#project rho

[stxalq]

you have to wonder if the constant insistence that potlatches were primarily about destroying property is just a holdover from the Canadian ban on potlatches. the anthropology texts from the 60s mention it, but i can't detect an excess of destruction even in their exceedingly polite prose about native practices

a 19th century chief admonished an anthropologist and the Canadian government for interfering in their feasting, dancing, and giveaways, not the destruction of property

the actual Indian Act law doesn't even mention destruction, it says "giving away or paying or giving back of money"

okay, and now that i'm on this research kick, can we all just appreciate the names of the copper plates they were giving away and hoarding and bragging about. you can hear it in the names they gave them: "[this one] takes everything out of the house", "longest copper in the world", "this copper makes copper", "all other coppers are ashamed to look at it"

and can we appreciate the related Hollywood brainrot that has convinced so many people that indian naming convention is some kind of pseudo-mystical/spiritual BS? and how wrong that is? like undeniably unfactual bullshit, but because it makes the new agers feel good it keeps getting a pass?

like the completely unsourced, but widely held belief that "Tillamoook" means "Land of Many Waters", but just, no. it's a chinookan exonym, like how we say Spaniard or Korean. it's a foreign name for the people that lived arond Nehalem. and it's not clear it ever meant anything other than "the people that live around Nehalem"

but like, if you were going to translate Tillamook to mean "Land of Many Waters", you've completely failed to capture the actual spirit of the place name. we have mountains named The Big White Thing, and Ours is Bigger, and That One's a Smoker. if you wanna "translate" Tillamook, you gotta get the feel of it right, Tillamook: Where Even the Fish Are Too Wet

(the atomic rockets to freefall to Canadian gov't PDFs pipeline is real)

http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/power.php

http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3900/fc03858.htm

https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/aanc-inac/R5-158-2-1978-eng.pdf

https://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/lawdemo/projects/potlatch/copper.htm

[tacitwaveguide]

I'm being autistic about my wierd photography thing again and wrote out the concept when I was bored at work.

Trying to capture the whole dark, grungy, dirty, battered, broken, exhausted and vulnerable look in these photos.

Lower resolution in a more boxy aspect ratio like 5:3 around 570x340px or 4:3 in the 500x375px area using a slighty muted colour palette should lend itself well to the aesthetic i'm chasing i think.

I'm not really chasing the pornographic angle as much as i'm trying to come at it from an artistic approach that has coincidentally sexual elements

Image noise would definitely be a characteristic. Most of all i'm trying to communicate a sense of helplessness.

Have juuuuuust enough loss of colour with maybe a slightly higher contrast to get across an slightly disassociated, muted, hazy out-of-control feeling.

[baihujun]

(1/2) 

It's August 16, which means it's this fella's birthday. Happy birthday Jason Todd 🍸

[jasontoddssuper]

Extremely batshit(pun intended)how Jason is widely seen as a 'player' and frequently gets compared to male characters who are them even though he's canonically a total prude by DC standards.Same energy as people calling Zuko 'the og white bad boy' when literally everything about him down to his design screams asian

[spinyax]

just a little guy

[powerfulkicks]

i need to make a new sona.......

[keepmebelievingitswithyou]

ALL OF A SUDDEN I AM SCARED ALL OF A SUDDEN I CANT BREATHE ALL OF A SUDDEN I AM NOTHING IN THIS MOMENT YOU ARE EVERYTHING

[nobrashfestivity]

Unknown Chi-Rho Monogram [from the Book of Kells] England: Celtic ca. 760-820 A.D. Sacred Monogram of Christ -- the first three words in the word Christ, ie XPI. Lundquist This is one of 500 short form records which comprise the first stage in the ARAS Pilot 500 Project. The full format version of the project is scheduled to appear in July 1987. A research scholar from the subject area will complete a Cultural Context section describing the symbolism of the image in terms of its own culture, and provide a Bibliography and Glossary. The Archetypal Research section will present cross-cultural parallels and/or insights derived from the analytical psychology of C.G. Jung. The Index allows retrieval of visually or thematically related material and is the heart of ARAS. The short format index seen here enables the user to understand how ARAS works. The Index will be expanded in the completed full format.Sample full format records are available now at the three ARAS centers in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Manuscript illumination: tempera on parchment 12 5/8 x 9 1/2 in. (33, 24 cm.) Ireland: Dublin, Trinity College Library, ms. 58, folio 34 recto British Isles (Northumbria?)

[pearl-tarotist]

☾.‧͙*✧*:ﾟ✧ - YES OR NO - ✧･✧*˚⋆☽˚

To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Ask a question and receive the answer from the pendulum (yes/no), the advice from the Greek Alphabet oracle, a song and a small conclusion.

!disclaimer: all photos belong to pinterest + it's possible that this PAC is the most general I have ever done.

PILE 1.- Colorful trees by JOAQUÍN SOROLLA

1)Yes.

2) RHO (P) - You will go on more easily {Rhaion} if you wait a short time.”

"Go on: live, continue; easily: willingly, recklessly, thoughtlessly; wait: stand fast, remain, stay.

If you will hold your ground for only a short time, you will be able to proceed (more easily or with greater cooperation). You will go faster by waiting than by going now; on the other hand, delaying too long may provoke reckless action. By standing fast you live recklessly. By remaining where you are, you live life thoughtlessly".

3)Conclusion:

It seems that you will achieve what you want at the end but it's going to take time. There's a need for you to relax and take care first of yourself, also, learn to cooperate with others. The process should be as pleasuring as the result.

PILE 2.- ITALIAN GIRL BY JOAQUIN SOROLLA

1) No.

2)CHI (x) - There is no fruit to take from a withered {Xêros} shoot.”

"Fruit: produce, return, profit, result; withered: lean, harsh.

There is no good to be gained from an angry young man or woman. The frayed end of a good line. Harshness and stinginess will achieve nothing. You can’t get blood from a turnip; you can’t get water from a stone. Don’t polish a turd".

3)Conclusion:

If you are asking about a person, darling, there's no love nor benefit that you can get from them. They do not share the same feelings and you can not create love from scratch. If you are asking about a situation (jobs, market, a product...) It won't work. You are searching or expecting something from it that can not exist. + With the song I got, it's obvious you want to make things work to the point of hurting yourself or surpassing your own limits.

PILE 3.- GIRL DRINKING

1) Strong no.

2)Alpha - “The God [Apollo] says you will do everything {Hapanta} successfully.”

"Do: achieve, bring about, effect, accomplish, make, manage, negotiate, transact, practice, fare; successfully: prosperously, luckily, with good fortune.

Your entire project will turn out well and you will meet all your goals. You will have good luck in all your activities, or prosperous business transactions and negotiations."

3) Conclusion:

I was a bit confused about the difference between the first two messages but when I listened to the song I got it. You are designated for better things that not the one that you are asking. Stop waiting for people that do not fit with you, you are worth much more than what you allow yourself to be. You could be divinely protected or have people around you that do care a lot about you but you are not able to see it or feel it. I think the message would be something like "stop following others people's orders/dreams and star chasing and working on yours".

PILE 4.- PURSE

1)Yes.

2) Sigma - “Phoibos [Apollo] speaks plainly {Saphôs}, ‘Stay, friend.’”

"Plainly: distinctly, certainly; stay: wait, stand fast, remain.

Neither advance nor retreat; wait or hold your ground, as appropriate; the best action is inaction. “Phoibos” refers to Apollo as Bright and Pure, which also characterizes His advice in this oracle."

3) Conclusion:

I feel like this pile is for the baddies, for the heartbreakers. The message for you is that if you do not feel comfortable with it, if people are trying to force you or tag you, stand your ground and do not force yourself to fit in their ideas. Apply this energy to your question. There's no need to make a choice right now; Gemini, Aquarius, Libra and Sagittarius I see all of you in here.

PILE 5.- MOST ARDENTLY

1)No.

2) Iota (I) - “There is sweat {Hidrôs}; it excels more than everything.”

Sweat: gum, exudation of trees; excels: is superior to, outlives, remains in hand, is a result, is around.

There will always be hard work; work is never done. Hard work is the surest means of success. When you have lost all other possessions, you still have your labor as an asset. The oracle recommends elbow-grease.

3) Conclusion:

Focus on your finances, on your career and on creating abundance for yourself. Your words could have a bigger impact in your environment that you think of. Be careful on what you think, what you say and to who you say it. For some of you, something may have gone wrong but with hard work, it can be fixed and bettered. If you want to have it again, it is possible.

PILE 6.- JOHNNY SUH

1)Yes.

2) Theta - “You have the helping Gods {Theoi} of this path.”

Helping: propitious, defending; path: road, course, way.

The “way” may be a concrete road, a plan of action, a spiritual path, a way of life, etc. In any case, the Gods who oversee this way will help and defend you, so you may go forward with confidence; you are under divine care because you are following your destiny.

3) Conclusion:

Whatever you have asked, it is a strong yees. It's possible it even is your destiny, fate or if asking about a person someone you were destined to meet as a soulmate (from a past life), a twin flame... Whatever you do you are going to be successful at it. Also, you got a Shrek song 🔥🔥🔥.

PILE 7.- WANDER

1)No.

2) Kappa - To fight with the waves {Kuma} is difficult; endure, friend.”

Waves: swells, floods; difficult: hard to bear, do, or deal with, painful, grievous, dangerous; endure: delay.

In time, the force of ocean waves can grind down anything; they can be a metaphor for repetitive, unstoppable processes. It is difficult, dangerous, and painful to try to resist them; the sensible thing to do is to wait until they abate, or if that is impossible, then to endure the inevitable with courage.

3) Conclusion:

What you have asked it's complicated to fulfill. The circumstances that surrounded you will not help you with what you have asked, and sometimes it's wiser to give up on some projects because it's not the right time. You could always come back to them in the future when the the variables are correct and appropriate for you.

PILE 8.- WOMAN

1)Yes.

2)Psi - “You have this righteous judgment {Psêphos} from the Gods."

"Righteous: just, fitting, meet, fair; judgment: resolve, decree.

Literally, a psêphos (Lat. calculus) is a stone used for divination, voting, counting, and similar purposes, so this oracle refers to collective judgment rather than individual judgment. This implies that the majority of the Gods concur in this judgment, and that this judgment is appropriate, fair, and righteous, though there is no implication that the result is that desired by the querant."

3) Conclusion:

What you have asked is more than possible and really logic. It's something that you could expect to happen. The question could be even what was expected of you to ask...like,somehow, the question was more what others expected of you to ask than not what you wanted to ask somehow? You have asked with the mask you put in front of others, not your true "face". Nevertheless, the answer is yes.

PILE 9.- NECKLACE

1)No.

2) Gama - “Gaia [the Earth] {Gê} will give you the ripe fruit of your labors.”

Ripe: complete, final; fruits: produce, returns, profits, results.

You will have a successful harvest, or you will reap all your profits from the Earth. The Mother of All will bring your labors to a fruitful conclusion. Gaia will give you your just deserts.

3) Conclusion:

These are contrary messages... Maybe you were a bit of a pesimistic when you asked that question. There's nothing you can not get a minimal beneficial from. At the end of the day karma will get the ones that hurt you; your problems will get fixed or will disappear.

All rights belong to @pearl-tarotist .

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 2 replay, Arrival:

Aratoht

-The moon in the skybox is gorgeous.

-Why does Shepard assume that the presence of varren mean that prisoners are sent there to die?

They could be feral varren, or there to chase down escaped prisoners.

-As you go through the mission, you overhear guards speaking about humans planning to destroy the relay. You probably assume it’s propaganda. The twist is that it’s true.

-The guards are correct. Dr. Kenson is a terrorist. One with very good reasons, but still a terrorist.

-Logs say that interrogation only produced frenzied rambling. Probably because they’re indoctrinated.

-This isn’t all that different from what the Alliance would do if they learned a batarian cell planned to destroy a Mass Relay in a human system. Capture them, imprison them, interrogate them.

Hopefully not as severely as the batarians are doing, but they’d definitely be questioned.

-As many have pointed out, the Reaper drawing in a deceased prisoner’s cell is a clue they’re indoctrinated.

-Dr. Kenson doesn’t even ask about the others captured with her. Does she assume or know they’re already dead?

-The conversation in the shuttle with Dr. Kenson is a reversal of the normal scenario. Dr. Kenson in the one insisting on a fantastical scenario, and Shepard is the skeptic.

-Shepard raises that mass effect relays are supposed to be indestructible. Dr. Kenson replies that it’s more that no one’s wanted to find out what would happen if one was destroyed.

At least Bioware addresses the change. I’m still skeptical a large asteroid can destroy one – the Reapers want to reset organic life, not destroy it completely. If mass relays can destroy a system when they’re hit with an asteroid, that’s a rather large oversight. Surely they could be shielded or the like?

-Dr. Kenson: Even a Reaper thousand of years dead contains power. Their artifacts are worthy of study, regardless of their purpose.

How does Dr. Kenson know that dead Reapers contain power?

(She’s indoctrinated. That’s the Reaper speaking. They like to praise themselves.)

-Shepard asks how they avoided indoctrination. Dr. Kenson insists they were careful.

Later we see Object Rho out in the open. Was it always so, or did they move it after the indoctrination kicked in?

-When Shepard sees the countdown, they immediately say that the Reapers could be at Earth in two days.

So the whole “save Earth” angle of ME3 had already started in this DLC. Never mind that Shepard may have no connection to it; it’s good marketing, damn it.

Just saying, they could have said the Reapers will start their harvest in two days.

-I repeatedly reloaded the fight in the Object Rho room and again and again ran into an issue where I couldn’t target anyone. How the hell can a vanguard charge if they can’t target?

-Why do the Reapers want Shepard alive?

They stopped the plan to turn the Citadel into a relay. The player is expected to play this DLC after they’ve destroyed (or collected) the Collectors base.

The Reapers should want Shepard dead. They’re too dangerous to live. There’s no gain to keeping them alive, except maybe to indoctrinate them and use them as an agent against the galaxy.

Which would have been a fantastic twist in ME3, but ME3 prefers to pretend ME2 doesn’t exist so nothing came of that. In fact, ME3 drops the “take Shepard alive” angle entirely for no known in-universe reason.

Maybe the other Reapers held a vote and told Harbinger to shut up.

-Hmm. I’ve wondered why Kenson tells Shepard about the Project and takes them back to the base – that seems counter intuitive since Shepard will of course try to finish the job and Kenson doesn’t actually want that.

I had mostly settled on Kenson telling Shepard as an attempt to fight off the indoctrination, but once in the room with Object Rho the indoctrination took over.

However, it makes more sense as an attempt to lure Shepard into a trap and capture them. Everyone knows that Shepard will go anywhere if the word “Reaper” is mentioned. That’s how Hackett convinced Shepard to go after Kenson in the first place.

And if Shepard hadn’t been able to shake of the drugs it would have worked. The Reapers would have arrived, picked up Shepard for whatever purpose, and carried on with the harvest.

-Why was Shepard able to shake off the drugs, anyway? Side effect of the cybernetics? Built up tolerance after being kept under for two years?

-The worst part of this mission is that it puts me back in the Cerberus uniform. My Shepard burned that the moment they got their hands on other clothes.

-Shitty security returns! The door out of the med bay only has three locks.

-I loathe pyros. Once they hit you with fire you’re dead, and Shepard can’t move in ME2 so good luck avoiding them.

-How is Harbringer communicating with Shepard? They’re not even in the galaxy yet. What, did they hack the comms tower from dark space?

Just saying, you could interpret this as Shepard hallucinating Harbringer as an early sign of indoctrination. They did just spend two days sleeping next to a Reaper artifact.

Normandy

-Back on the Normandy and in Cerberus clothing again. While meeting an Alliance admiral. Who thought this was appropriate?

-Hackett about Cerberus: I don’t like Cerberus or the way they do things, but they brought you back to life and they’re actually doing something about the state of the galaxy.

Ah, the renegade to Anderson’s paragon. Let’s not forget that “actually doing something about the state of the galaxy” does not necessarily mean good things. Cerberus is doing plenty – shame it’s all evil.

-Batarians have wanted war with the Alliance for a long time.

The batarian leadership have also been indoctrinated since shortly after they discovered the Leviathan of Dis in 2163 CE. ME1 start in 2183 CE.

Do the batarians want war with the Alliance, or do the Reapers want the organics fighting each other so they don’t team up and make the harvest harder?

-Hackett should have kept Shepard’s report. Sure, it’s a grand gesture of trust to say it’s not necessary. It’s also idiotic. Hackett needs to prepare for the Reapers and Shepard’s report is the most up to date intel on their movements and plans.

Also, it might make defending Shepard easier if he knows what the hell happened.

Codex

-The Alpha Relay can be “powered by an unprecedented amount of dark energy” to connect to multiple other relays or the Citadel.

Once again, an allusion to the dark energy plot that ME3 will abandon.

-The Hegemony knows about the relay’s abilities but keeps quiet about it to avoid hostility from other species that would be concerned about it.

Unusual for the Hegemony. They normally try to provoke everyone over everything.

-Object Rho is believed to be powered by dark matter.

If Bioware had put half as much effort into foreshadowing synthesis in ME3 as they did dark energy in ME2…

And with that, I’m finally finished ME2! On to ME3!

[fivedayslater]

Keep Pushing ‘til it’s Understood

Characters/Pairings: ZoSan

Ratings/Warnings: T

He felt that tug again, the one that kept bringing him closer to Zoro, and knew he had to do something.

Zoro awakens as a sentinel, and Sanji is his guide. They do their best to figure out what that means to them.

It’s my friend Rho’s birthday, and she asked for a zosan sentinel au because it fits them and she hadn’t seen it before, and I was happy to deliver. Happy birthday dear 💖💜

[griseldagimpel]

The Antagonists of The Locked Tomb Series

I've been making posts arguing that John Gaius isn't the antagonist of The Locked Tomb series, so I thought I'd do a post breaking down the question: who are the antagonists of the series?

Alright, to start: the protagonist is the character the book is about. They may not be the same thing as the POV character. For example, Harrow the Ninth is told from the perspective of Gideon, but the protagonist - at least until the end - is Harrow. The antagonist is the character opposed to the protagonist. Neither of these are synonymous with "hero" or "villain".

The Protagonists of the Locked Tomb Series, by Book

Gideon the Ninth: Gideon Nav

Harrow the Ninth: Harrow, then Gideon at the end

Nona the Ninth: Nona for the New Rho portions, and John for the pre-Resurrection portions

Alright, so what do our protagonists want in those books?

Gideon the Ninth: Gideon wants to join the Cohort at the start. In the middle, she starts to get on board with the plan of Harrow becoming a Lyctor. As the bodies start to stack up, Gideon's goal is to Protect Everyone.

Harrow the Ninth: Harrow wants to achieve full Lyctorhood. She wants to not get killed by G1deon. And she wants to stop Commander Wake in the River Bubble portions.

Then Gideon wants Harrow to fully consume her and become a full Lyctor.

Nona the Ninth: Nona wants to have a birthday party. More broadly, she wants those she cares about to be happy.

John wants to save the world and then to stop the trillionaires from abandoning it.

Now, who's opposed to the protagonists' goals?

Gideon the Ninth: Harrow is opposed to Gideon joining the Cohort. Cytherea is opposed to Harrow becoming a Lyctor and to everyone not dying.

Harrow the Ninth: Harrow is opposed to Harrow becoming a full Lyctor, although due to the magical brain lesion, Harrow doesn't know this. Technically, G1deon isn't actually trying to kill Harrow; he's trying to force her into full Lyctorhood by attacking her. He's acting on John's orders, with John wanting Harrow to become a full Lyctor, which if she doesn't do, she's going to get eaten by Varun. Wake wants to kill everyone in the River Bubble.

Harrow is opposed to Harrow fully consuming Gideon.

Oh, also Mercymore and Augustine are trying to kill John, but that's, like, almost completely separate from Harrow and Gideon's goals. Mercymorn and Augustine agree to help Harrow kill G1deon because that'll deprive John of an important ally, and Gideon thinks that Ianthe should have let John be eaten by the Stoma, but our two protagonists just do not have an active role in what is ultimately the climax of the book.

Nona the Ninth: Nona is dying, so the main obstacle to her having a birthday celebration isn't an antagonist character. For her broader goals, Varun wanting to eat the planet will make her loved ones unhappy.

The trillionaires are implied to be responsible for the funding to John's project being cut, in that once they realized they could save themselves, they didn't have a motivation to trying to save everyone. And the trillionaires are opposed to John's goal of not letting them abandon the planet.

So where will things go with Alecto the Ninth?

Well, Alecto will presumably be the primary protagonist, although there's the possibility of the book having a secondary protagonist.

What will be Alecto's goals? Well, I don't think we have everything yet, but so far, she wants to serve Harrow and stab John. She also talks about John teaching her how to die, so "die" might be on her list of goals.

Who is opposed to those goals? Well, Gideon's opposed to Alecto serving Harrow. John responds to her stabbing him by bidding her good morning, so he doesn't seem particularly opposed to her goal of stabbing him.

What about dying? We're told that Alecto and John can only die if both of them die. Well, John told Gideon to kill Alecto because that would render him mortal, allowing him to die and Gideon to succeed him.

But Ianthe thinks that John is lying to Gideon there, and he didn't seem particularly surprised to find Alecto not dead (and stabbing him). There are some hints that what John actually wants is to do a big reset on the universe, wiping everyone's memories and starting anew.

I personally think that "the Earth dies and everyone in the solar system has to leave their home or die" would make for a very bleak ending. And, like, endings don't have to be happy to be satisfying, but if Muir goes that route, it'd give the series one hell of a downer ending, is all I'm saying.

Now, the protagonists have changed goals in the first three books, so it's quite possible that Alecto's goal of dying will be re-evaluated. It's possible that the Devils will be the primary antagonist of the books, or that the primary antagonist will be a character we haven't met yet.

[striveattemptfail]

Some Thoughts bc A Lot was discussed this ep:

all images from rho #38

FINALLY!!!!!

JASON IS NOT THE "VIOLENT ROBIN"

ALL OF THEM COMMIT VIOLENCE

EVEN DICK KNOWS THIS

IT COMES WITH THE DAMN JOB!!

and i'm gonna say it: both jason and steph are/were unfairly berated for their "excessive" violence while on the field

i'm too lazy to grab Receipts rn but the amount of violence they used against perps is always equal to (or even less than) the amount of force both dick and tim have canonically used

(and of course when damian became robin, dick was the one to check him)

it's absolutely unfair that bruce treats them all so differently for the same position

and i can't believe it took this less-than-mid webtoon to finally acknowledge this good gd grief

me, also with Issues: ok but that doesn't make treating jason like shit acceptable

me: that sounds like a Him problem and he's taking it out on jay ( ͡° ʖ̯ ͡°)

jason:

me, doing exactly that and projecting way too much on him bc he's My Blorbo: AMEN BABY ╰(˵˘ _ ˘ )╯

ah yes more fuel to the "blackgate prison and arkham asylum are revolving doors bc of batman's hero complex" fire

(that's a joke. mostly lmao.)

but fr it's nice to acknowledge that bruce regularly ruins people's lives bc he has a habit of stealing bones* when fighting the crime he is apparently trying to eliminate

and once again i can't believe it's in this webtoon of all things

(* iykyk lol)

(also i'm well aware that other comics address this very problem but for the purpose of this post i am not getting into All That tonight lol)

DICK CALLED JASON THE BEST OF THEM!!!

HE'S SAYING THAT JASON (RED HOOD) CAN BE A SOURCE OF GOOD JUST AS MUCH AS BRUCE (BATMAN)!!!

A H H H H H H H H ! ! ! ! !

[arewordsenough]

Rated Explicit - 4k One Shot - M/M - Explicit Sexual Content

Summary: Liam's had the most stressful week ever in his time as a Teaching Assistant. So stressful he's actually decided to check out a frat party for some relief. The experience isn't anything like what he expected, in the best way possible.

Based on a prompt from one of my readers.

Featured pairing: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken

Key Tags: Porn With Plot, Drinking, Pot, Rough Sex

[hoshologies]

ALL GREEK LOVE, LEE H. [TEASER]

synopsis — you spent the entire summer telling your family that you weren't going to join a sorority. now not only are you an initiated member of delta eta sigma, but you've been elected to the social chair position for you chapter. that's all well and good until heeseung lee, the newly elected social chairman for lambda rho and well-known in the greek community, reaches out to you to start planning runouts between your respective chapters. and now you're spending a lot more time with the cutest boy you've ever met.

genres &&. warnings — romance, fluff, meet-cute, smut, strangers to friends to lovers!au, college!au, greek life!au &&. underage drinking, more tbd.

teaser word count — 1.4k

expected fic word count — 10.5k+

from the author — this is my first real return to writing in a long time. i've been writing little pieces here and there, but this is the first genuine fic i've written in a while. i'm not done writing it, but what i have written i am so incredibly proud of. this fic is a passion project framed around representing a more accurate version of greek life, seeing as i'm a sorority girl. not everything i've experienced during my time in greek life is depicted in the full fic, but i tried to get a few things i think are way more interesting than just frat parties.

update — all greek love is out now!

the entire summer before starting your freshman year of college, you had told your family that you weren’t going to join a sorority. in your mind, there was a specific mold that one needed to fit into to join a sorority and quite frankly, you checked none of the boxes on those stereotypes. 

yet here you sit, months later, in your sorority’s chapter meeting. and you’ve just been elected to the social chair position of the chi nu chapter of delta eta sigma. 

truthfully, you’re not quite sure how you ended up here. you hadn’t formally rushed the week before school, but a couple of drunk girls at a frat party at the beginning of the semester had told you that you should rush their sorority. maybe you’d been a little desperate to branch out or maybe you were just a little curious of what rushing looked like, but a few days later at the student organization fair, you’d found the booth for the sorority the girls had told you they belonged to, delta eta sigma, and signed up for their informal rush.

by the end of october, you had been extended a bid, assigned a big, and promptly initiated into the chapter in what you jokingly referred to as a cult ritual (how could you describe it any other way? all white outfit? candles? promises to not divulge secrets about rituals that happen behind closed doors?).

and now, just three weeks after officially joining the chapter, you’ve ended up on the programming board somehow. you’d gotten a call from the selection board while sitting in the drive-thru of mcdonalds, waiting impatiently for your order of fries and a sprite as a treat for doing well on your gen psych quiz. the girl who’d called you said you’d made “quite the impression” on the sorority since accepting the bid and that they (including the chapter advisor) thought you’d be the perfect fit for the social chair.

“it’s a solo position, so you won’t have a co-chair like community service does, but given your grades so far this semester and the impact you’ve made on the chapter already, we would really love to see what you can do in this position! would you be interested?”

so really, how could you say anything but yes? you still don’t think you fit all that perfectly into the chapter, but they were giving you an opportunity to get involved and to make yourself fit. your name is announced for the social chair, one of your senior pictures pasted up on the powerpoint, and the girls around you smile and snap their fingers. from the executive board seats up front, your big smiles at you, eyes sparkling with something akin to pride.

a few days later, as you’re getting lunch at the student union, your phone screen lights up with a notification from groupme. a name you vaguely recognize is paired with a message that gets cut off after a few words.

heeseung lee: hey! this is heeseung from lambda rho and…

as you sit down with your salad and dr. pepper, you click the notification and read it in full. at the very top of the new message thread is heeseung’s picture and it clicks where you recognize him from. he’s friends with your big and he’s involved in a few of the bigger student organizations on campus, namely the activities board, so you’ve seen him in the student union fairly often.

[1:36 pm] heeseung lee: hey! this is heeseung from lambda rho! i’m friends with liv and she told me that you just got elected as the new social chair for your sorority. i just got slated into the same position for my frat.

[1:36 pm] heeseung lee: i know we won’t start running things until next semester, but i just wanted to reach out and touch base with you. i’m really looking forward to planning runouts with you next year :]

[1:37 pm] heeseung lee: sorry. i hope that wasn’t too weird. i guess i’m just a little too excited and want to get a bit of a headstart on things. have a good day!

you laugh to yourself, shaking your head as you set the phone down to take a bite of salad. before getting involved in greek life, you always assumed sorority girls and frat guys were airheaded and mean, people who peaked in high school, trying desperately to drag those glory days out. obviously since then, you’ve come to realize that while it is true in some occasions, most times, greek life members are the opposite.

heeseung, who you’ve never spoken to before, is proving that.

[1:42 pm] hi heeseung! not weird at all, i promise. and i’m really excited to plan events with you next semester too :]

by the beginning of february, you haven’t done much with your position. granted, the semester has only really been in full swing for about a week and a half and you have two full semesters to do plenty of things, but you’re itching to start planning. the binder you were given after the officer transition ritual has so many good ideas, everything from runouts with frats and sororities to both formal and semiformal.

while you’re brainstorming ideas for potential social events late on a tuesday night, your phone lights up from its spot on your nightstand, the short bell sound ringing out. you reach for it absentmindedly as you finish writing down the idea you had (rent out skating rink??? check budget). since the beginning of the school year, you’ve become desensitized to the groupme icon when it appears in your notifications, so much so that you barely register heeseung’s name upon first glance. it takes a second look for you to realize who’s texted you.

[9:12 pm] heeseung lee: sorry for texting so late. i just wanted to see if you wanted to meet up some time and start on some ideas for a runout?

[9:12 pm] heeseung lee: obviously not now!! but if you’re free some time this week, we could meet somewhere and talk. i spent all of winter break brainstorming stuff, so i’d really like to run it by you if that’s ok.

[9:14 pm] hi again heeseung. i was actually planning on getting lunch tomorrow at the student union after i’m done with class at 11 if you’re free then?

the second you press send, you immediately start second guessing yourself. does it come off like you’re asking him to have lunch with you? because that wasn’t your intention. really, you just meant that you’re going to be on campus proper for a little bit and wanted to offer to meet before you got lunch. not that it would be a bad thing if he asked if you could get lunch together; liv likes heeseung well enough and you’ve seen him around, and he really does seem nothing but nice, so lunch really couldn’t hurt— okay, take a breath. it is not that serious.

you take a deep breath and then let your muscles go lax as you exhale. better. 

it feels like ages pass before he texts back. you’re worried you’ve scared him off, but it really shouldn’t be that stressful. it’s just a text and he’s the one who wanted to meet up in the first place anyways; you just offered a time and location. but finally, your phone dings again and his name lights up your screen.

[9:21 pm] heeseung lee: actually that works perfect!! i get out of class at the same time and usually grab lunch at the u before heading to the activities board office. wanna meet by the dining area next to the office?

[9:21 pm] sounds like a plan!! i’ll see you then!

heeseung, you realize as you set your phone down and put away your binder for the night, is the only social chair of any of the greek organizations who has reached out to you to start getting the ball rolling. he seems to be just as anxious as you are about doing this job well, which makes you feel at least a little validated. nervous and jittery though you may be about meeting him for the first time tomorrow after only having chatted with him over text twice, the idea of him feeling the same as you brings a strange form of comfort. with enough of it, you actually start looking forward to seeing him tomorrow as you lay down to sleep, mind running a mile a minute with what it’ll be like to meet him after all of the things you’ve heard about him from liv. by the time you slip into the embrace of sleep, anxiety has boiled down into anticipation.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Study uses thermodynamics to describe expansion of the Universe

The shift from a decelerating expansion regime (in the radiation- and matter-dominated era) to an accelerating expansion regime (in the dark energy-dominated era) resembles a thermodynamic phase transition, according to an article in Results in Physics. Peer-Reviewed Publication

The idea that the Universe is expanding dates from almost a century ago. It was first put forward by Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaître (1894-1966) in 1927 and confirmed observationally by American astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) two years later. Hubble observed that the redshift in the electromagnetic spectrum of the light received from celestial objects was directly proportional to their distance from Earth, which meant that bodies farther away from Earth were moving away faster and the universe must be expanding.

A surprising new ingredient was added to the model in 1998 when observations of very distant supernovae by the Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-Z Supernova Search Team showed that the Universe is accelerating as it expands, rather than being slowed down by gravitational forces, as had been supposed. This discovery led to the concept of dark energy, which is thought to account for more than 68% of all the energy in the currently observable Universe, while dark matter and ordinary matter account for about 27% and 5% respectively.

“Measurements of redshift suggest that the accelerating expansion is adiabatic [without heat transfer] and anisotropic [varying in magnitude when measured in different directions],” said Mariano de Souza, a professor in the Department of Physics at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Rio Claro, Brazil. “Fundamental concepts in thermodynamics allow us to infer that adiabatic expansion is always accompanied by cooling due to the barocaloric effect [pressure-induced thermal change], which is quantified by the Grüneisen ratio [Γ, gamma].”

In 1908, German physicist Eduard August Grüneisen (1877-1949) proposed a mathematical expression for Γeff, the effective Grüneisen parameter, an important quantity in geophysics that often occurs in equations describing the thermoelastic behavior of material. It combines three physical properties: expansion coefficient, specific heat, and isothermal compressibility. Almost a century later, in 2003, Lijun Zhu and collaborators demonstrated that a specific part of the Grüneisen parameter called the Grüneisen ratio, defined as the ratio of thermal expansion to specific heat, increases significantly in the vicinity of a quantum critical point owing to the accumulation of entropy. In 2010, Souza and two German collaborators showed that the same thing happens near a finite-temperature critical point.

Now Souza and fellow researchers at UNESP have used the Grüneisen parameter to describe intricate aspects of the expansion of the Universe in an article published in the journal Results in Physics, presenting part of the PhD research of first author Lucas Squillante, currently a postdoctoral fellow under Souza’s supervision.

“The dynamics associated with the expansion of the Universe are generally modeled as a perfect fluid whose equation of state is ω = p/ρ, where ω [omega] is the equation of state parameter, p is pressure, and ρ [rho] is energy density. Although ω is widely used, its physical meaning hadn’t yet been appropriately discussed. It was treated as merely a constant for each era of the Universe. One of the important results of our research is the identification of ω with the effective Grüneisen parameter by means of the Mie-Grüneisen equation of state,” Souza said. The Mie–Grüneisen equation of state relates to pressure, volume and temperature, and is often used to determine the pressure in a shock-compressed solid.

The authors show, using the Grüneisen parameter, that continuous cooling of the Universe is associated with a barocaloric effect that relates pressure and temperature and occurs owing to adiabatic expansion of the Universe. On this basis, they propose that the Grüneisen parameter is time-dependent in the dark energy-dominated era (the current universe era).

One of the interesting aspects of this research is its use of thermodynamics and solid-state physics concepts such as stress and strain to describe the anisotropic expansion of the Universe. “We show that the Grüneisen parameter is naturally embodied in the energy–momentum stress tensor in Einstein’s famous field equations, opening up a novel way to investigate anisotropic effects associated with the expansion of the Universe. These don’t rule out the possibility of a Big Rip,” Souza said.

The Big Rip hypothesis, first put forward in 2003 in an article published in Physical Review Letters, posits that if the quantity of dark energy is sufficient to accelerate the expansion of the Universe beyond a critical velocity, this could tear the “fabric” of space-time and rip apart the Universe.

“Also in the perspective of the Grüneisen parameter, we conjecture that the shift from a decelerating expansion regime [in the radiation and matter-dominated eras] to an accelerating expansion regime [in the dark energy-dominated era] resembles a thermodynamic phase transition. This is because Γeff changes sign when the expansion changes from decelerating to accelerating. The sign change resembles the typical signature of phase transitions in condensed matter physics,” Souza said.

Dark energy is often associated with the cosmological constant Λ [lambda], originally introduced by Einstein in 1917 as a repulsive force required to keep the Universe in static equilibrium. Einstein later rejected the concept, according to some accounts. It was rehabilitated when the expansion of the Universe was found to be accelerating instead of decelerating. The hegemonic model, known as Λ-CMD (Lambda-Cold Dark Matter), gives the cosmological constant a fixed value. That is, it assumes that the density of dark energy remains constant as the Universe expands. However, other models assume that the density of dark energy, and hence Λ, vary over time.

“Assigning a fixed value to lambda means also assigning a fixed value to omega, but recognition of ω as the effective Grüneisen parameter enables us to infer time dependency for ω as the Universe expands in the dark energy-dominated era. This directly entails time dependency for Λ, or the universal gravitation constant,” Souza said.

The study could lead to important developments insofar as it affords a glimpse of a novel interpretation of the expansion of the Universe in terms of thermodynamics and condensed matter physics.

Besides Souza and Squillante, the other co-authors of the article are Antonio Seridonio (UNESP Ilha Solteira), Roberto Lagos-Monaco (UNESP Rio Claro), Gabriel Gomes (Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences, University of São Paulo, IAG-USP), Guilherme Nogueira (UNESP Rio Claro), and PhD candidate Isys Mello, supervised by Souza.

IMAGE....Representations of universe eras – (a) radiation, (b) matter, (c) dark energy – with the respective values of the equation of state ω = Γeff, where Γeff is the effective Grüneisen parameter. As dark energy becomes dominant, Γeff changes sign and emulates a phase transition in condensed matter physics (image: Results in Physics)