that we would stop entertaining the silly little lies that imagine we can just...opt out of participation in something that is underneath our every footstep and in our every breath. It would make us feel pure, but it wouldn't be real.

I do think that forcing people off the land that is their home is bad, in general. I don't think those people have to be indigenous for this to be bad—and successfully claiming otherwise is a bit of conundrum, since as far as I know, the political and social phenomenon of indigenous identity has a lot to do with the being forced off your land thing.

Obviously people like me don't have the same deeply central cultural relationship to the land, but the "we should all just go live in cities and leave nature to itself" proposal implies that such relationships are unnecessary or even bad.

I've said this before but I find it weird when environmentalists accommodate indigenous ways of life in their visions of the ideal future as like...a special exception granted because it's like, the nice thing to do for a historically marginalized and violently oppressed group. Not because there is value or merit in those ways of life. Like "Oh I guess indigenous people should be allowed to hunt because it's part of their culture" ????? And it's part of their culture because...why?

Maybe because it's a sustainable way of doing things and has been for millennia???

Like don't listen to me, look at the research, indigenous folks participating in ecosystems and managing them worldwide know what they're doing and the rest of the world should be looking to them as examples. Key word here is participating, because you can't competently manage an ecosystem with your head all the way up your ass with the idea that you're somehow not part of it.

Humans aren't a cancer upon the planet. It's capitalism and colonialism. It's the practice of seeing the world as a disposable resource to be exploited.

Humans lived in the place I called home for 15,000 years. Within the past 200 years, almost every forest was razed to the ground, and almost every large animal extirpated or damn near to it.

"Humans" did that! These humans are so terrible!

But I have to remember.

There are descriptions of this place from before that, and they describe a lush, teeming heaven-like paradise that the adjectives provided by English trembled to capture, so perfect and bountiful that the observers assumed this land was never tainted by Adam's sin.

Humans did that, too.

[mixelation]

reborn au thinking outloud

so i'm thinking for oto

*the ame trio prevents the 3rd shinobi war from using rain as their stomping ground. this means there's a lot more fighting in sound than the original timeline. also i nearly typed the phrase "konan spanks a young minato over it" so you're welcome for that image

*sound has several ninja clans that are not affiliated in a village, and none of them declare war, but they'll fight foreign shinobi trying to take resources/occupy land/enter towns the shinobi protect/etc. because of this there's a lot of tension and village ninja will usually attack on sight or even occasionally actively hunt down sound shinobi. plus they're facing massive supply problems

*orochimaru comes in with gifts and promises of protection and all the clans jump on this. he's able to make oto as a village by uniting the clans several years earlier than in plasticity

*orochimaru uses the war to kill off most of the adult with any sort of power pretty quickly. but he does implement a lot of things that make the daily life of children and noncombatants better. they have more and better food. their shelters have electricity. he starts up more formalized training for all the kids.

*tori is very like "ummm but i'm special and better :)" and she's not a standout in like 90% of ninja things but she IS an adult competing against kids. it's not hard to convince him she's intelligent, and then she worms her way into the research side of the labs

*i was playing with the idea of orochimaru implementing a ranking system for the "students." so there's like a board somewhere central where everyone is ranked based on completely arbitrary factors. if you're at the top, you get special privileges and orochimaru will be nice to you. if you're at the bottom, you get shittier food and worse chores and orochimaru just ignores you. a rumor starts that defeating a kid at the top gets you moved up, so the top-ranked kids are constantly be targeted by increasingly vicious sneak attacks

*most kids still WANT to be at the top, becauee they're kids. tori is one of of like four who realize the game is to stay very firmly in the middle.

*i think being into research (and, like, good at it) gets tori a lot of one-on-one time with orochimaru regardless of her current ranking, and also she's really good at playing the oto-nin game so he like. likes her. and that's horrible for her. <3 he'll just arbitrarily change her rank to see what she does. he puts her at the bottom and refuses to talk to her for a month and she eats nothing but plain rice and pretends very hard she's not upset he's ignoring her. he puts her at the top to see what happens when someone tries to ambush her in her sleep. it's fun (for him)!!!!!

*i think it would also be pretty IC for him to make her do upsetting lab things and then she has to play a horrible game of acting upset for him but not TOO upset. rough

*i had a super clear idea of what the catalyst for tori jumping ship would be and it seems i have. forgotten LMAO

*NO WAIT. she catches wind he has her on his shortlist for the cursed seal :)

[follow-up-news]

The owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse recklessly cut corners and ignored known electrical problems on the vessel, the Justice Department alleged Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking to recover more than $100 million that the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port. The lawsuit filed in Maryland provides the most detailed account yet of the cascading series of failures on the Dali that left the vessel’s pilots and crew completely helpless in the face of looming disaster. The Justice Department alleges that mechanical and electrical systems on the massive container ship had been “jury-rigged” and improperly maintained, culminating in a horrific power outage moments before it crashed into a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. Six construction workers were killed when the bridge crumbled into the water.

[simslegacy5083]

Not So Berry (Straud Descendants) Gen 9

Today's (9/13/2024) Episode: Mission Interruptus

As Noemi and Luigi approached the leader of the local rebel faction about their next mission, they were surprised to see her throw her spanner to the ground and let loose with a string of forbidden words. She jumped as she noticed the pair. “Forgive me! You must be our hard-working new recruits. I have some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is that if I can’t fix my ship, then we can’t be shot down.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Noemi asked, since that seemed to be the obvious path forward here.

“Well, I can always use more hands to rustle up possible replacement parts, but I’d most appreciate help avoiding that “shoot us down” thing. I hear you’re pretty handy with a data spike. If you can use this to scramble the First Order’s tracking system, our odds of surviving our trip go way up.”

Luigi wanted to try the hacking minigame on this mission. They traveled to the First Order main control tower and found an access panel tucked out of the way. He inserted the data spike and asked Noemi to watch his back as he worked to penetrate the layers of protection.

“Don’t worry” she replied, “if I see any sign of a patrol, I’ll alert you. Just watch out for the countermeasure programs, this one looks tougher.”

Luigi smiled nervously as he began the process of rewriting the code. Logically he knew it was all pretend, but the park did their job well and just like the day before it felt very real. He was almost done when Noemi called out “You might want to hurry it up, I see a Storm Trooper headed this way”.

He fumbled a sequence in his haste and was shocked, literally, when the screen flashed red and arced with “harmless” static electric defenses.

That famous special effect was supposed to be safe, but suddenly Luigi’s mousing hand went completely numb. He started dropping forbidden words left and right as he massaged a hand that felt like dead wood. Noemi rushed over, roleplaying forgotten as she asked what was wrong.

“My hand… I can’t feel my hand” he gasped out “I made a mistake, got shocked. It’s supposed to be immersive, but this doesn’t feel OK at all!”

Noemi did her best to comfort him. “Hang in there, we’ll figure this out.” She paused then, asking quietly “Could this have anything to do with your Carpel Tunnel? I know that makes your hand “fall asleep” sometimes, but they should have accounted for that if it was going to be a problem when they programmed your data pad. Did you put that on the medical form they gave us to fill out at check-in?”

Luigi hung his head “No. I didn’t see what difference it could make.” He didn’t add that he hadn’t wanted to be restricted from any missions, but he wasn’t fooling his spouse by leaving that out. Noemi sighed “I gotta be honest, that was a boneheaded move. Still, what’s done is done. Let’s find the first aid station, we need to get you looked at, and maybe they should check over that machine too.”

By the time they located the nearest first aid station and got checked in Luigi was feeling relatively better. The pins and needles were uncomfortable, but at least he could feel something and just then that was a vast improvement.

The medic confirmed that the shock had likely inflamed Luigi’s Carpel Tunnel. After a stern reminder to list all medical conditions on the waiver for his own safety she reprogrammed his datapad to prevent future shock effects. “You can try the mission again, but you’ll be at a disadvantage if you don’t wait to recover full use of that hand first.”

Exiting the clinic Noemi asked “OK, so we’ve got some time to kill. What do you want to do?”

“Honestly” Luigi replied, “After that what I need is a stiff drink!”

Goal in mind, their path turned once more to their favorite attraction: The Cantina. Luigi got his stiff drink, but he’d forgotten just how stiff some of them could be!

The Dagobah Slug Slinger was low in sugar because its juices had been converted into high-octane punch. He was also much older than the last time he’d had this particular “park exclusive”, and his tolerance had fallen off with his drinking habits, now that his diet excluded his favorite cocktails.

Noemi fought hard to hold back a laugh when she realized her spouse was literally reeling. “Come on champ” she said, “It’s time to get you to bed.”

“But the miz-shon…” Luigi slurred plaintively. “Can wait until morning” she replied.

Gathering him under her arm Noemi helped her tipsy boy towards the door, asking on the way “How’s your hand?”

“Ach’y” he said with a big sigh “Itz not fair!” “No, its not fair” she agreed, kissing him lightly on the cheek “and I’m sorry, but I’ll make sure to grab an ice pack on the way to our room for you.”

“I wuv you” he blubbered “I know” she replied with a chuckle as she led them both slowly down the path towards some much-needed rest.

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[your-resident-boat-person]

What is it about the RMS Olympic that makes it stand out from other ocean liners?

For me it's a lot of things. I'm going to start with a weird one. Her engines.

The RMS Mauretania was the biggest ship in the world until the Olympic was completed in 1911, and the fastest until 1927. She was designed for speed first and foremost. She had 4 propellers powered by steam turbines, which were the new hot thing at the time. Cunard built 2 "test ships," the Carmania and the Caronia. Carmania had steam turbines, and Caronia had traditional triple expansion steam engines. Carmania was faster, so Cunard used turbines. Mauretania had a top speed (at the time) of about 27.75 knots. Which is impressive. However, her service speed, the speed she went at when she crossed the ocean, was 23.69 knots. Mauretania was designed for speed. This was an impressive speed. The fastest way to cross the ocean for 20 years.

Meanwhile, Olympic was built with comfort in mind. Steam turbines were a relatively new technology and not well understood. Ships that had them had really bad vibration issues, and White Star didn't care about speed. They weren't looking to compete with Cunard on that front. So, they equipped the Olympic with traditional triple expansion steam engines. However, after the steam was exhausted from the final cylinder, it was redirected into a low-pressure turbine. This strange combination engine system gave the Olympic 3 Propellers. Without the turbine, she probably wouldn't have gone above 18 knots. But with that little extra push, her top speed became competitive with Cunard. Her top speed was 21.75 knots. So even without the new fancy turbines, she was effectively only 2 knots slower. But that's not the impressive part about all of this.

In a single day, the Mauretania burned on average 1,000 tons of coal to go 23.69 knots. Meanwhile, Olympic, with her weird engine Mish mash, only consumed 650 tons in a day. And she was only 2 knots slower! And with the turbine propeller right behind her (comparatively) large rudder, she was a really good turner for a ship of her size. I just love the engineering here.

Anyway, that's only one reason I love her so much. Her career was another great thing about her. After Titanic sank, White Star refitted Olympic to make her even safer (she was objectively the safest ship in the world both before and after this refit) and White Star pulled the biggest PR comeback in history. Her return to service in 1913 was widely celebrated. During World War 1, she served as a troop ship, and she is the only Ocean Liner to have ever sunk enemy tonnage in either World Wars. A German U-Boat was trying to torpedo her, but because she could turn so well, they were actually able to swing her around, ram the U-Boat and sink it! She also survived a separate torpedo attack because it failed to detonate when it struck. After the war, when they put her in dry dock, they found the hole. They didn't even know they were hit! The double hull contained the flooding. After the war, she returned to passenger service and became extremely popular with the rich and famous, earning herself the nickname of "the movie star liner." By the 1930s, White Star's new flagship, the Majestic, was having some extreme problems. She was a German ship given to them as compensation for the loss of Britannic. She began having some electrical problems that caused frequent fires, and her hull plates were tearing. Even though she was 10,000 tons bigger than Olympic, and she was a newer and safer ship, Olympic was still in fantastic shape, suffering from none of these problems.

Next, is her interiors. I love the Edwardian wood paneling. Ships before Olympic like the Adriatic are a bit too sparse for my taste, and ships like the Aquitania just don't look comfortable to me. Her interiors are gorgeous, but it's kind of imposing. I wouldn't want to sit on the furniture or get close to the walls. It's like a work of art, but that doesn't make her comfortable. I have the same problem with the Normandie. Beautiful, but not comfortable. People nowadays forget that you actually had to live inside these ships for about a week at a time. We can only look. Occupying these interiors is very different. Meanwhile, I feel like the Olympic gets that perfect balance between looking gorgeous, but not being imposing. I can imagine myself sitting comfortably on a chair in the grand staircase and watching the people go by. I like the pseudo art deco of the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and Mauretania 2, but I just prefer the Edwardian decor of the Olympic.

Next is her exterior. She's not my favorite in this regard, that title goes to the SS United States. But the Olympic is still gorgeous. I like the height to width ratio of her funnels, I think they're a good size relative to the rest of her. For an example of funnels I don't like, I think the Normandies funnels are way too thick and tall. The Olympics superstructure is appealing and isn't too tall. The rounded bridge atop the flatter lower decks has just an incredible effect. The Big 4 had the bridge separate from the rest of the superstructure, and it looked kinda goofy to me. Olympic is just all around really good in this regard. Not the best, but really good.

I think it's such a shame that she's been reduced to "Titanic's sister." She was so much more than that. I can talk about the Olympic for hours, but this post is too long already.

[apopic]

Advantages and disadvantage Solid State Relays on ship power systems

Advantages and disadvantage Solid State Relays on ship power systems

Electromechanical relays can be expensive, large, take longer to work than modern semiconductors and have a finite contact life, particularly for large power contactor relays on big ship electrical systems. Solid state relays, which use thyristors, also known as Silicon Controlled Rectifiers (SCR), Triodes for Alternating Current (TRIAC) or transistor outputs are used instead.The output device…

[girlactionfigure]

⚠️ FRIDAY - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

Erev Shabbat - Parshat Barak - Numbers 22:2 - Balak, the king of Moab, summons the prophet Balaam to curse the people of Israel.  Three times, from three different vantage points, Balaam attempts to pronounce his curses; each time, blessings issue forth instead. Balaam also prophesies on the end of the days and the coming of Moshiach (the Jewish messiah).

⚠️ WORLD WIDE COMPUTER OUTAGE .. Israel impact (not a cyber attack - an update error)

ISRAEL EMERGENCY NUMBERS MAY BE DOWN:

MDA 101 - alternatives call Hatzalah 1221 (who report they are operating fine) or 100 police

Electric Company - instead of 103, call 054-5838074 or report on Facebook page.

Working fine: 100 police, 102 fire

Some Israeli companies impacted - may accept only cash or be unable to do business for a while:

Israel Post

Ikea

Delek gas stations

Various hospitals - Shaarei Tzedek reports recovered, normal ops, Hadassah not on the problem list, Asuta Ashdod working fine

   Affected: Hillel Yaffe, Laniado, Barzilai, Sheba, Wolfson, Shamir Assaf Harofeh, Rambam, Ma'aini Hashua, Nahariya, Poria, Bnei Zion, Ziv, the French Hospital in Nazareth, the Italian Hospital in Nazareth

Meuhedet health clinics

Clalit health clinics

Carrefour grocery - cash only

Banks HaPoalim, Leumi, Discount

Bank of Israel

Port of Ashdod completely down to ships and trucks

EL AL reports no impact, they don’t use the affected software.

Unrelated - Globes newspaper hacked (not the web site, the newsroom.)

WORLD IMPACT:

AIR TRAVEL - FAA suspending many flights in the US, Berlin flights on hold, Spain flights on hold.

Sky News having disruptions

⚠️HEZBOLLAH THREATENS.. significant retaliation for recent IDF targeted eliminations.  Northern towns should be on ALERT, take precautions in the north.

▪️RUMORS ABOUT PM.. may suspend trip to the US.  At the same time, “Israeli officials estimate that the Netanyahu-Biden meeting will not take place on Monday as planned”, unclear if due to Biden’s health or US election politics.

▪️FIN. MINISTER.. Sanctions from cabinet on PA officials NOT implemented by IDF and Shin Bet for the last 3 weeks???

▪️FBI USES ISRAELI SOFTWARE.. Washington Post: The FBI hacked into the phone of the assassin of Trump using the software of the Israeli company Celebrity.

▪️ECONOMY.. The Turkish embargo has stopped the import of Hyundai, and it is beginning to seep into Toyota, whose inventory in Israel is also shrinking.

PRESS BRIEFING BY IDF SPOKESPERSON RADM. DANIEL HAGARI - JULY 19, 2024

Overnight, a UAV, which we believe was launched from Yemen, infiltrated from the sea to our west and struck a building in central Tel Aviv. This impact resulted in the death of one civilian and lightly injured eight others. We extend our condolences to the bereaved family and wish a speedy recovery to the injured.

No alert was activated during the incident, and we are thoroughly investigating the matter. Our initial findings suggest the UAV was a Samad-3, an Iranian weapon likely upgraded to extend its range. This UAV flew from Yemen to Tel Aviv. Iran supports, funds, and arms its proxies in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, as evidenced by last night's event. UAV threats have been a constant challenge since the beginning of the war across all our borders. Dozens of UAVs have been launched from Yemen alone, most of which have been intercepted or shot down before entering Israeli territory. The majority were intercepted by an American task force under U.S. CENTCOM, while the rest were intercepted by Israeli Air Force planes or defense systems.

Simultaneously with the Tel Aviv incident, another UAV attempting to infiltrate from the east was intercepted and shot down outside of Israel’s borders. We are investigating the connection between the two incidents.

We are conducting a thorough inquiry to understand why the UAV was not identified as a threat and intercepted before it struck. An initial inquiry was conducted this morning, and we will continue to review the findings and update the public accordingly.

I want to emphasize that our defense is not foolproof. We are strengthening our air patrols and airspace protection across the country. We are continuously improving our capabilities to better protect the citizens of Israel.

There is no change in the Home Front Command directives. Should there be any changes, we will immediately inform the public.

Overnight and this morning, the Chief of the General Staff conducted several situational assessments. We have increased our defensive capabilities in Israel’s skies with additional planes and other measures to improve detection, alert, and interception capabilities. The incident on the ground was managed cooperatively by the Israel Police, Magen David Adom, and the Israel Fire and Rescue Services, who provided vital details for the inquiry.

In the north, the UAV threat is a daily challenge due to short-range launches, differing from last night’s incident. We are studying the northern threat to improve our response. We recognize the ongoing challenges faced by residents in the north.

In the past day, we have eliminated six Hezbollah terrorists and struck fifteen targets from the air and ground in the north.

We are engaged in a multi-front war, operating in all arenas and defending the country's skies daily. We are addressing threats both near and far.

In the coming days, we will continue our situational assessments to understand the incident better, determine the source of the threat, and decide on the necessary defensive and operational responses against those who threaten the State of Israel.

[azuremallone]

Azure's Corner

A history lesson about my species.

See, the thing about my species is that we're charged with an ancient honor from Lord Xenu. He uplifted our species from swamp dwelling gecko-crocodile-salamanders orbiting a dim blue dwarf into the Galaxy's, perhaps even the known Universe's, most powerful Alpha Apex Predators with the sole focus to preserve peace, justice, and the enforcement of law across the cosmos we survey wherever we go. Initially to fight the tyrannical and depraved Thetans who sought to dominate and consume the lifeforce of the unwilling to expand their numbers and consume the Universe's energy to live, my people now have expansive fleets that troll evildoers wherever they may be, and destroy them if necessary.

We're big on sarcasm and rapier wit being a valuable weapon against ideologies which surmount to subvert the needs of the many and the one. How do we know what's right versus what's wrong? It's easy: We don't take bullshit for an answer. Some of our actions might be construed as authoritarian, totalitarian even. We do tend to take over a star system that's out of control. We have to.

However, we return the system to law and order in a method of their own choosing. We might not like what they choose, but as long as it's collectively what they want and doesn't cause problems for anyone else, fuck it. It's their world.

On some rare occasions, we'll keep their star system. It's because they can't be trusted. This usually comes about from a decision that they continuously slip toward evil activities with malicious intent toward other species. Rarer still, we'll just destroy them, their planet, and even rarer yet, the entire star system. Yeah, we can and have done that.

One of those rare occasions was a very Nazi-esque species we encountered on one of the spinward marches. They had two star systems and had wiped out one species on a dual-species planet, and subjugated the sibling species as slaves. It's also rare to have a system with two species that cohabitate. With the loss of one, the other was forced to be subjugated to survive. We couldn't stand for that. So, under the Great Empress Tha`rr~hru'll Mmmmrrrr-thr'ahrl (My grandmother -- We had very long names back then), our fleet was ordered to restore order at all costs and prevent the spread of their vileness. It just so happened that we discovered Thetan influence involved with the aggressor species.

Well, they were rather powerful already as they were a spacefaring FTL capable culture built upon the backs and ashes of others. And they did put up a good fight, initially. So we decided not to land dropships to risk our soldiers and detonated a Starbomb. It's a lovely device, really. Huge as fuck, it creates a quantum entanglement effect between particles of what you call a Kerr-Newman black hole and a star's matter. A Kerr-Newman black hole is one which rotates and contains an electrical charge. The cascading effect is mass amplification through the entanglement of the charged particles and the quantum exchange of energy from the black hole into the star's matter. This slows the Kerr-Newman black hole and imparts a lot of energy that must be converted into mass by the same means as Einsteinian matter-energy conversion. I'll spare the technical details because y'all can't be trusted with an M80 without adult supervision and this is one gigantic M80.

From their warships and planet, they watched as their lightweight yellow sun (about 2x the solar mass of Sol) turn a shade of reddish-orange upon a shockwave of blue light that rippled across the surface. Mass increased by several thousand fold within just an hour. Our fleet amassed just outside the safety limit to prevent any of their ships from escaping the increasing gravity well until their star went pop.

The shockwave obliterated the inner sphere and violently so. Everything within the inner shell was annihilated and any survivors were destroyed with impunity. And then the fleet turned on the other system not far away, which had been witness by our broadcast to the annihilation. Needless to say that the aggressors surrendered. We accepted their surrender, and took all of them off world onto automated transport ships. Then we flew those ships into the dying embers of their own home star.

However, due to the damage done to the captured world, we took charge and it became one of our most distant outposts. To this day, the surviving species there has enjoyed many freedoms, and has become less dependent on others to survive. Now, they're very prosperous and many, but we remain in control since they're a very submissive species that couldn't manage themselves out of a cardboard box if their lives depended on it.

What does this all mean?

Do Not Fuck with Azure.

[ahungeringknife]

365: January 18

And this is why I can't be trusted to write original stuff without a prompt. I just get INTO THE WEEDS fuck

----

Zy’ko cocked their head to the side watching the lower marshal organize a bunch of strange materials be accumulated and assembled in the colony’s outer ring. On the surface no less. “Is there a reason for this?” Zy’ko asked the marshal who was directing laborers. They could also see an architect and foreman bent over a inscribing table at some building plans. Now and then their antenna changed color as they agreed or disagreed on something.

“Monarch sent for aid from the Federation,” the marshal said.

“That doesn’t explain this.” Zy’ko had also not heard of this. They’d expect to hear from their parent about this but Zy’ko was the twentieth child so maybe not. Twentieth child who’s responsibility was the outer ring. There were more unsavory duties to give the Monarch’s child. One of their older siblings ran the sewage system and waste collection. They loved it apparently? Zy’ko would rather eat their own hand than do that duty.

“The only species that responded in dealing with the native fauna were… homo sapian,” the marshal said slowly. “They are surface dwellers and the Monarch wants them comfortable.”

“Homo sapian? What’s that?” Zy’ko asked.

“Beats me. Looked them up on the web and they’re new space farers. But they can breathe this planet’s atmosphere so it will be easy to deal with the fauna.”

Zy’ko’s fluffy antenna turned yellow, “Do they know we’ve been attacked by them?”

“I suppose so. Homo sapian are good at killing. Heard their planet is death zoned. Homeworld and some ice ball moon are the only ones with life. On the web it says they purged their system of all other life they didn’t like. So they know how to deal with these jaigon,” the marshal shrugged with his lower arms.

“I see,” Zy’ko said slowly and worked their hands across each other in concern. “We’ll see when they arrive,” they allowed.

—

Zy’ko wasn’t expecting how small these homo sapians were when they arrived. Their ship appeared massive in the sky above the colony and so did their transport ships but the species that came out were so small. The size of children. The Monarch had adjusted Zy’ko’s responsibility of the outer ring to also include the surface. It meant these homo sapians were their problem to maintain. They were so small they probably didn’t eat very much.

They wanted to be a good host though. Their parent and teachers had instilled in them good manners and so while waiting for the homo sapian ship to arrive Zy’ko had taken it upon themselves to learn the dominant language of those aboard this ship. Zy’ko had no lips so some sounds were impossible but they did as well as they could. They’d also had some laborers dig up and prepare a large portion of farm land for them as Zy’ko had learned homo sapians were omnivores and needed plants to maintain a healthy diet. The houses were arranged in a pleasing manner Zy’ko approved of and were powered by the plants atop the roofs that turned photosynthesis into electricity. The same thing that powered the entire colony.

Zy’ko went out to meet them with members of their cabinet who helped them manage the outer ring and now the surface. “Greetings,” they said as they approached the group of homo sapians leaving the transport ship.

“Howdy,” one with hair on their face said. “You folk are bigger up close huh?”

“And you are smaller,” Zy’ko said. They’d done extensive research on how to hold a conversation with homo sapians.

The others humans laughed. The one with hair on their face held out a hand, “I’m Captain Gustavo Ranger. You’re the Monarch’s kid right? Zy’ko?” and Zy’ko was pleased by how easily Captain said their name. Zy’ko had interacted with other species before and they had difficulties saying Dhissu words and names.

“Yes. That is I. Zy’ko, twentieth child of Monarch Gei’fan’tay, Grand Marshal of the Outer Ring and the Surface.” They grabbed the Captain’s hand in a gesture they knew was accommodating to shake. “Welcome to the first Dhissu colony of Vinuruta.”

The Captain introduced the rest of his own cabinet and said they had a bunch of colonists ready to put their teeth into the task of the jaigon. Zy’ko certainly hoped so. They’d been dealing with jaigon deaths in increasing rates lately. But first everyone had to be brought to the surface once the Captain and the others were sure everything was ‘above board’, whatever that meant. The Dhissu didn’t build with wood if they couldn’t help it so there were no boards or things to be above them. Zy’ko hoped that wouldn’t be a problem.

After looking through the new, empty, colony the Captain decided everything seemed good and they boarded their transport ship and went back up to their ship in low orbit to bring the rest of their people down. Zy’ko’s fluffy antenna were positively red with delight by the time they were leaving. They couldn’t wait to see how these dead zone system people dealt with those horrible jaigon.

—

It took a few months before Zy’ko saw any progress from the homo sapians. They left them mostly to themselves as the homo sapians were self governing and didn’t need to be monitored. That and Captain Gustavo said homo sapians didn’t like being managed ‘to hell and back’ a term Zy’ko had learned meant ‘to an overbearing amount’. So they left them alone, checking on them periodically. Captain Gustavo always had good reports about the jaigon despite the rising death rates amid the worker Dhissu. They’d found nests. They’d captured. They were studying the creatures. All good things to Zy’ko. Hopefully they’d rid Vinuruta of these horrible creatures soon.

So they were shocked when they left the outer ring for the surface and found the homo sapians had tamed the jaigon! And they knew that because as they were leaving the colony one went by them riding them.

Zy’ko went right to Captain Gustavo to demand answers.

Captain Gustavo came out of his office when Zy’ko arrived, the building too small for them. “Zy’ko, my friend, what can I do for you?” Captain Gustavo asked.

“What is the meaning of this?” Zy’ko demanded.

“What?”

“That!” and they pointed at one of the women of the colony walking a herd of baby jaigon on leads.

“Oh. Part of the plan, Grand Marshal, nothing to worry about.”

“I am deeply worried, Captain,” Zy’ko said. “We brought you here to deal with the jaigon problem, not make them into pets!”

“And that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Captain Gustavo said.

“I fail to see how this accomplishes what your charter dictates,” Zy’ko said, irritated beyond belief, their antenna a furious purple color.

“Just cool your fluffy self down, Zy’ko,” Captain Gustavo said. “Lemme tell you about what humans did on Earth. We have a creature on Earth called a wolf. Wolves are pack hunters who often killed humans’ livestock and sometimes even people. So a long long time ago humans captured wolf babies and started raising them around people. The wolves became obedient and learned to live with humans. Over wolf generations we bred them into all sorts of shapes for all sorts of jobs and call them dogs. One being to guard against wild wolves. There are several breeds of dogs who’s only job is to protect livestock and kill wolves. Now these jaigon are a lot like wolves,” he motioned to a field across the way where some homo sapians were teaching jaigon tricks, like how to sit. It was comical because of how large the jaigon were. “Just big.”

“And killers,” Zy’ko said. “They’re killing our workers.”

“Yeah. And give us a year or two with these jaigon we raised from babies and you’ll find no better jaigon killers than a tamed jaigon,” Captain Gustavo said.

“We don’t-

“Zy’ko, I’ve already discussed this with the Monarch. Everything’s fine. This is the plan. This has always been the plan. Now calm those purple bits of yours. Everything’s proceeding on schedule. Who knows, in a few years you might have your own pet jaigon.”

“Doubtful,” Zy’ko said. “Fine. I will trust the process,” and with that they left, still angry but not entirely sure about what. About the jaigon for sure but more that their parent or Captain Gustavo didn’t tell them about the plan. But homo sapians were self reliant. They didn’t need to tell Zy’ko everything, or anything really. They still felt hurt by it all the same.

—  

Zy’ko didn’t put much stock in Captain Gustavo’s promises to tame the jaigon and turn them into jaigon killers. Every month the number of worker deaths fluctuated around the same amount. Maybe one or two extra or one or two less but nothing of significance. They even went to their parent about it. They weren’t the only Grand Marshal to do so either. Once Zy’ko had had to stand in line with three of their siblings to speak with their parent and they all had similar issues with the homo sapians. Their people were still being picked off and workers didn’t want to go and do their duties. One of their siblings told them birth rates were down because so many workers had died. Even ones who hadn’t lost a partner were less likely to have children who might die to a jaigon.

They needed to do something extreme about these jaigon or this colony wouldn’t last.

The Monarch just dismissed them and said they were unconcerned with these problems as they knew the homo sapians would deal with the problem. Homo sapians coming from a dead zone system was brought up but the Monarch would hear nothing about it. And no one else in the Federation was interested in helping a single colony of Dhissu on a new world. They trusted the homo sapians. There was nothing anything of the Grand Marshals could do to change the Monarch’s mind either. The colony’s expansion would slow until the threat was dealt with if it had to.

It took a full year on Vinuruta before Zy’ko was going over reports on workers in the outer ring and found… no deaths from jaigon for the month. Not a single one.  They checked other parts of the colony and found only a few deaths in the entire colony related to the jaigon.

They hadn’t gone up to the surface in almost a year. Captain Gustavo and the Monarch’s dismissal of their concern had spurned them. Now they went up to the surface where the homo sapian colony was and was surprised by what they saw.

It was bigger for starters but that wasn’t what made Zy’ko stare. It was the jaigon. Both living and dead. The homo sapians used the jaigon as beasts of burden but also as quick mounts and they saw a not insignificant pile of dead jaigon outside of town a ways. Homo sapians were using tools to drag the bodies around and gutting and skinning them to put the hides up on drying racks under the sun. The tanning process smelled awful but at the distance it wasn’t too bad. The homo sapians also used two wheeled vehicles to get around but it seemed most of them preferred jaigon.

Zy’ko walked slowly through the colony. Some humans waved at them if they recognized them. A few even called their name and they stopped to say hello briefly. It was surreal seeing the homo sapians and jaigon so casually mixed. And their clothes. They saw some natural fibers but new clothes looked like it was made from jaigon hide. It made their otherwise dull and thin peach or brown skin shiny more like a Dhissu.

Finally Zy’ko arrived at Captain Gustavo’s office, the Captain was waiting for them. “Zy’ko! So great to see you again. How are things? How’s your mother?”

“My parent is well,” they said, feeling so confused. “I got a report there have been only three deaths all months to jaigon.”

The Captain grimaced. “Yeah. We didn’t get them all. Happened during a shift change. We’re more on top of it now,” he assured Zy’ko.

“But… how?”

“I told you didn’t I? We made the jaigon hunt jaigon. It’s not a natural thing they do but these guys will do anything for some belly rubs,” and he laughed when all of Zy’kon’s antenna turned yellow or orange in concern.

“My siblings and I thought you’d kill them like you did all the native species in your system,” Zy’ko said.

The Captain just sighed. “Yeah we didn’t do that. That silly rumor got a bit out of hand. We’d rather work with the natural fauna. Also try and tell Arnold he’s not allowed to pet a jaigon? Guy nearly lost a hand the first time we saw one!” the Captain laughed. Zy’ko didn’t know what was so funny. Arnold’s first instinct on seeing a jaigon was to pet it? This species was insane. “I’ll be some generations yet before they’re fully domesticated but we got tame jaigon now and that should fix your worker problem.”

“Yes. It has. Quickly. I don’t even see you on these thing.”

“Jaigon only hunt at night and you folk are pretty studious about sleeping when its dark,” the Captain said. “Now did you want to see our training course so you can go back and tell your siblings and Monarch all about it and to stop sending me vaguely threatening emails?” he sighed.

“Ah- yes. That sounds wonderful,” Zy’ko said and the Captain went to grab his jaigon skin jacket and led Zy’ko to another part of their small colony to witness jaigon training.

[eldritchamy]

@creative-sparx replied to your post “science fantasy is such a hard genre to be into...”:

The magic system in Diane Duane's Young Wizards series is handled very much like a science with many different categories, grounded mostly in the concept of entropy I believe; I would say it is very much a fantasy using science elements rather than science fiction using fantasy. As a bonus, Diane is a very active and friendly Tumblr user who often engages in the specifics of the system with fans, and has a lot of writing credentials in both fantasy and science fiction.

Now that sounds like something me and my own magic system might be interested in reading.

I think what I'm looking for is not Science Fantasy, (which seems to be just a synonym for science fiction), but Scientific Fantasy.

I want a world where magic is just a fact of the world and is studied like any other science. It's just part of how the world works, as recognized and math'd out as gravity.

So much of Urban Fantasy fucks up the worldbuilding by just slapping a magic system on top of a world that is otherwise exactly like ours. And a world exactly like ours wouldn't exist at all if there were magic. If magic was a TOOL that people could use to SOLVE PROBLEMS, it would be USED to solve problems the same way we would think to use machines and electricity. Those solutions, and the new problems people would discover by using them, would look nothing like our world at all.

In a world that has had access to magic over a long period of time, the kinds of problems you CAN solve, and even the kinds of problems you would THINK OF AS PROBLEMS IN NEED OF SOLVING, would be radically different from the problems our world, and our technology, has developed to deal with.

Long range communication wouldn't be solved by a box with electricity trapped inside it. There would be magical approaches to solving that problem. Okay, MAYBE a crystal tablet that can display information is a good enough idea that someone would think of it. If the world is old enough? Sure, someone has probably figured out that electricity exists and can be used by people who are less skilled or comfortable with magic to solve similar problems, but magic wouldn't just be slapped onto the surface of an otherwise unchanged world. The entire structure of society and the tools it creates and uses would be completely different.

Like Senshi using earth golems as a kind of farmland that manages its own water supply and fights off pests. LIVING HYDROPONIC CONSTRUCTS. That's brilliant.

The entire fucking world would be radically changed in more ways than even a very dedicated worldbuilder could ever really imagine. Public transit could be magic based, even teleportation based. Energy grids could be powered by magic. Something equivalent to an elevator could be done through levitation fields. Shipping could be managed through demiplanes that open in multiple places. Medical science could incorporate magic as a diagnostic tool. With an extreme level of fine control, surgeons could heal incisions or tissue damage without stitches. Magic wouldn't need to be a separate form of education, the basics would just be taught alongside the water cycle or the respiratory cycle.

People would make jokes 20 years after graduating about how mana is the powerhouse of the soul.

THERE'S NO GODDAMN REASON FOR A WORLD WITH MAGIC TO BE LOCKED TO THE AESTHETIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE.

Magical constructs could be teleported into orbit for space research. Think of the possibilities of a magic space race! Astromancy wizards summoning familiars on the moon!

There's so much more you can do with a magical setting than mud and castles and dragons and liches and horses. It's FANTASY! FANTASIZE! IMAGINE SOMETHING!

What if instead of meeting in a tavern you were stuck on a 3 hour connecting flight together on a sky train. You meet at the airport on your way to a tourist trap in the fey realm for spring break while working towards a degree in Arcanodynamics, and bond over the fact that it kinda sucks, and that pixiedust pretzel was in no way worth SEVEN gold, and their internship at the alchemical research hospital doesn't pay enough for this shit.