#this is also going by our earth calendar rather than the in-universe time measurements

[coldgoldlazarus]

I know the metroid timeline is purposely pretty vague, but do you have a headcanon for how long it's been since metroid 1? I figure it has to be at least a few years, even in the games themselves don't take place over a long period of time each

I think my initial off-the-cuff guesstimate would be somewhere in the vicinity of eight to ten years, with Samus in Zero Mission being in her mid twenties, and in her early-mid thirties as of Dread. Wanna double-check what little canon info there is later to make sure there aren't any glaring contradictions, and it's hard to say how Prime 4 may alter things or not, but here's my rough guesses about the timeskips between games.

Zero Mission to Prime - A couple years, enough time for the escaped frigate Orpheon to set up shop on Tallon IV before Samus comes calling. For simplicity, let's round to an even number; my instinct would be to say two years, but apparently one source says it is actually three. I'll split the difference and say 2 Years, 6 Months.

Prime to Hunters - A couple months at most, mainly because I'm pretty sure it was said explicitly somewhere that Prime and Echoes were six months apart. 2 Years, 8 Months

Hunters to Echoes - A few months, probably a slightly bigger space on this end of Hunters, but still not too long, in keeping with the aformentioned six-month gap. 3 Years.

Echoes to Corruption - Approximately a year, give or take, allowing for Urtraghus's near-complete seed conversion (unimpeded compared to Tallon IV) and creation of Urtraghan Pirate Phazon Cult, along with the other logistics groundwork laid for their massive attacks seen in the game. 4 Years.

Corruption to Federation Force - Merely a few months, as Samus would still have to have been recovering from her phazon corruption for the pirates to have feasibly captured her, and for the Federation to switch gears from their now-useless PED technology to Project Golem. (Meanwhile, I hold the headcanon that the Pirates are quite vast and decentralized compared to what the games claim/imply, thus the Urtraghan Phazon Cult was not representative of the entirety of the Pirates, and the Doomseye crew were a completely different branch who had been setting up seperately from the Urtraghans during the same time period, and were unaffected by their fall.) For rounding purposes, let's say that's four months, putting us at 4 Years, 4 Months.

Federation Force to Samus Returns - This space is the big unknown variable, especially given this is most likely where Prime 4 will fall, and we don't yet know whether it will ultimately be a one-off or start a brand new trilogy or what. But for now, assuming only Prime 4 goes in this space, I'll give it something like a round two years, with P4 happening closer to the back end of that, to lead fairly directly into Samus Returns with only a few months between them, with whatever incident occurs there finally spurring the Federation to order the Metroid extermination. But if they do wedge in even more games after Prime 4, I would stretch this section out to three or more years. But for now, 6 Years, 4 Months.

Samus Returns to Super - I detailed in another post that while I originally agreed with the general consensus that Super follows extremely closely off of SR, I have since changed my mind. Even though I have my issues with the forced inclusion of Proteus Ridley and the general tonal mishandling of Metroid II's ending, if we are to aknowledge that that event occurred, I feel like Super must make far more sense with some temporal distance between it and SR. Ergo, I posit that rather than them being a week apart at most as popular consenus goes, there must be a minimum of four months between them. Enough time for Ridley's attack to be written off as a fluke, and somewhere in that time Samus and the hatchling Metroid embarked on an adventure that convinced her it was unsafe at her side - either in too much danger, or too much of a danger to others, or both, thus prompting her to bring it to Ceres Station, kicking off the events of Super. So going with that conservative estimate of four months, that puts us at 6 Years, 8 Months.

Super to Fusion - (I am of course just not aknowledging Other M in this timeline. Fed Force is overhated IMO, but I don't have enough patience for OM.) Given that enough time must have passed between Samus Returns and Fusion for the Biologic Space Laboratories asteroid space station to have been set up around SR388 and brought into operation for the habitats to be filled, but the X parasite propogation on said planet only reached the station shortly before Fusion begins, I would guess about a year or so passed, with the bulk of that time being spent simply building the station before operations proper began only a month or two out from Fusion's opening. But that's relative to Samus Returns; relative to Super I would estimate that gap to be somewhere around eight months, bringing our total up to 7 Years, 4 Months.

Fusion to Dread - This is another kind of weird one given how Dread just has Samus working with the Federation again, even if presumably on rockier terms than before. There must have been at least a solid couple-month stretch of initially dealing with the fallout of Fusion, then things settle back into an uneasy status quo, before the transmission comes that sets off this newest adventure. At the same time, not too much of a long stretch, given Samus still has the Federation-loaned purple Gunship and her new/old AI friend. So another eight-month stretch there puts us at 8 Years.

If I say Samus is like, 24 in Zero Mission, (given it seems she was in her early 20s when she was with the Federation, and had already been a bounty hunter of good repute for a couple years as of ZM) then that puts her at roughly 32 (or 33 or 34 if I do stretch out the period between FF and SR) in Dread, which just feels right to me. These are of course all rounded to exact numbers, I imagine the actual stretches of time to be a bit more uneven, but still amounting to this overall length.

[gingerbreadart1]

Really loving the latest artwork and lore! You are so creative! Can't wait to see what's next! No rush though, I know the good stuff takes time.

Oh my gosh thank you!!!!! I'm having a bit of a writer's block when it comes to the actual story, so I've been kinda messing around and doing research about different things. Idk if it's obvious yet, but I'm a huge nerd. I especially love science and sci-fi(duh) as well as biology! I actually wanted to be a doctor with some kind of focus on congenital disorders when I was a kid. Weird kid, I know. Anyway, I love thinking about lore and nerdy shit, so I'm gonna take this opportunity to do just that! Beware under the cut is a very long essay about space, civilizations, rambles, and math. Lots of math.

So, I have no idea where I want to start, but I know what I want to talk about so I'm gonna pick something and roll with it. First thing's first, the Kardashev scale.

Because this isn't an English class and I don't have to re-word shit, I'm gonna copy and paste from wikipedia for this one: "The Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy it is able to use. The measure was proposed by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev in 1964." Cool? Cool.

So yeah, basically it's an easy way to say how advanced a civilization is, and it's broken up into three types.

A Type I civilization, also called a planetary civilization—can use and store all of the energy available on its planet.

A Type II civilization, also called a stellar civilization—can use and control energy at the scale of its planetary system.

A Type III civilization, also called a galactic civilization—can control energy at the scale of its entire host galaxy.

Just to give you a grasp of what that means relative to us, humans are estimated to be a type 0.73 civilization. We're expected to get to type 1 in a few hundred years or so. Here's where math comes in. Note: I hate, and am not good at math. So, take all of this with a grain of salt.

So, a Type 1 civ. is usually defined as one that can harness all the energy that falls on a planet from its parent star (for Earth–Sun system, this value is close to 1.74×10^17 watts), which is about four orders of magnitude higher than the amount presently attained on Earth, with energy consumption at ≈2×10^13 watts.

Before I go any further, I want to ramble a bit about their star

For my own personal headcanon that the Irken planet is slightly dimmer than earth, I'm gonna make the Irken star a K0 type star. For reference, the sun is a G2V star, meaning it's a yellow dwarf. A K0 star is kind of inbetween red dwarfs and yellow dwarfs. Quick explanation on the letter-number thing, (as best as I understand it, disclaimer I am not an expert) The letter is the classification of a star based on heat and luminosity, going O, B, A, F, G, K, M, L. O being the brightest and hottest (and largest typically) and L being the opposite. The number is size. A higer positive number means a smaller star. A G2 yellow dwarf is smaller than a G-3 yellow dwarf.

Make sense? God I hope so. Anyway, I picked a K0 star for a couple reasons.

They live longer. Our sun has a lifespan of about 10 billion years, but a K type star has a lifespan of 18-34 billion years. Because of this some scientists think they're a prime place to look for life because of their long stability.

They emit less ultraviolet radiation, which can damage DNA, making the developement of life less likely to be hindered by this star

They're 3-4 times more common that G type stars, so it's literally more likely that the irken sun is a K type anyway

They're dimmer and cooler (but not by much) than G type, which fits into my own personal HC about a dimmer sun.

ANYWAY now to get back into the first topic, the Kardashev scale. The irken sun has a temperature of 5,240° Kelvin (8,900° F/4970° C), a radius of .85 (367,445 m/591,345km), a mass of .78 (3.42^30lbs/1.551^30kg), and a luminosity of .40 or 1.531^26 watts.

Compare all this to our sun (Temp of 5,780°K, radius 1, mass 1, and luminosity of 1, being 3.827^26 watts), basically the Irken sun is smaller and less powerful.

Back to the Kardashev scale. Modern day earth is .73, right? I imagine that Irkens are somewhere in the high 1's, like 1.7. The reason I'm not placing them in two is because I don't headcanon that they've built a dyson sphere or a matrioshka brain.

For those who don't know, a Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its power output. These bad boys are imagined to look kindof like this

Cool as hell right? Also not something I think Irkens would be focused on. they're more about outward and conquering expansion rather than efficiant energy consumption and useage.

With that in mind, I'm going to say on the civilization range Kardashev scale Irkens are 2.000279. The reason for that tiny decimal amount is because a level 2 civ is one that has full control over their solar system, and a level 3 is one that has full control over their galaxy.

Galaxies are huge. Really huge. The Milky Way galaxy (In W&C Irkens are in the Milky Way as well) is on the smaller side, but it still has 100 billion stars, and 100-400 billion planets. Of those planets, an estimated 300 million to 50 billion may contain life, but most people stick it down at the low end of 300 million. So I'm going to use that number as well.

To figure out where they are on the scale, I have to figure out how large the Irken Empire actually is, so I looked at some other fictional empires.

In Star Wars, there are 1.5 million planets under the galactic empire, and an additional 60 million colonies (which can be as small as a space station or something idk)

But in Star Trek, there are only 150 planets in the federation.

In Dune, it's the whole Universe.

So there's a lot of variation here. Personally, I think under a thousand planets is a good number for a rapidly growing Empire that has unrealistic visions of grandeur, so I placed the amount of planets under their control to be 837 and called it a day.

Thus, 2.000279 on the scale.

Now with that number I'm gonna assign Irk a year. Physicist Michio Kaku suggested that it will take a few thousand years for humans to reach type two status, so I'm going to use that as a starting point to work on.

One might tack on a few thousand years to 2021 and call it a day, but I can't do that because the Gregorian calendar is religion based, and irkens probably don't have Jesus so it would be weird to base make a year for them based off of the Gregorian calendar. So instead I'm going to use the Holocene calendar. If you haven't heard of it, you're missing out! It's a very cool calendar that respresents and encompasses all of human history, and it's a very simple change: It adds 10,000 years to the current calendar, so for example, it is the year 12,021 on the holocene calendar. Cool right? The reason for this 10,000 year addition is 12,000 years ago is right around the time humans actually started settiling and building structures and beginning to farm. Thus, the birth of human civilization.

So I'm gonna be unrealistic and apply that 12,000 year first farm -> cell phone period to Irkens, and then tack on... idk let's say 2700 years. Cool beans, now we have a 15,700 year old Irken calendar. Except, 15,700 human years isn't equal to 15,700 Irken years. They're different planets, with different rotations, so they have different years. I have a previous post where I mention some basic statistics about the planet, go check it out! But for here, know that an irken year is 1.3 times longer than an earth year, so their calendar is actually going to be in the year 20,410 in the same amount of time. Let's say it's 20,417 just for funsies.

Hip hip hooray, Irk has a calendar! A year! Woohoo!

And with that, this post is long enough so I'm gonna end it here, but I plan on making a subsequent post that deals with evolution, speciation, and whatnot so stay tuned!

[theharellan]

Marking Time

Part one of a series of headcanons discussing holidays and celebrations in Elvhenan, both in the empire itself and the rebellion that later challenged its power. I’ll be laying out my influences more clearly in the next part, but for now I’ll just say that my major influences in writing this are Jewish and Celtic. I’m doing this with feedback and may make adjustments as I go forward. I’m also happy to share headcanons and I’m also just as happy to make room for one another’s headcanons should they conflict in roleplay.

As a final note: conlangs are not my specialty, I am just doing my best. Oh, and please don’t reblog this without asking me first!

Elvhenan

Cole: Look at all the stars. Their light is very far away. Some of them are gone.

Solas: Vast but still. Does it bother you, how different it looks than the sky in the Fade?

Cole: At first, I didn't remember. Now I just want to forget.

Before the Veil time was, shall we say, a nebulous concept. We know it existed in some sense from codices such as the Hundred Year Duel and Birds of Fancy, which both refer to “years,” indicating that the idea exists, but is treated much differently from how we might treat a year. There aren’t birthdays, traditional New Years, and everything else we associate with a calendar year. From what we know of Thedas, it takes the same amount of time for the plant its on to rotate around the sun as Earth, and I think Elvhenan were cognizant of that fact but didn’t consider it particularly remarkable. If they had anything resembling months, I think there would only be four— spring, summer, fall, and winter, beginning on the equinox and ending on the solstice, or vice versa.

Rather than measure time based on the rotation of the planet, or even the rotation of the moons around the planet, Elvhenan measured time on other celestial bodies. The elves and spirits of Elvhenan are consistently associated with the air and sky, in contrast to the dwarves, they also through the Fade seem to perceive the heavens differently than we do. As I highlighted above, Cole is aware of the fact that many of the stars they see are dead, and I think this would also mean that Elvhenan possessed knowledge of things such as the expansion of the universe, the the death of stars, the passage of comets, the rotation of whatever system their planet lies in around the universe’s center, et cetera. It was through these that they marked the passage of time and designated particular holidays. For example, a centenary comet which passes beneath the boughs of the constellation now known as Fervenial might kick off a holiday honouring the goddess Andruil.

In Elvhenan sacred space was also considered more important than sacred time. Pilgrimages were common and often important parts of the lives of the faithful, but there was never a set time of year in which to take them. It was always the where instead of the when, and I mean “where” in two senses of the word. Where could mean the sacred lands of Mythal, or the wooded paths in deep, dark woods, with only the distant stone gaze of Fen’ara to mark the wilderness, but “where” could just as easily be a state of being (or sometimes both). Attaining a particular state of mind through meditation was an important step in reaching the Deepest Fade, a mark of spiritual achievement that took years of work and practise. Being in the right emotional state of mind to embark on a pilgrimage was important, and failing to do so would risk the wrath of the god in question.

Elvhen Revolution

Vir sulahn'nehn Vir dirthera Vir samahl la numin Vir 'lath sa'vunin'

Come the rebellion, time is measured differently. It begins first and foremost as a survival tactic and a war tactic, I’ve mentioned in prior headcanons that the rebellion employs guerilla tactics in order to get the edge on Elvhenan’s forces, which vastly outnumber theirs. One way they subvert the manner in which war is waged is making battles much shorter than is expected. We see in the Duel of a Hundred Years that some battles could last a century and the most noteworthy thing about them was not their longevity, but the reason for which they were fighting (preventing a war between the gods). By making battles that are expected to last years last weeks, days, hours, retreating into dreams as quickly as they manifested, they catch the enemy off-guard. By inventing the concept of weeks they’re living in a way that their enemy doesn’t even fully understand. It allowed things to be put on tighter schedules, enabled meetings to be arranged and carried out on short notice, enabled rotating shifts for things such as uthenera where oftentimes someone had to be the person to rise and make sure the others’ bodies would not starve to death in dreams.

And it enabled sacred time rather than sacred space.

Often deprived of the places they would consider sacred, the rebellion created their own sacred ceremonies from wherever they happened to be. Battles that were fought and won on one cold winter morning would be marked again the next year in celebration and memorial, but carried on no longer than the skirmish itself had. When it is their freedom upon the line what time they have cannot be eaten up by weeks or years of frivolity. Not when tomorrow could be their last day alive.

Their years began with summer and their weeks began and ended with sundown, each month contained twenty-nine or thirty days, divided further into two fortnights, and there are twelve to thirteen months in a year (every two and a half years an intercalary month is added).

Days of the Week

The week begins with Saturday night/Sunday morning and continues on to sundown on the following Saturday.

Sa’laia — First Night (sah-lie-a)

She’laia — Second Night (shay-lie-a)

Tanalaia — Third Night (tah-na-lie-a)

Nehlaia — Fourth Night (neh-lie-a)

Uylaia — Fifth Night (ooth-lie-a)

Valaia — Sixth Night (vah-lie-a)

Var’laia — Our Night (var-lie-a)

Months

There are twelve to thirteen months in the year, with a leap month every two and a half years to compensate for the shift in the year.

Enasalas — The Triumph of Joy Over Grief — Justinian-Solace / June-July

Bella’serannas — The Time of Many Thanks — Solace-August / July-August

Valelgar — The Sun’s Waning — August-Kingsway / August-September

Adhalana — The Time of Trees — Kingsway-Harvestmere / September-October

Elvhen’al — The Gathering of the People — Harvestmere-Firstfall / October-November

Sethenerava — The Time for Dreams — Firstfall-Haring / November-December

Estarasyl’an — The Month of Stars — Haring-Wintermarch / December-January

Fen’banal’ras — The Wolf’s Shadow — Wintermarch-Guardian* / January-February

Mi’avhena — Winter’s End — Guardian-Drakonis / February-March

Thenalava — The Time of Waking — Intercalary Month, occurs every third year

Ghilana’ma — The Time of Guidance — Drakonis-Cloudreach / March-April

Anallas — The Month of Clouds — Cloudreach-Bloomingtide / April-May

Balam’shivana — The End of Duty’s Chains — Bloomingtide-Justinian / May-June

* The month of Guardian is a remnant of the Elvhen calendar’s influence upon the Tevinter calendar, as wolves are/were considered guardians in Elvhen myth.

These calendars later went on to become the Dalish calendar. After the fall of the Veil, refugees from both Elvhenan and Fen’Harel’s rebellion were overtaken by Tevinter, and their traditions melded and informed what is now contemporary Dalish culture. It is likely this calendar fell out of use during the period where Elvhenan’s survivours were slaves of Tevinter, and picked up again after they won their freedom. Names and meaning likely also changed as memories of the evanuris and their tyranny faded from memory.

[pamphletstoinspire]

Feast of the Holy Family – Sunday after Epiphany - Latin Calendar

Little Litany of the Holy Family

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Hear us. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Help our family.

That we may love poverty, Holy Family, hear us. That we may love humility, Holy Family, hear us. That we may love labor, Holy Family, hear us. That we may love order, Holy Family, hear us. That we may love quiet, Holy Family, hear us. That we may love kindness, Holy Family, hear us. That we may love charity, Holy Family, hear us. That we may love courtesy, Holy Family, hear us. That we may love peace, Holy Family, hear us.

O Lord God Who on earth loved poverty and humility, teach us to live in our families in peace and quiet order and with charity to all. Amen. 

by Abbot Gueranger

This Sunday has been chosen by the Church for the celebration of the Feast of the Holy Family; the liturgy of the day, as expressed in the Gospel, harmonizes well with the mystery of this Feast, for it carries us forward to the childhood of our Emmanuel and gives us those wonderful words of His Blessed Mother, we must ever ponder within our hearts: “And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them.”

The Feast of the Holy Family is of recent origin. In 1663 Barbara d’Hillehoust founded at Montreal the Association of the Holy Family; this devotion soon spread and in 1893 Pope Leo XIII expressed his approval of a Feast under this title and himself composed part of the Office. The Feast was welcomed by succeeding Pontiffs as an efficacious means for bringing home to the Christian people the example of the Holy Family at Nazareth, and by the restoration of the true spirit of family life, stemming, in some measure, the evils of modern society. These motives led Pope Benedict XV to insert the Feast into the Universal Calendar, and from 1921 it has been fixed for this present Sunday.

The Lessons for the Second Nocturn of Matins are taken from the Apostolic Letter of Pope Leo XIII, Neminem Fugit, of June 14, 1892:

When a merciful God determined to complete the work of human reparation which the world had awaited throughout long ages, He so established and designed the whole, that from its very inception, it would show to the world the sublime pattern of a divinely constituted family. In this all men should see the perfect example of domestic unity, and of all virtue and holiness. Such was the Holy Family of Nazareth, in which before He had shone forth in full light to all nations, the Sun of Justice, Christ Our Lord and Savior, led a hidden life with the Virgin Mary for Mother and most Holy Joseph for foster-father. There is no doubt that all those virtues of ordinary home life, those acts of mutual love, holy behavior and pious practices shone forth in the highest degree in this Holy Family, destined to be a model for all others. Accordingly, the benign dispositions of Providence fashioned that Family so that every individual Christian, whatever his condition or station, by turning his attention to it, could find in it easily, reason and incentive for the exercise of every virtue.

Fathers of families, for example, have in St. Joseph a shining pattern for watchfulness and foresight. Mothers have in the most Holy Virgin Mother of God an extraordinary model of love, of modesty, of submissiveness of mind, and of perfect faith. Children of the family have in Jesus, Who was subject to Joseph and Mary, a divine example of obedience to admire, cultivate and imitate. Those nobly born may learn from a Family of royal blood how to restrain themselves in good fortune, and to retain their dignity in ill. The rich may learn from this family how much less estimable are riches than virtue. If working men and all those sorely harassed by family distresses and meager circumstances would but look to the most holy members of this domestic society, they would find there reason to rejoice rather than to grieve at their lot. In common with the Holy Family they have to work, they have to provide for the daily needs of life. St. Joseph had to work at his trade to earn a living; even the divine hands toiled at the artisan’s profession. Surely then we need not wonder that wise men who were rich, cast their wealth aside willingly, and chose poverty in company with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

For all these reasons, therefore, it was right and proper that devotion to the Holy Family should have been introduced among Catholics and once begun should have grown from day to day. Proof of this lies first in the sodalities instituted under the invocation of the Holy Family; then in the unique honors bestowed upon it; and above all, by the privileges and favors granted to this devotion by Our predecessors to stimulate fervor and piety in its regard. This devotion was held in great honor, even in the seventeenth century. Having been widely propagated through Italy, France and Belgium, it spread through practically the whole of Europe. Passing over the vast tract of the Atlantic Ocean, it was extended in America, throughout Canada, where under favorable circumstances, it flourished. Nothing truly can be more salutary or efficacious for Christian families to meditate upon than the example of the Holy Family, which embraces the perfection and completeness of all domestic virtues. When Jesus, Mary and Joseph are invoked in the home, there They foster charity, there They exert a good influence over conduct, set an example of virtue, and make more bearable the hardships of every life. — To increase devotion to the Holy Family, Pope Leo XIII prescribed that Christian families should be dedicated to It. Pope Benedict XV extended the Mass and Office to the whole Church.

In the Third Nocturn, St. Bernard comments on the Gospel of the day (given below):

“And He was subject to them.” Who? To whom? God to man! God, I say, to Whom the Angels are subject, Whom Principalities and Powers obey, He, indeed, was subject to Mary. Nor to Mary only, but to Joseph because of Mary. Marvel, therefore, at both, and choose whether you will most wonder at the benign condescension of the Son, or the exceedingly great dignity of the Mother. Both are amazing; both miraculous. That God should obey a woman is humility without parallel. That a woman should rule God is sublimity without equal. In praise of virgins, it is sung, that they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes. But what praise can set forth Her dignity, Who leads Him.

Learn, O man, to obey. Learn, O earth, to be subject. Learn, O dust, to submit. The Evangelist, in speaking of thy Maker says, and He was subject to them. Without any doubt he was subject to Mary and Joseph. Be ashamed, O proud ashes. God humbles Himself, and you—do you exalt yourself? God subjected Himself to men, and do you, longing to dominate men, place yourself above your Creator? Should I, at any time, think such a thing, would that God would deign to answer me as He answered in rebuking His Apostle: “Get behind Me, satan… for thou dost not mind the things of God, but those of men.” (Matt. 16: 23) As often as I desire pre-eminence over men, so often do I strive to go before God. Truly then I savor not the things that are of God. For of Him it was said, and He was subject to them. If, man, you disdain to imitate the example of men, surely it will not be an indignity to you to follow that of your Creator. If, perchance, you cannot follow Him whithersoever He goes, deign at least to follow Him when He humbles Himself for you.

If you are not able to walk along the sublime path of virginity, at least follow God by the very safe way of humility. Should anyone depart from this straight way—even though he be a virgin—he does not, the truth must be told, follow the Lamb whithersoever He goes. The one is not able to ascend to the spotlessness of the Lamb Who is without spot, nor does the other deign to descend to the meekness of the Lamb Who remained dumb, not before His shearers only, but before His murderers. Yet the sinner following in humility chooses a more salutary way than the proud man who follows in virginity, inasmuch as the humble satisfaction cleanses the uncleanness of the first, whereas pride defiles the chastity of the other.

In the Holy Sacrifice, the Introit recalls the joy that must have filled the cave of Bethlehem on that Christmas night; let us again rejoice with Mary and Joseph and sing the praises of the resting-place of the Lord of Hosts:

(Prov. 23) The father of the Just rejoices greatly; let Thy father and Thy mother be joyful, and let her rejoice that bore Thee. (Ps. 83) How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts: my soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord. V. Glory be to the Father…

The Church prays in the Collect that the home life of every Christian family may be sanctified and perfected by the example of that of the Holy Family; this is Her unceasing wish for Her children:

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who by subjecting Thyself to Mary and Joseph didst consecrate family life with wonderful virtues: grant that, by Their joint assistance, we may fashion our lives after the example of Thy Holy Family, and obtain everlasting fellowship with It. Who livest and reignest…

After the Commemorations of the Sunday and of the Octave, there follows a Lesson from the Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Collosians:

Brethren: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience. Bear with one another and forgive one another, if anyone has grievance against any other; even as the Lord has forgiven you, so also do you forgive. But above all these things have charity, which is the bond of perfection. And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts; unto that peace, indeed, you were called in one body. Show yourselves thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly: in all wisdom teach and admonish one another by psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing in your hearts to God by His grace. Whatever you do in word or in work, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (c. 3)

If we would attain to charity, the bond of perfection which unites all Christians together in the one great family of God, we must pay heed to those virtues which the Epistle puts before us. We must be full of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty and patience; we must bear with one another and forgive one another, after the example of the Incarnate Word. Then the peace of Christ will dwell not only in our hearts, but in those around us, and our homes will truly become like that of Nazareth, where Jesus, Mary and Joseph were ever singing in Their hearts to God by His grace.

In the Gradual Holy Church again celebrates the praises of the House of the Lord; She proclaims the blessedness of those that obtain lasting fellowship in the heavenly home above; yet in the Alleluia verse She recalls the lowliness of the earthly home of our Emmanuel, which made Him truly a hidden King:

(Ps. 26) One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. V. (Ps. 83) Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, O Lord; they shall praise Thee forever and ever. Alleluia, alleluia. V. (Isa. 45) Verily Thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Savior. Alleluia.

The Gospel is taken from the Second Chapter of St. Luke:

When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. And after they had fulfilled the days, when they were returning, the Boy Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and His parents did not know it. But thinking that He was in the caravan, they had come a day’s journey before it occurred to them to look for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. And not finding Him, they returned to Jerusalem in search of Him. And it came to pass after three days, that they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who were listening to Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. And when they saw Him, they were astonished. And His Mother said to Him, “Son, why hast Thou done so to us? Behold, Thy father and I have been seeking Thee sorrowing.” And He said to them, “How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know I must be about My Father’s business?” And they did not understand the word that He spoke to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them; and His Mother kept all these things carefully in Her Heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and grace before God and men.

Thus, O Jesus, didst Thou come down from Heaven to teach us. The tender age of Childhood, which Thou didst take upon Thyself, is no hindrance to the ardor of Thy desire that we should know the one and only God, Who made all things, and Thee, His Son, Whom He sent to us. When laid in the Crib, Thou didst instruct the Shepherds by a mere look; when swathed in Thy humble swaddling-clothes, and subjected to the voluntary silence Thou hadst imposed on Thyself, Thou didst reveal to the Magi the light they sought in following the star. When twelve years old, Thou didst explain to the Doctors of Israel the Scriptures which bear testimony to Thee. Thou gradually didst dispel the shadows of the Law by Thy presence and Thy words. In order to fulfill the commands of Thy Heavenly Father, Thou dost not hesitate to occasion sorrow to the Heart of Thy Mother, by thus going in quest of souls that need enlightening. Thy love of man will pierce that tender Heart of Mary with a still sharper sword, when She shall behold Thee hanging on the Cross, and expiring in the midst of cruelest pain. Blessed be Thou, sweet Jesus, in these first Mysteries of Thine Infancy, wherein Thou already showest Thyself devoted to us, and leavest the company of Thy Blessed Mother for that of sinful men, who will one day conspire Thy Death. 

Prayer for a Catholic Family

God of goodness and mercy, we commend to thy all-powerful protection our home, our family and all that we possess. Bless us all as thou didst bless the holy family of Nazareth.

O Jesus, our most holy Redeemer, by the love with which thou didst become man in order to save us, by the mercy through which thou didst die for us upon the cross, we entreat thee to bless our home, our family, our household. Preserve us from all evil and from the snares of men; preserve us from lightning and hail and fire, from flood and from the rage of the elements; preserve us from thy wrath, from all hatred and from the evil intentions of our enemies, from plague, famine and war. Let no one of us die without the Holy Sacraments. Bless us, that we may always openly confess our faith which is to sanctify us, that we may never falter in our hope, even amid pain and affliction, that we may ever grow in love for Thee and in charity toward our neighbor.

O Jesus, bless us, protect us.

O Mary, Mother of grace and mercy, bless us, protect us against the evil spirit; lead us by the hand through this vale of tears; reconcile us with thy divine Son; commend us to Him, that we may be made worthy of his promises.

Saint Joseph, reputed father of our Saviour, guardian of his most holy Mother, head of the holy family, intercede for us, bless and protect our home always.

Saint Michael, defend us against all the wicked wiles of hell.

Saint Gabriel, obtain for us that we may understand the holy will of God.

Saint Raphael, preserve us from ill health and all danger to life.

Holy Guardian Angels, keep us day and night in the way to salvation.

Holy Patrons, pray for us before the throne of God.

Bless this house, Thou, God our Father, who didst create us; Thou, divine Son, who didst suffer for us on the cross; Thou, Holy Spirit, who didst sanctify us in baptism. May God, in his three Divine Persons, preserve our body, purify our soul, direct our heart, and lead us to life everlasting.

Glory be to the Father, glory be to the Son, glory be to the Holy Ghost. Amen.

(Indulgence 200 days Leo XIII)  

[gg-astrology]

Faces/Decan

Hello!!💓💗💞💓 I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while! 💓💗💞💓There’s been a rise and acceptance of decans into the mainstream lately, which is nice!  💓💗💞💓Because it’s a great segway into learning decans we’ve been using are quite modern. 

However there are more to the topic and perhaps a more preferred decan type to use. So I’m going to explain the history of it, the different types, and the term ‘faces’ as well. Which is an essential dignitary. But what does that mean and what is it used for? 

I’ll try to break it down for you, and recommend some further reading? Been thinking of sharing the google drive book folder again but anyways. Lets get it

Disclaimer: the topic is vast and there’s lots of dig into, so for here I’m just going to talk about what could be useful. However, feel free to research more on these topics and see what astrologers have to say! Discussions can be very helpful in making informed decisions/information intake. Plus I’m probably missing out on a lot of things, so feel free to add on or make a post talking more about it if you’d like! Discussion is great, and sharing information together in order to encourage and help each other learn is nice. 

Decantes

The decan system originated in Ancient Egypt (2100 BCE) as part of the calendar system. It was found transcribed onto a coffin lids, it was originally based on the constellation - with the first set beginning with Sothis (Sirius) and each set has a corresponding divinity [x] As a measure of time, there are 36 decans that fit nearly perfectly onto the 360′degrees of the circle (10 degrees each, 360 degrees) with 5/6 days extra - note, these were considered to be ‘godless’ days. [x] Each decan originally marked a 10-days period (for Ancient Egyptian) - with the rising and setting of the stars used to mark the time of the night [x]  

It’s also important to consider it’s origins, because Gods and Goddess being assigned certain allotted times/days over their domain helps with understanding how much astronomy play a role in religious and cultural lifestyle. With the Ancient Egyptians - the Egyptian Pantheon and Spirits are considered divine, and having time/days set to make the best use of auspicious influences for certain subjects are important, whether it’s magical inclination, marriage, crops, business or unfavorable times. Sothis as mentioned above, beginning the first set of decan marked when the Nile would flood and thus, why it was important to know the dates for the Egyptians (check out: Sopdet and the Heliacal stars for more details). The main stars were usually given rulership over each set of decans. If you’d like a further reading on the topic that could be much more expansive and fascinating, I’d recommend the book ‘36 faces’ by Austin Coppock explores the different decantes and it’s correspondence in greater details ! [x]

Over-time, this influence became adapted. There was a change by Ptolemaic system (Hellenistic period) where the star sets originally (Ancient Egypt - pre-Hellenistic) were shifted into seven dignitary planet rulership of each sets instead. From the slowest moving to the fastest (thus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, etc.) [x] 

One interesting thing to note about Ptolemaic system is that this was when the geocentric idea came from. Ptolomy (2nd Century Geographer and Astronomer) believed that the earth is the center of the universe and the planets- the sun and moon included evolved around us (seems similar to how the natal chart is geocentric too, but now we know its the Sun we evolve around, there is an option for heliocentric chart as well. But this isn’t on the topic of that yet! ) [x]

Anyways, this is called the Chaldrean system. The “Chaldrean Planetary Order” derived the speed of each planet based on geocentric field - so the order becomes: Saturn - Jupiter - Mars - Sun - Venus - Mercury - Moon. [x] Based on how we assess the speed these planets come to orbit from our perspective.

This system was widely taught and spread, names such as Greco-Egyptian astrologer Teucer (3rd Century) and Roman astrologer Firmicus Maternus (4th cent) [x] The Chaldrean Planetary Decan would look like this (from the astrologydictionary - link to source in the ‘x’ ->[x] )

  So the order in list form:

Aries: Mars/Sun/Venus

Taurus: Mercury/Moon/Saturn

Gemini: Jupiter/Mars/Sun

Cancer: Venus/Mercury/Moon

Leo: Saturn/Jupiter/Mars

Virgo: Sun/Mercury/Mercury

Libra: Moon/Saturn/Jupiter

Scorpio: Mars/Sun/Mercury

Sagittarius: Mercury/Moon/Saturn

Capricorn: Jupiter/Mars/Sun

Aquarius: Venus/Mercury/Moon

Pisces: Saturn/Jupiter/Mars 

Note: 

1) it’s easier to write it out because you get into the flow of things and practice the order yourself, which is easier than remembering it by heart 

2)how these aren’t linked to the signs that have rulership over the planet, but rather the planet itself. It’s a little confusing, but these systems of planetary decans/rulership are considered minor dignitary during the Renaissance and Medieval traditions. You might’ve seen them referred to as ‘faces’ [x] most often coined as a part of essential dignitary by Lilly (so you’d often see ‘Chaldrean Decan’ accredited to Lilly)

As part of the essential dignitary -- wait, so what is essential dignitary?

(source: skyscript [x]) 

So it’s a part of how we define or understand rankings, influences and it’s position. How we assign hierarchy or understand how it’s working in a more structured and detailed manner. Essential dignitaries can be very fun to learn, since it will give us a better discernment and understanding of how certain planets can be working better than others in it’s positions. 

One thing to note about faces/decantes is that it’s very minor. As William Lilly has said:

"A Planet having little or no dignity, but by being in his Decanate or Face, is almost like a man ready to be turned out of doors, having much ado to maintain himself in credit and reputation."

(Christian Astrology - by William Lilly [x] ) 

There are 5 essential dignitaries to consider, and faces/decantes out of all of them may be considered to be the least influential.

However, it’s still fun to learn and start out from here. Since it is a segway into learning about other subjects in astrology. Now that it’s something people are keen on learning and is interested in, it’s a great way to start talking and teaching other subjects as well - these can help with making our practices more accurate and be open to different types of techniques and applications in astrology. Which would potentially benefit one another

Anyways. Yeah. Ok. Chaldrean System explained. How do we use this?

Faces/Decantes

Even though it’s minor, it’s good to start out with trying our steps anyways. But let’s look at some excerpt from ‘Hellenistic Astrology’ book by Chris Brennan first (it’s a v good book.. good value for it’s bucks as well)

This excerpt talks about rising decan used to talk about a person’s appearance and general disposition. Makes sense, but most importantly to what extent should decans be used and what influences does it have on the chart?

Well. Mostly we’d use it when referring the the Ascendant, but it could also be used to look at other planetary faces to see if it’s in a dignified position or not. 

An interesting take on how it’s used from Darkstarsastrology recommend that you could possibly use it to refer to other people in your life and other disposition as well:

Thus, the different planetary decans are essentially part of things bigger than you, divine feminine divine masculine, the mother, the teacher, the power higher/below us, the father. And essentially what you could possibly face in terms of challenges.

Another look at it from the earlier Hellenistic Astrology book:

I want to point you to the last paragraph, referring to ‘the first decan of Aries is given the same planetary ruler as the domicile of Aries as a whole’ because this is very interesting, compared to modern decantes (we’ll talk about that soon) and how it’s first decan is typically the one that is the domicile planetary ruler (i.e. Aries 1st decan - Mars, Taurus 1st decan - Venus, etc.) since the system is based on triplicity instead. 

The Chaldrean system, then, follows the Chaldrean order and each sign progression can often not have it’s domicile ruler in it’s allotted decan. This is different from the modern decans we use now, but doesn’t really make them any less valid. We’re very prone to assuming that things have to have it’s domicile ruler, when that’s not always the case. Sometimes it be like that, and at the same time - we may have taken for granted the ease and relative understandability triplicity based decan system gave us. But that doesn’t make these older system any less interesting to read or expand our visions on.

Essentially the introduction of and correspondence of signs to the planets actually came later as well. Plus, these are minor dignitaries - and essentially planets falling into it’s own face (i.e. Libra Saturn falling into the Saturn face) and help it become a little more dignified - which is what we’re focusing on with faces.

It does make you think about Lilly’s quote from above -  “a man ready to be turned out of doors, having much ado to maintain himself in credit and reputation." - it really be like that sometimes

Anyways, so carrying on from the above:

Note how this is focused on the planet. I think for a lot of new people? The idea of looking at faces and not seeing it’s domicile ruler available and make them feel like oh no then what’s the USE. But actually this can help us expand our vision and truly think about the planets and it’s influence! Rather than be reliant on the signs!

Like yeah, of course it would be nice and make sense if each signs has corresponding faces/decans that is it’s domicile. But also this is a system - one of many that we can learn. The example above - referring to the Aries Sun and how it could fall in the face of Mars, the face of it’s own Sun or the face of Venus. 

Of course the Aries Sun falling into the face of the Sun is when it’s dignified, but the example above and how it’s explained: what you’ll find in each decan, truly helps give us a focus and idea of what to expect in different decans. This could be helpful in determining the different decans and it’s corresponding disposition - but again, the book ‘36 faces’ by Austin Coppock does a great job at exploring these based on ancient texts 

(also pls look away from the ‘shameful lustful’ misogynistic part oh my lord, wbk they’re terrible to women and it seeps into the studies as well) 

Decans (based on Triplicity) 

Moving swiftly along we’re now looking at decans based on triplicity. This is the one that’s most commonly used nowadays, astro.com refers to this as ‘traditional decans’ and here’s what they’re saying:

Note the latter passage, ‘the rulers of the decans are derived from the rulers of the signs of the same element.’ Thus, when we’re referring to the triplets from each element (i.e. fire - aries, sagittarius, leo) we’re referring to it’s rulers.

Triplicity is a little more than this.. I’m probably gonna make another post on it later? Because there are general rulers in terms of triplicity for whether the chart is during the diurnal sect or nocturnal sect. Like say if it’s at night, and you’re looking at the air triplicity - Mercury would be the ruler for the nocturnal sect, whilst during the day - it would be Saturn. For all airs.

Anyways, we’ll talk about that later. So for the decans, this is generally more modern and refers to it’s rulership. 

(from astro.com [x] ) 

These are the ones we’re more familiar with, basically how to get a grasp on this is much simpler. Rather than referring to the Chaldrean order - the first domicile ruler of the sign is essentially it’s first decan. So i.e. 

Aries 1st decan - Mars

Taurus 1st decan - Venus

And what follows through the decan order (remember it’s still segments of 10 degrees) - are the following signs. So you count to the next sign of the same element (triplicity) - if we’re looking at Aries, the next sign of the fire element is Leo. Leo’s ruler - the Sun, is hence the 2nd decan ruler. And then the next sign of the same element - Sagittarius, is the 3rd decan ruler of Aries. 

If we’re looking at Capricorn, the 1st decan is Saturn (domicile ruler of Capricorn). The second earth sign is Taurus, 2nd decan ruler is Venus. The third sign then, is Virgo - thus 3rd decan ruler. You count forward, and if you reach that Pisces-Aries mark, you keep going. Basically. It’s a little simpler to learn, rather than refer to the visible planets and the slowest - fastest movement.

Hm. So. There’s nothing technically? Wrong with these. You can use the ‘traditional’ decans or the Chaldren decan. Generally decans are quite mysterious, mostly because we know of it’s origin - but then we lost a lot of information on the subject/topic and it’s relevancy (i.e. how it’s used and how widely spread it was) during the Ottoman 

So with these, on astro.com you have three decan options:

Oh look there’s a third one. What do??

Manilus Decans

Decans - hm, let’s say ever since the Ancient Egyptian introduces it, afterwards during when the Chaldrean system arises - there’s a lot of other systems that was in competition of what could be the adapted use of decans as well.

Amongst these are the Manilius decans - which is a slightly less popular system but one we might want to talk about. This one is based on the zodiac sign in each decan. 

So one important thing to note: Notice how the Chaldrean and “traditional” refers to the planets being the main part of the decans? This one is referring to the signs. So to lay it out

Aries: Aries, Taurus, Gemini

Taurus: Cancer, Leo, Virgo

Already this might look confusing. Because we might’ve assumed it would go ‘wait, Taurus then Cancer, Leo, Virgo?’ when we think it should’ve been ‘Gemini, Cancer, Leo’. The zodiac sign progression carries on from one another - otherwise we’d have 2 decans for Gemini between Aries and Taurus, making it 20′ degrees whilst the rest gets 10′!

Think about it on the chart... if the start and the end of each decan ‘signs’ gets assigned twice - then the middle one would be uneven and loses out. Thus, we give each one equal sections.

Aries: Aries, Taurus, Gemini

Taurus: Cancer, Leo, Virgo

Gemini: Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius

Cancer: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

Leo: Aries, Taurus, Gemini

Virgo: Cancer, Leo, Virgo 

Libra: Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius

Scorpio: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

Sagittarius: Aries, Taurus, Gemini

Capricorn: Cancer, Leo, Virgo

Aquarius: Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius

Pisces: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces

Note: How because these are sets of 3s, and we have 12 zodiac signs, they separate easily into sets of 4s. Thus - we end up with repeating sequences for each triplicity - i.e. Aries, Leo and Sagittarius all have ‘Aries, Taurus, Gemini’ decans if we use the Manilius decans. 

So anyways.. back to the decan system.. here’s what it’ll look like with the Chaldrean System:

This is a chart of a hypothetical person, but as you can see - on astro.com the options shows you the decan underneath the sign (the three separated segments). The Chaldrean decans shows you where each placement lies - so if you’re wanting to look at i.e. if it’s dignified

Let’s look at each placements. Is the moon dignified? It’s in the Venus decan. So no. The rest seems to be similar, except for one dignified by face Mars that is in the Mars decan. This is how it works.

My friend and speculated on whether or not the sign’s rulership matters. Like say if we have a Virgo Venus - would that Virgo Venus falling into the Mercury decan be considered dignified? 

It doesn’t seem like the answer is yes, since the sources I’ve read so far has only referred to strictly the corresponding planet in it’s own planetary rulership. But if anyone has sources that might’ve said otherwise, if possible historically, please feel free to share and let us know.

There’s one other thing I found during my research that could be relevant to the topic of decans, and that is the ‘proper face’

This is an excerpt from Hellenistic Astrology once again. But since the explanation is kinda hard to follow, I’m probably going to try to talk about almugea and proper faces after I’m done with the other stuff (you can read up on the topic or do research on it in the meantime!)

Oh right. Back to the topic. Below is the ‘traditional’ decans on astro.com:

As you can see, the decans here are based on triplicity instead. One thing to note is how the rulers are the traditional ruler, you can get this option by checking the ‘Uranus-Pluto turn on/off’ option:

You can technically have it unchecked like this, and it’ll change the rulership in some of the decans to Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (i.e. Cancer - Moon, Pluto, Neptune) instead of the above example.

Hm. It’s probably easier to look at and see with whole signs - since decan division may get harder to look at if it’s in placidus. See like this:

Plus having the Uranus-Pluto option turned off, as well as whole sign system practiced can probably be good form for when we move onto other topics on this/similar subjects. Since we’re referring to part traditional astrology and this is closer to how it was used/practiced. 

Anyways.. so I hope this post was a good introduction and brought to attention some of the different decan systems used through history. Books are a great place to look further into the subjects, but I know a lot of us might have a hard time figuring out where to start or what to look for. Below are some great resources you might want to look into or read further up on if you want more details on the topic - or just to solidify our understanding of the subject.

Below is a conclusive reminder of what we talked about and faces in the scheme of things - from medieval astrology guide [ x ] - to remind you that there’s so much more to learn. And thus, there are more to our journey after this. 

Seems kinda bleak but hey. We started and got through that! We can move onto bigger things now! 💞💗💓

Sources/Further Readings:

‘Decans’ - Astrowiki

‘Traditional Astrology Options’ - Astro.com 

‘Decans explained’

‘The Zodiacal Decans - Astrological Use & History’ by Darkstarastrology 

Decans in Astrology - Horoscope Within *note this is about modern/’traditional’ decans

Understanding Planetary Dignitary and Debility - Skyscript 

Essential Dignitaries of Planet - Renaissance Astrology 

‘Decans’ - The Astrology Dictionary 

‘36 faces’ by Austin Coppock

‘Hellenistic Astrology’ by Chris Brennan

‘Christian Astrology’ by William Lilly

Ancient Astrology by Tamsyn Barton 

Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice by Demetra George 

bye! 💞💗💓

[the-lady-bryan]

harry potter/farscape crossover idea

okay so firstly, i’m NEVER going to develop this further. i’ve just got no muse. but here we are, with what little bit i did throw into notepad at one point.

--------------------------

Harry had stopped believing in coincidence centuries ago.

It didn't help that he was yanked for a while back and forth through realities - though admittedly that was partly his own fault because he didn't quite anticipate the level of power his magic had risen to after the Battle of Hogwarts and the defeat of Voldemort. When he wished to be anywhere else than dealing with the press and the fans and the fame and oh Merlin damn it Ginny we're not even dating and you and your mother are picking out goddamned wedding china!

But he digresses.

His reality hopping had finally ceased and his magic had FINALLY settled down. It looked like this reality would be his permanent one provided he didn't fuck it all up again. Which he tried - he really tried because holy fucking hell some of this shit he had to deal with was absolutely insane! He'd seen Voldemort the Snake-Face but that did NOT prepare him for meeting the literal psychic bipedal lizards called the Scarans. And he'd rather not meet them again if he could help it.

To survive in this crazy universe he'd had to adapt and unfortunately that meant kill or be killed.

Harry had come to terms with the blood on his hands a long time ago.

Unfortunately it was right before he was picked up by the Peacekeepers - the military arm of a race called the Sebbacians. And that's how he ended up in prison for assassinating some asshole dictator in the middle of nowhere who, unfortunately had Peacekeeper connections roughly eight cycles - years - after the fact. He'd settled down on some other backwater planet that reminded him a lot of Earth. Well, one of the Earths he'd been to at any rate. So what if the people were slightly orange and melted shit when they screamed. He just got better at making up scream-proofing charms on the fly is all. They were called Interons or something of the sort. Didn't matter much to Harry. He'd found a place to settle down and live a quiet life for the first time in three hundred years.

And now he was being transferred from his comfortable cell on some planet to a prison ship. Oh joy of joys.

Another eighty years later....

Harry sat with his muzzle on like a good little prisoner when they came into his cell for the routine torture and supposed interrogations. How did he still look like a child after eighty years? How old was he really? Where did he come from? Who else has he murdered? Who all hired him? The usual really.

They left him alone mostly unless they transferred other prisoners off the ship and he was all that was left.

They'd killed him a few times, but they didn't realize it. He'd healed and awoken too quickly for them to notice.... But someone did. He was sure of it. He just couldn't quite figure out who...

At least until he'd been on the ship for another fifty years. That's when he felt her for the first time poking at the edges of his awareness. She called herself Moya. She was the ship. The Leviathan is what the Peacekeeper guards called her.

Harry looked up from his liquid meal, the straw still stuck in the hole of his muzzle that allowed him to drink and "eat" when he heard the guards outside his door. Curious, he silently asked Moya what was happening as a blue woman was taken past his cell. A new prisoner. A Delvian, Moya had said. Harry was just grateful the new prisoner wasn't another goddamn Hynerian. Horrible little bastards reminded him of horrifying mix of Mundungus Fletcher and Draco Malfoy. Not something he liked to imagine. But at least she should be much more pleasant company than Rygel.

He found he liked the Delvian. Her chanting was very soothing. Moya and her Pilot seemed to like it very much as well.

Harry was woken by the roars of a tentacle faced beast of a man? He thought it was a man at least... when they brought the Luxan on board. With the muzzle on though, he could hardly say anything to anyone other than Moya and Pilot. And that was only because whatever it was they did, it was similar enough to legillimency that he basically said fuck it, why not. Otherwise, he'd have gone crazy long before then.

And then... one day, he woke to sirens and the ship jarring about and oh dear heavens that's laser fire isn't it?

"Don't just sit there! Come on!" Oh it was that horrible muppet thing again. Harry just stared at him in annoyance before the blue woman ran past and it dawned on him... Oh, it's a prison break.

It didn't take long for Harry to subdue a couple of guards. With some of Moya's lovely little robots leading him around he was able to avoid most confrontations and make his way to a safe storage chamber and hunker down until the fighting was over. He quite liked the chamber, and made his opinion known to Moya and her Pilot.

Eventually when things have settled down and they've starburst away Harry is led by some DRDs to where the other escaped prisoners are. They were't really pleased to see a young man wearing a muzzle and holding a pulse rifle judging by the multiple weapons pointed at him.

"who the hell are you?!" "He was here before anyone else." "ship's manifest doesn't even have him listed." "That muzzle can't be comfortable. Here, allow me..." "Are you mad! You take that off him and he'll kill us all!"

The muzzle is taken off and the first thing Harry says for a couple of centuries is, "You, the blue one. Oh I have so much enjoyed your chanting. It helped soothe Moya and her pilot for a time. I don't... I don't quite know what had them so agitated for a while but it certainly did help them. And myself as well. I look forward to hearing more of that lovely chanting. Now can I get a decent cuppa tea? Perhaps a food packet? I'll take anything solid. I've been living on liquid nutrients for around a hundred and fifty years and I can tell you it's not a pleasant way to eat."

"You're speaking English. That's English! My translator microbes things not translating you! That is the god damn Queen's English!"

"Of course I'm speaking bloody English! I'm from bloody England you fucking yank!"

"you said fuck! Not.... You have no idea how good it is to see another human!"

"I can assume you're from Earth, Mr..."

"Crichton. John Crichton. Astronaut."

"Harry Potter. Wiz-"

"The Master of Death!" - The Hynerian.

"Well I was going to say Wizard but I suppose that works just as well."

"Peacekeeper legends claim you can kill a man with just two words. Is that true?"

"Yes. With the proper motivation at least. But I.... I turned from my calling a long time ago. I'm not exactly a man of peace or pacifism, but I just wanted to settle down and have a quiet life after all my travels and adventures."

"Wait a minute..... A wizard. Named Harry Potter. You've got to be kidding me! Next you'll be telling me you ride around chasing a little flying ball on a broomstick."

"you know about Quidditch? Tell me, Mr. Crichton, are there any wizards or witches on Earth still? What year even is this by your calendar?"

"Dear god he honestly thinks he's a wizard..."

"what did I say?"

Then a few days later, after Harry's saved Crichton's life, the man finds him sitting and staring out a porthole, floating a cup in front of him with just a wiggle of his fingers with a fond smile on his face. "There's these... books. Kids books, back on Earth. My friend’s kid was obsessed with 'em. Got on the pre-order list at the bookstore near the base so he could get the third book the day it comes out for her birthday." "Why are you telling me this, Mr. Crichton?" "The first book is called Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone. The second one that came out last year was called Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." And at this, Harry closes his eyes and sighs. "And what was the third book to be called? Did you know?" "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Did you really kill a giant fucking snake with just a hat, a bird, and a sword?" "If I told you yes?" "What kind of world do you come from where twelve year olds are expected to know how to fight a giant fucking snake?" "It was over sixty feet long. Built like a brick shithouse. And for some reason facing off against that with a magic bird, magic hat, and a magic sword was... according to my senile headmaster, a good way to build character."

This starts a sort of ritual between the two not-the-same-earth-earthlings. Crichton knows all about the first two books because his friend's kid is fucking obsessed with them and so Harry gives him a first person "this is how shit went down" and "this is honestly what i was thinking at the time" and "yes, with my bare hands, i murdered a man at eleven and nobody thought to send me to a fucking therapist. It was all "here's some bloody candy, Harry. Don't ask questions. Also here's house points in return for killing a man at the tender age of 11." That should have been our first clue that Albus too many fucking names Dumbledore was crazier than goddamn Voldemort ever thought of being."

And when Crichton is captured and tortured with the aurora chair, Harry's there for him in equal measure as Zhaan. And he never asks him about it, but he's just like "Bro. I got your back. You ever need to scream at someone about it, you come to me. We can compare scary pale faced black wearing nightmare men any time." And when Harry finds out that his new best bro has a clone of Scorpius in his head, he starts teaching him occlumency techniques because he's like "even without magic, this shit is damn helpful. Oh, and if you ever find yourself kind-of possessed by the bastard - hey, don't look at me like that John I don't make the rules. This shit just happens when you've got someone else living in your head. Trust me. Remember what I told you about that fucking scar of mine? Right. So listen. You ever get possessed, you want me to, uh, off you? I mean, I don't want to. But I will if I have to. Sometimes if you die for a bit, it helps reset shit." "I'm not immortal harry! I can't just reset my brain like some fucking wizard!" "There! That anger! Hang onto that. Trust me. It'll help if you ever get possessed."

And of fucking course when he's possessed by Scorpius Harry's like "I know that's you, you fucking asshole. Let go of my best bro or I will fucking gut you like a fish." "no you won't. You kill me, your kill John." "that's right and i already had this conversation with him. I'm sure you were there for it, too. You've got 24 arns or the real you is going to get a rather nasty visitor after I forcibly rip that chip out of Johnny's head and fry your ass so nobody gets to have the wormhole tech in there. You understand me, lizard breath?"

[script-a-world]

How will the people of my world observe that they are actually on a moon?

Tex: If we define “moon” as “a natural satellite that orbits a planet”, then the people of your world would likely find that they’re orbiting a celestial body bigger than the one they’re currently on, in much the same way that we figured out that we orbit the Sun.

Constablewrites: Well, when we got to our own moon we took a bunch of pictures of what Earth looked like from there. And there have been plenty of artists renderings about how other planets in our solar system would look in our sky if they were as close as our moon. This page has some good examples, and also some discussion of how life might be different with that setup. So things like days and seasons potentially look very different on a moon than on a planet. The question then would be if they know what things look like on a planet to recognize how their setup is different.

Synth: The simplest answer is: they look at the stuff in the sky, watch how it moves relative to their vantage point, and extrapolate from there. Eventually the mathematics of orbital mechanics will bring them to the conclusion that they orbit a planet, which in turn orbits a sun (they may or may not have determined that their sun is also a star, just much closer than all the other stars).

You haven’t mentioned anything regarding their tech level -- specifically if they’ve invented the telescope yet -- but that’s okay! Our earliest (surviving) account of a heliocentric model is from all the way back in 300 BCE, but it wasn’t until Hans Lippershey built the first known telescope in 1608, and two years later both Galileo Galilei and Simon Mayr independently were the first to see and describe the four largest moons of Jupiter, that we finally had clear evidence that Earth was not the centre of the universe. Depending on the particulars of your planetary system, your moon-dwelling populace may not even need a telescope to figure things out.

Now a longer answer, possibly probably most definitely with some digressions and general meandering, but Synth Did Research, Dammit, and learned some cool shit, so now you all get to hear about it.Okay, so, the thing is that while it may have taken humanity a good long time to definitively conclude and prove that the Earth orbits the Sun and not the other way around, we’ve been really good at tracking and calculating the motions of astronomical bodies relative to us for a long time. Like, a ludicrously long time. In 1976 a mesolithic calendar was discovered at Warren Fields in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, though excavations didn’t begin until 2004. It tracks time based on solstices. Radiocarbon dating places its construction at around 8000 BCE, over ten thousand years ago. This is just the oldest calendar we know of and/or that has survived the millennia; there could well have been more out there that are no longer intact.

Architecture with archaeoastronomical significance has been around for ages. Stonehenge in England lines up with the solstices and possibly also lunar motion. Chaco Canyon in the USA tracks solstices and equinoxes. The Governor’s Palace at the ancient Maya city of Uxmal, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, aligns to the movement of Venus. There are hypotheses that some of the paintings in the Lascaux caves (which are somewhere around seventeen thousand years old) in France form a paleolithic star chart. The saros cycle, the repeating pattern of solar and lunar eclipses, was known to Babylonian astronomers way back in 3500 BCE.

We have been fascinated with outer space for probably the entirety of our existence. It just took us a little while to confirm heliocentrism because from our point of reference it does look like everything else is travelling around the Earth. If your moon inhabitants have a similar level of curiosity about their surroundings, it isn’t that far a stretch to think they might also excel at mapping the stuff up in the sky, even in their equivalent of the Stone Age. And once their tech hits the computer era, well, a recent example that we tossed out into the cosmos is New Horizons. It arrived pretty much almost exactly when we calculated it would, after travelling several billion kilometres over the course of almost a decade.

Yeah, humanity has become real good at space math over the ages.

Two potentially helpful terms to look into are eclipses and (apparent) retrograde motion.

From our vantage point the apparent diameter of the Moon and the Sun is almost identical -- 31 arcminutes, or half a degree, on average -- so prior to figuring out that the Sun is in truth some four hundred times wider than the Moon but looks way smaller than that because of the distance, how could we tell that the Moon was closer to us? By observing eclipses. Sometimes the Moon comes between the Sun and the Earth (solar eclipse), and sometimes the Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon (lunar eclipse), but the Sun never comes between the Earth and the Moon (...Armaggedon?), therefore the Sun must be farther away from us than the Moon.

Apparent retrograde motion is when a planet (or moon or other celestial body) appears to move in reverse from its usual path. AKA: why Mars* be Like That.

*All the other planets in our solar system also demonstrate retrograde motion, but Mars is the closest to us that doesn’t sometimes get lost in the glare of the Sun, so it’s the easiest to track.

Explaining retrograde motion was the biggest hurdle for geocentric systems. If everything orbits the Earth, why do the other planets sometimes just turn around and go the other way for a while? Enter epicycles, many smaller circles that the planet travelled around as it moved along its orbit. When it came to explaining planetary motion and plotting future astronomical positions, epicycles… did a surprisingly decent job at it, because math reasons.

This is an almost 250-year-old diagram of the apparent motions of Mercury, Venus and the Sun as seen from Earth, and it definitely looks very epicycle-y. It’s also complicated, looking less like a map of a solar system and more like someone had a bit of fun with a Spirograph™, and it doesn’t even include the Moon, or Mars or Jupiter or Saturn, the other three planets known in antiquity. But it held on for a good long while because it did work to describe how they moved. Even Copernicus’ new heliocentric model made use of epicycles, since the circular orbits he used in it couldn’t entirely account for the planets’ observed paths. It wasn’t until Kepler came along about a century after Copernicus and postulated elliptical orbits for the planets that everything fell into place as we know it now.

A few things to consider when building your solar system.

Ratio of moon-to-planet sizes. Saturn’s moons are quite small relative to their parent planet. Our moon is very large, as moons go, at ¼ Earth’s diameter. Pluto’s moon Charon is massive compared to Pluto, at over ½ Pluto’s diameter.

Distance between moon(s) and planet, and planet and sun. You don’t need exact measurements, but if there are multiple moons you should have at least a rough overview of what order they’re in. Is your inhabited moon the closest one to the planet, or the farthest out, or somewhere in the middle? This also ties back into the sizes of your astronomical bodies, since the closer things are to each other, the larger they will appear in the sky. Is the planet an absolutely massive presence in your moon’s sky, or does it only cover a few degrees? Or not even a whole degree? How big is the sun in the sky? What about the other planets, if there are other planets? Are they only differentiated from the background stars because they move more, or are they big enough and/or close enough to be Very Obviously Not Stars?

Number of moons. Is it like Earth, with its single moon? Maybe more like Pluto, with five moons, or Neptune, with fourteen. Or perhaps even Jupiter or Saturn, at over sixty moons each and possibly more yet to be found. How many of these other moons are visible from your inhabited moon, if any? Do they all orbit relatively close to the plane of the ecliptic, or are some of them off doing their own thing, zooming around on a highly eccentric, extremely inclined orbit?

Type of planet. Does your moon orbit a rocky planet (e.g. Earth, Mars), or a gas giant (e.g. Jupiter, Uranus)? Gas giants -- or rocky planets with extreme cloud cover, like Venus -- have a higher albedo than rocky planets, meaning they reflect a greater amount of any solar radiation that shines on them. If the parent planet is very reflective, there could be a lot of sunlight shining on your moon for very long stretches of time, depending on how things orbit each other. Perhaps the moon’s inhabitants get more of their light indirectly via planetary reflection, rather than directly from the sun?

Is this moon tidally locked to its planet? This means its rotational and orbital periods sync up -- i.e. the time it takes to spin once on its axis and the time it takes to travel once around its primary are identical -- thus the same face is always pointed toward the planet. Earth’s moon is tidally locked, so we never see the back of it from down here on the ground. A tidally locked moon could make things quite interesting for the inhabitants: people living on one hemisphere would always see the planet in the sky, and people on the other side would never see it. Potential for some interesting things there.

Not astronomy-related per se, but what’s going on with your moon’s populace in a religious sense? Here on Earth religion did play a big part in how long it took for certain astronomical theories to get off the ground. Do these people have any spiritual/religious beliefs that might help or hinder the general acceptance of: “Yo, we’re on a moon”?

It’s possible that some moons might have smaller moons of their own. They’re called submoons, grandmoons, or moonmoons, because sometimes scientists are not great at naming things. If your people have made it to the “flinging stuff into space via a chain of controlled explosions (i.e. rockets)” level of technology, their moon probably has at least a few artificial satellites.

Here is a neat chart of our solar system’s moons, which I am including for inspiration purposes and also because it’s cool.

...I could have probably condensed all of that down to “eclipses and retrograde motion” and been done with it, huh? Oh well. I hope everybody learned some interesting things today.

[tipsycad147]

What is a Goddess?

A Goddess is a Divine female being of supernatural powers or attributes, believed in and worshipped by people and is often believed to be the source of life and being and worshipped as the principal deity in various religions. For thousands of years, around the world our ancestors are believed to have worshipped a Divine and powerful Mother-Goddess, who was honoured as the Mother of all life.

The Goddess Within, the Goddess Outside.

Where is the Goddess? Does the Goddess dwell within us? Is the "still small voice" of conscience, a manifestation of the immanent deity within ourselves? For many, the immanent Goddess provides a immense and satisfying intimacy with the inner Goddess. Finding a connection to the divine within ourselves, seeking the strength of the Goddess within to better our lives, can be a transformative, enlivening and empowering experience.

The immanent Goddess need not be confined to human form, many cultures perceive the immanent Goddess within nature, in plants, trees, mountains and stars, each inhabited by a unique Goddess spirit that is both mortal and immortal. For every star that dies, another is being formed in nebulous gases in the universe. For each plant or tree that dies, another is waiting to be reborn in the seeds of the previous, the spirit of the Goddess becomes immortal in that this energy always exists in uncountable forms.

To others, the Goddess is transcendent, and exists outside ourselves, here the Goddess becomes the Universe, Gaia, Mother Nature, the Great Goddess or the Great Mother. The transcendent Goddess is vast beyond measure, timeless and immortal, a unfathomable spirit that is at once everywhere and in all times.

Many that walk the path of the Goddess see the divine as both immanent and transcendent, believing that the Goddess within can be called upon for strength and vision in facing the challenges of life. Whilst perceiving that the energy of the Goddess exists throughout nature where each fragment is the Goddess, yet no one fragment contains all and she exists as a force beyond individual plants, animals and people.

Where did the idea of a Goddess come from?

Our prehistoric ancestors were hunters and gatherers, who depended on the earth to provide, food, clothing, shelter and life itself. The importance of fertility in crops, in domesticated animals, in wild animals and in the tribe itself were of paramount importance to their survival. Their society was probably matriarchal and that children took their mothers' names. Their life was based on lunar (not solar) calendar and time was experienced as a repetitive cycle, not linearly as we think of it today. Thus, the Female life-giving principle was considered divine and shrouded in mystery.

Natures Mother who bringest all to life and revives all from day to day. The food of life Thou grantest in eternal fidelity. And when the soul hath retired we take refuge in Thee. All that Thou grantest falls back somewhere into Thy Womb.

Third Century AD Prayer to Terra Matris.

Cave paintings and rock carvings of Goddesses, some as old as 35,000 years B.C.E. or earlier, depict the Divine life-giving Goddess. The Venus of Willendorf, is perhaps the most well known of these ancient Mother-Goddess deities, most of the early images of the Goddess show an abundant, round, full figured being. An early symbol in human history is the zig-zag, which was used by Neanderthals around 40,000 B.C. and has been interpreted as representing water. The Goddess is closely associated with water and births.

In mediaeval times, it was claimed that Britain was given to their ancestors by the Goddess Diana. In 1136, Geoffrey of Monmouthshire, describes in his "History of The Kings Of Britain" how refugees escaping the siege of Troy, were seeking a new homeland. Their leader called upon Diana to help them:

" O powerful Goddess, terror of the forest glades, yet hope of the wild woodlands, you, who have the power to go into orbit, though the airy heavens and halls of hell, pronounce a judgement that concerns the Earth. Tell me which lands you wish us to inhabit. Tell me of a safe dwelling-place, where I am to worship you down the ages, and where, to the chanting of maidens, I shall dedicate temples to you. "

In the ancient world, Goddesses were commonly patronesses of cities, justice, was, handicraft and home life, agriculture, love and learning. They were seen as standing for aspects of human nature and civilisation rather than that of nature and the elements.

Apuleius in his work Metamorphoses, declared that Isis was the embodiment of all other Goddesses and identified with the Moon and nature. It would be this concept of the Goddess that would become dominant in modern paganism.

The faces and aspects of the Goddess are not static or frozen in time but are forever changing, evolving and metamorphosing. In each age, like children growing, so the Goddess grows and changes with us.

So it was during the years 1300-1800, in English love poetry, the most popular Goddesses were Venus - Goddess of Love, Diana - Goddess of Chastity and Hunting, Minerva - Goddess of Wisdom, and Juno as a symbol of Queenliness.

After the 1800's Juno is replaced by Proserpine - Goddess of the Seasons or the Dead, by 1830 Minerva is replaced by Cere or Demeter - Lady of The Harvest. The Goddess Venus also undergoes changes during this time, acquiring dominion over the woodlands or the sea, and Diana becomes associated with the Moon, the greenwood and wild animals.

Is the Goddess only for women?

No, during the Goddess worshipping era of the past, the Goddess was the central figure, and was celebrated by men, women and children. The Goddess embodies all mystery and magic and by giving her this allegiance, man sanctified and purified himself.

She was both nurturing and fierce. She was the one the all things came from and all things returned. A renaissance of Goddess worship has take place during the middle of this century with the re-emergence of Wicca. Here both men and women celebrate the Divine Goddess and God, a spiritual balance is taking place, acknowledging both the female and male aspects of Divinity, the New Age Aquarius, with its feminine energies, hopes to bring balance to the destructive aspects of the Piscean Age.

Does anyone still believe in a Goddess?

Yes, many cultures never lost touch with the Female Divinity, the Hindus of India have many Goddesses amongst their pantheon of deities. In Japanese culture, the great Sun Goddess, Amaterasu is still honoured as the Divine Mother of the Japanese people. In China the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin (Quan Yin) still attracts many devotees. A feminine presence was added to Christianity by the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE when the Virgin Mary was named Theotokos (Mother of God). With the re-emergence of Wicca, Dianic Wicca, Goddess and Neo-paganism, more and more people are incorporating Goddess worship into their beliefs.

What kinds of Goddesses are there?

There are many thousands of Goddesses, throughout the world, each region had its own aspects of the Goddess, the Great Mother Goddess, however appears to have had a universal following. The Goddess has been known by many names and aspects in many different cultures and ages: Anat, Aphrodite, Aradia, Arianrhod, Artemis, Astarte, Brighid, Ceres, Demeter, Diana, Eostre, Freya, Gaia, Hera, Ishtar, Isis, Juno, Kali, Lilith, Ma'at, Mary, Minerva, Ostare, Persephone, Venus, Vesta, etc.

The Goddess is often visualised in her three aspects: Maiden, Mother and Crone, and her corresponding sacred colours white, red, black.

I wove it once with colours white, With black I wound it through Then I did dye it with a red That binds the life to you.

These aspects are mirrored in the phases of the moon: waxing, full and waning. The Maiden represents youth, emerging sexuality, the huntress running with her hounds. The Mother symbolises feminine power, fertility, and nurturing. The Crone is wisdom, the compassion which comes from experience, and the one who guides us through the death experience. All aspects of the Triple-Goddess represent different types of healing and growth.

Reclaiming The Goddess

The Goddess did not simply die out or go into cold storage, only to be revived in the same forms she manifested then, instead she remained veiled and denigrated and ignored most of the time or else she is exalted, hymned and pedestalled as an allegorical abstraction of female divinity.

In allowing the Goddess to become an abstraction, we have lost touch with the Goddess. We no longer speak the language of the Goddess, we have forgotten how and we have allowed the concept of the Goddess to be almost erased from consciousness.

With the resurgence of modern Paganism, with it views on a balanced human and divine nature, so some have found that the Goddess has always been there, yet somehow humanity forgot and so the idea of a Goddess as a central point of creation is finding a welcome response.

Modern Goddess Worship.

The Neo-pagans, modern witches and even scientists, are starting to view Gaia after the Greek Goddess, or Mother Earth, as a bio system and we are all dependant upon each other for survival. She attributes consciousness to the earth and believes it to be spiritual as well. In other words, Gaia is a living and evolving being that has a spiritual destiny. Goddess worship is an attempt to reintroduce the sacred aspect of the earth and to remind us all that She is our ever- bountiful Mother. The Goddess is the giver of all life and is found in all of creation.

An acceptance of the Goddess is important to both men and women, for men it allows them to acknowledge the feminine energies within and to accept their desire and need of a protective, nurturing feminine presence. "The importance of the Goddess symbol for women cannot be over-stressed. The image of the Goddess inspires women to see ourselves as divine, our bodies as sacred, the changing phases of our lives as holy, our aggression as healthy, and our anger as purifying. Through the Goddess, we can discover our strength, enlighten our minds, own our bodies, and celebrate our emotions."

When an individual seeks the Goddess either through Wicca, the feminist movement, the New Age, or the liberal church, he or she is beginning a journey to bring to balance the female and male energies. We are a blending of both male and female energies, so it it natural to want to balance our spiritual lives, by accepting the Goddess and God, we start our quest to discover our inner 'higher self'. This higher self, is often referred to as the "god self," and is the path to pure truth, deep wisdom. The Yin Yang symbol is a perfect reminder of the balance that is achieved when these two energies come together in a positive way.

http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/an_introduction_to_paganism/what_is_a_goddess.asp

[scifigeneration]

A neuroscientist's tips for a new year tuneup for your brain

by Kelly Lambert

Pop metaphorical ‘brain bubbles’ by grounding your brain in the here and now. Sofiaworld/Shutterstock.com

Unlike the effervescent bubbles that stream to the top of champagne flutes on New Year’s Eve, what I call brain bubbles are far from celebratory. These bubbles are metaphorical rather than physical, and they distort the stream of reality processed by our brains. Like a real estate bubble that reflects an inflated perception of home values, a brain bubble twists your perception of the world around you. And when either of these bubbles bursts, the results can be devastating.

Problems arise when distorted information results in flawed decisions that negatively affect our lives. As a neuroscientist who’s worked closely with laboratory rats for over three decades, I’ve gleaned from them a few good strategies people can use to burst brain bubbles and enhance well-being in the year ahead. Rat brains are small but have the same general areas and neurochemicals we have, so these rodents are valuable laboratory models for human behavior.

Plugging in can mean you’re untethered from reality. Christian Fregnan/Unsplash, CC BY

Getting back down to Earth

Psychoactive drug use, aspects of privilege and poverty, psychiatric illness and, in some cases, religious and political beliefs can all create brain bubbles. Even daily excursions to the virtual world of apps, social media and cybergames sever our connections to concrete aspects of the real world and let distorting brain bubbles develop.

This is especially problematic for children’s brains that are still developing. An ongoing National Institutes of Health study suggests that two hours of screen time each day distorts language and thinking abilities in these junior digital users.

As our attention is hijacked by the closest screen while a Roomba cleans the floor and Alexa orders pizza to be delivered to the front door, what’s left for our brains to do? Sure, we likely face cognitive challenges at work each day, but human brains are built for sophisticated and complex activity – even though we’re often lulled into mindlessly scrolling through a virtual feed. In fact, a brain area often associated with reward and pleasure, the nucleus accumbens, is smaller in people who spend more time checking Facebook posts on their smartphones.

Obviously, some of these distortion-generating circumstances are out of our control. But a heightened awareness of our authentic world can move us toward a more reality-based, well-grounded brain – free of those brain bubbles.

The rats that my students and I train in our studies to physically work for coveted treats (Froot Loops cereal is a favorite) develop healthier emotional responses than the animals we call “trust-fund rats” because they’re merely given their sweet rewards. The harder-working rats have healthier stress hormone levels and engage in more sophisticated search strategies when they encounter a surprise challenge – such as when we move their expected Froot Loop rewards. They’re more persistent as they spend time trying to solve the problem, rather than quickly giving up and walking away.

So whereas one popular New Year’s resolution involves saving up to build financial capital, we can keep our brains in peak condition for the year ahead by building up experiential capital. Real-world experiences represent the best currency for our brain circuits, providing neural security for our future decisions in the coming year. Spending time engaged in hobbies such as knitting or gardening, for example, with complex movements and rich sensory experiences, provides a valuable yield for our brains.

Looking forward to it can be just as good as the experience. Brooke Lark/Unsplash, CC BY

Savor the anticipation

When the calendar flips to a new year, it’s common to reflect on the past and look to the future. According to the neuroscience literature, this anticipation could be one of the most pleasurable – and healthy – tasks our brains engage in all year long.

Dopamine is the poster neurotransmitter for the cognitive endeavor of anticipating. Traditionally known for its role in pleasure, this neurochemical system can be hijacked by psychoactive drugs such as cocaine that serve as potent creators of reality-distorting brain bubbles.

Rodent research provides fascinating insights here, however. Researchers use sophisticated techniques to measure dopamine activity as rats press laboratory levers that reward them with drugs. Surprisingly, this neurochemical system surges when the animal merely anticipates taking the drug as it approaches the drug lever, as well as when the drug is actually infused into the brain.

Anticipating a new start and a new year may be a scaled-down version of approaching the experimental lever for a hit of cocaine – a legal and healthy dopamine dose in this case. You can try to keep this emotional high going through the year by amping up the anticipation in your daily life: Focus more on delayed than immediate gratification. Buying and planning for experiences is more satisfying than material purchases. Mapping out a menu, shopping for ingredients and cooking a meal provides more dopamine time – and brain-engaging behaviors – than nuking a frozen meal and eating it three minutes later.

Rats in the lab suggest active minds are better able to overcome stress and surprise adversity. Kelly Lambert, CC BY-ND

Seize the reins of your stress

Another way to enhance our well-being through the year is to gain some sense of control over the stress in our lives. Real-time and authentic interactions with the environment can help us gain a sense of control over the inevitable uncertainty and unpredictability we face each day.

I see evidence of this in the lab. When I furnish my rats’ housing with natural elements such as dirt, hollowed-out logs and rocks, they’re busier and less likely to sit around the edge of the cage than animals in boring empty cages. After building their experiential capital, these enriched rats have healthier stress and resilience hormone profiles and engage in bolder behaviors, such as diving to the bottom of swim tanks instead of staying on the top doing their best impression of a dog paddle. As I watch these animals in various tasks, they appear to be gaining control over the challenges they encounter.

Perhaps this is why retired U.S. four-star admiral William McRaven emphasized simple life strategies in his 2014 University of Texas commencement speech, declaring that “if you want to change your life and maybe the world, start off by making your bed.” Then, even if you have a terrible day, you will come home to a made bed, evidence that you had a positive impact in at least one area of your life that day.

And, considering that over 70 percent of the brain’s nerve cells are in the cerebellum, which is involved in movement coordination, any activity that gets us up and moving – whether household chores or hitting the gym – engages the brain in healthy ways.

Taking time to connect in the kitchen is one good way to ground your brain. Amber Maxwell Boydell/Unsplash, CC BY

Starting your brain’s year off right

Lessons from the laboratory rats also provide potential explanations for some of my own personal favorite New Year’s Day traditions – including the mundane tasks of cooking a familiar southern meal, cleaning my closet and watching HGTV’s Dream House giveaway with my family while we all declare what we would do if we won the beautiful house. Move in? Sell it? Make it an Airbnb rental?

Thinking like a neuroscientist, I know that cooking and cleaning are active endeavors with clear outcomes that allow me to gain a small sense of control, decreasing stress hormones. Playfully anticipating winning a new home taps into that feel-good dopamine system as we contemplate more serious options for the new year. And, perhaps the best neurochemical hit of all is the spike in oxytocin, the neurochemical involved in positive social connections, as I spend time with loved ones.

Although it’s common to turn to pharmaceuticals to lift our emotions and improve our mental health, the emotional benefits of many New Year’s traditions remind me that basic responses can serve as what I call “behaviorceuticals” that enhance well-being. New Year’s resolutions may take the form of New Year’s Rx’s as we consider healthy lifestyle choices for the coming year: Shrink those distorting brain bubbles and build realistic connections to enrich life’s simple pleasures.

About The Author

Kelly Lambert is Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Richmond.

This article is republished from our content partners at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

[astrolocherry]

  The Transit Lounge 2018 - 2020 

The cosmic ceremony of Saturn in Capricorn, Pluto in Capricorn, Uranus in Taurus and Neptune in Pisces is the time of the great fall from grace. The betrayers of trust, authority, and privilege (Capricorn) delusional in their entitlement (Neptune) are served a life sentence (Pluto) for the greater good of humanity and its future (Uranus). We have been practicing and preparing for this cosmic grid for quite some time beneath the challenge of Pluto squaring Uranus 2012-2015, Pluto in Capricorn forming mutual reception with Saturn in Scorpio 2012-2015, current Jupiter transit in Scorpio and Neptune in Pisces. Rather than the dense arrival of widespread misfortune and loss, this remarkable planetary collaboration is more about anticipating the arrival and clearing the entrance of a new cycle and collective agreement. 

Louis Acker ascribes the combination of Saturn and Pluto to the ‘worst abuses of power and corruption’. The Hollywood abuse scandal we saw in October grew into the onslaught as Jupiter entered Scorpio. No secret could fit inside its hidden box any longer, unleashing a cosmic sonic boom that dismantled the patriarchal hostage of power, hierarchy, entitlement, and those who protected it (Capricorn). Pluto is the planet that responds to violation, abuses of power, and secrecy. This is only an increment of what we can expect to see as these cosmic patterns start to make real waves together. Everything will come out in this cosmic nuclear waste wash. 

Uranus in Taurus trine Saturn in Capricorn  Saturn in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces 

“as the aristocracy develops, government tends more and more to act exclusively in the interests of the ruling class -- whether that class be hereditary royalty, oligarchs of financial empires, or entrenched bureaucracy.” ― Frank Herbert, Children of Dune

In May 2018 Uranus will cross into the sign of Taurus until 2026 and continue making visits into Aries until March 2019. Venus becomes Mars as Taurus is exchanged for Aries. Taurus has a much slower pace and response time than Aries. For the better, it can regulate the volatile pace of this change. For the worse, internal inertia collides with the speed of light and the rate of change is not happening quick enough. There is no chance to settle in with Uranus in Taurus, because a month later in June 2018 Saturn in Capricorn makes a 3 part appearance by form of trine until November 2018. Although Saturn and Uranus never quite make direct contact,  these opposing past and future forces lap the edges of one another, gaining enough inspiration and agitation that beckons to come together to fight and fly. 

There may be a reduction in the forms of political violence, antagonism, and ruling by oppressing with fear. This is characteristic of the declaration of personal ideology, shouting, the infantile performance that triumph over truth, evidence, and accountability we have seen during the political years of Uranus in Aries. Uranus provokes abrupt cataclysms that reset the status quo. Taurus is a sign of finances, the opulent, and the wealthy.  Life may start getting very uncomfortable for residents in the bubble of affluence, the rich and privileged that salivate from the power and influence that money commands, financial institutions taking bets on their customer’s assets while promising to safeguard them, executives who sold their soul for a salary, the balcony from the top that would rather the poor, disadvantaged, and the homeless be removed from their view from the window.

Taurus is how we measure value. Uranus can restructure our definition of wealth. It may be to reflect the qualities of this energy like our brilliant thinkers and geniuses, our scientists and activists, our eccentrics and our artists, and the richness of our friendships and relationships. The significance of Uranus in Taurus is that last time Uranus shook up Taurus was during the great depression. But with intensely active Capricorn and Saturn energy captivating the world, the focus of this re-structure is more on establishment, banks, and governments. Governments will be under pressure increase the distribution of resources (Taurus) back into the people (Uranus). The leaders elected during this period may have grand and progressive vision and crusade strongly for equality, globalisation, science, and education. Taurus likes to implement prepared and considerate change that is timely in development but endures for the longterm. Uranus wants it now, but Taurus is slow to move. Chaos and instability arises on all fronts of personal and business security and longevity. Stability is acquired through the inner experience, seasonal and earthy intimacy, and independently creating capital from natural talent and aptitudes 

Uranus is the stimulant of the revelation and change demanded by Saturn in Capricorn and Pluto in Capricorn. For example dynamics influenced by Pluto’s entry into Capricorn during 2008 and the subsequent financial collapse. Your neighbours lost their home, your friend lost his business, your parents were forced to delay their retirement... but the elite maintained their wealth... and even better, they managed to increase and expand their reign. Chaos ensued, but nothing has really changed. This is until Uranus in Taurus mixes everything in the cosmic blender and turns the world upside down to so that loose change is shaken from their pockets and resources free fall and fly to and from every direction. 

For many years a lot of predictive astrology speaks about the coming utopia and endless love and awakening and elevating dimensions and chakra 3rd wheel something. Saturn is also making a long lasting sextile for most of 2019 with Neptune in Pisces and it really stimulates our longing for an ideal. I am not going to go there even with such a powerful cosmic performance because we were made grand promises at the end of the mayan calendar and the square before and eclipse previous and so on. Pisces is a dual sign so we wouldn’t even be able to come to an agreement of what the vision is. The great climax of Capricorn has been historically associated with our entrance into the light or dark age. While powerful transformations will occur with major shifts, these planets move slowly and never rush their influence. Think of like the prosecution taking many years to converge the evidence and make a critical conviction. I (hope) with the cosmic resources available that transiting Uranus moving into Taurus regenerates the collective responsibility (Uranus) to the environment (Taurus), The mother of humanity (Uranus) with the instinct to protect mother earth (Taurus), and this also extends to the feeding, resources, and nourishing aspect of Taurus into global and humanitarian (Uranus) malnutrition and lack of supply. The siding circumstance with this may be increasing technology and manufacturing of GMO’s. The contact of Saturn in Capricorn and Uranus in taurus will draw focus to earth’s mortality (Capricorn) and temper (Uranus), and activate the necessary scientific (Uranus) and financial resources (Taurus) into preservation earth (Taurus) and humanity (Uranus). Uranus has a quick and hot temper that cracks Mother Nature Taurus. There may be unexpected weather patterns that form rapidly aggravating storms, earthquakes and shockwaves, and weather that impacts our agriculture and the way we develop technology for sustainability.  I may be boarding the Neptune in Pisces carnival ride, but Taurus is the ruler of gold, and it has been said and spoken by higher beings and forces that the substance of gold can repair and rebalance the earth and climate.

Saturn conjunct Pluto in Capricorn 2020 The apex of building celestial gesture is no doubt the event of transiting Saturn and transiting Pluto coming together at 22 degrees Capricorn on January 12, 2020 or 12/01/2020. If you have a good memory, that date may seem familiar, because the ending of the Mayan calendar occurred on January 21, 2012 or 21/12/2012. Also, the date that Saturn makes its first crossing into Aquarius is 21/03/2020. I don’t know really what this means, but it gives me the sense that great cosmic collaboration and higher preparation is being directed into this. 12 is of course the the 12 zodiacs tribes and completion of the cycle. 4 is the numerology and vibrates to strength, stability, found in the charts of monks, priests and other religious leaders and reflects the higher qualities of Capricorn. 2 is ruled by the moon in numerology which is the astrological opposer of Saturn, and notably ascribed the quality of ‘duality and polarity’ alongside ‘the lover, provider, the ultimate survivor and resilient force’ . There is a tremendous spiritual potency directed here so don’t forget that the whole universe is right behind you 

Remember that Saturn is the devil in tradition so it can really bring out the fear and fanaticism in those with extremely rigid theologies, like the returning antichrist or satan messiah. No, you will not wake up and see fiery embers across the sky. When I was new to learning this stuff hearing something like that would have really scared me. The significance is that the ‘antichrist’ or ‘devil’ is the symbol that shows its face through the suppressors, corrupt leadership, greed and gluttony, and politics of fear. Second, astrology can’t predict the end of the world. Astrology is very focused on the ‘next transit, the next planetary pattern, the next challenging condition written in the cosmos’ and does not exist without collusion from future and higher selves. The unconscious collective would not be challenged to advance through the sign and integrate the experiences and necessary inner and spiritual material for entering the next developmental phase, such as Pluto entering Aquarius in 2024. 

“There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity. ”

― Isaac Asimov, I. Asimov

The archetype of Saturn and Capricorn is Chronos, Father Time, Mortality, The Grim Reaper, The Alchemist. The archetype of Pluto is the God of Death and Rebirth, The Crone, Greater Destiny, and Soul. The suggestion is that death will arrive on many doorsteps at the same time, one that cleanses the soul of humanity. One that perishes mass corporate, financial, institutional, social, and egotistical foundations that suppress this soul. Plato described Uranus as an upward ascent and The World of Divine Ideas, so as one that existed on a higher vibration. These suppressive autocrats and ideologues retain our physical body and conscious experience inside of their own, chaining our spirit onto earth while it longs to respond to the call of the frequency it now belongs to. Why do the policies and representatives of government so rarely reflect the plight and authentic desire of their people? Why is power retained in such small hands with such small minds? Media tells us to be angered and outraged by low income earners, welfare recipients, asylum seekers, foreign aid... and not the atrocities committed by their government and rulers. These individuals were elected by fraudulence and dishonest reporting, the maniacal pursuit of having power rather than having any idea how to use it properly, and to maintain their class of elitism. The politics of division, fear and terror, the ignition of dissent between the people that weakens their resolve and shared resources is closed avenue. Uranus in Taurus and Saturn in Capricorn is conditioned to collaborate and unify. The people have been unfairly accountable for the misconduct of leaders and establishment. We’ve seen this in significance after 2008 with increased government debt. The poor, the sick, unemployed, single parents, refugees, students, anyone suffering hardship were demoralised as parasites on the public purse and the root of debt. The very social services and benefits that they relied upon were slowly dried up, underfunded, and under resourced. It’s almost as if it were these organisations that disregarded federal laws and regulation that cost hundreds of thousands of people their employment. Now they will realise the power that is inherent to their people, the people are the source of power that is is leased, a power that is only supplied by those who can also deny, a power that is not theirs to engorge on but to nurture, protect, and re-distribute. Saturn is not only resistance and business. Saturn also symbolises the spiritual path, the practically enlightened, our ultimate capability... and Saturn is the last planet that will sell you short or deny you or the world its positive prospects. 

In 2008 Pluto plunged us into the thick of Capricorn. We became intimate with confronting and satisfying its brutality, beauty, command, excess, and unrelenting desires. There is no need to fear the world ending, because you have already died beholding Capricorn and confronting Pluto, and you have always returned with more life and will than you left with. Saturn contacts Pluto as it finalises its passage through Capricorn, and the significance is the resources and wisdom acquired when the master was home and available for personal mentoring. You are not permitted to pass the gates of Saturn without demonstrating your expertise and efficiency, you’ve spent years practicing and mastering this... so why so worried?

you can read about the conditions of transiting Saturn in your horoscope on this link http://astrolocherry.com/post/169103538760/transiting-saturn-in-capricorn-saturn-transit

-C.

[domesticfluffsimulator]

Hi tumblr look at what is bothering me while I try to write

The universal eos calendar is written as M.E. + [year] and has been for 756 years at the time the game starts

but there was a time where this calendar was just put in place - and a time where it didn't even exist

so how did people write the date, then? would someone who lived the change in calendar refer as a past event as "M.E. -1" or would they rather say "A.E. 1" and go backwards, like we can say "-535" or "535 BC"? Or would they keep using the ancient system ("it happened in 1244")?

If the modern era is a universal calendar it also implies that all the kingdoms did not use the same calendar before. So they had to translate dates alll the time (especially in Accordo if we keep considering Accordo was full of great commercial ports). That means an event happening in the past could have several different dates. In this case, a "A.E. + [year]" writing would be easier as it translates the date based on the current calendar rather than having to decide which ancient date is the most legitimate.

(That can also mean Ardyn is one of those old people who need to translate everything back to their ancient references, like old people do in Europe whenever they need to pay for something in €.)

But also, if everyone has a different ancient calendar, it also means everyone has a different year 0! What would be the event that each kingdom considers year 0?

--> It's likely that Lucis and Tenebrae both have a similar year 0 based on the moment humanity received the Crystal or something similar. But they might have a different start for the year 0, for example Lucis could decide that year 0 starts the exact day the Crystal is given to humans while Tenebrae considers that year 0 starts a few months later when the first Oracle is chosen by Bahamut. Let's say Lucis starts its calendar on January 1st, Tenebrae might be starting theirs on March 1st, so all dates are similar except for these three months where you have to verify if the year they're talking about is 1190 or 1191.

(It's a thing that happened in Italy in the Middle Ages, if you used the Florence calendar or the Pisa calendar you had a roughly 3 months difference to consider)

But then, Accordo and Niflheim could ahve completely different year 0! Imagine this, Accordo could have their year 0 based on something Leviathan did before the Astral War, so when it's 984 in Lucis, it's like, 1345 in Accordo. Same for Niflheim, their calendar could be based on something else entirely.

And that's just the easy part; because, our real world's calendars weren't always exactly aligned with the actual revolution of the earth around the sun, so sometimes they were shorter by a few days or longer by a few days than the one used by the neighbours! And they very often had to be adjusted every couple of years, by adding a few days to the year to make up for the missing ones on previous eyars, or by removing some to make up for the extra days on the previous years.

So you have to imagine that like, November 23th, 1424 in Niflheim refferred to November 23th 1025 in Lucis, but then November 23th, 1425 in Niflheim referred to November 19th 1026 in Lucis when Lucis decided to adjust their calendar!

(and I'm simplifying everything for you guys)

All I'm saying is we're actually lucky Square stayed vague about the stuff happening in the past but also I will need to come up with an entire measuring system to write about Solheim and please, free me.

[daveywankenobie]

A new phase of life started on Friday and although my new job is currently a temporary contract (even if it doesn’t last) it will definitely keep me busy.

My role is a technical support one – and it’s apparent to me that (like with many jobs of this nature) that the bespoke environment(s) I’ll be looking after have services that are simultaneously familiar and yet also completely alien to me.

They’re different enough to what I know already to make my learning curve a steep one – and I think it’s going to be a challenge to juggle the pace of the workload whilst at the same time asking lots of questions about what I’m doing and putting my hand in the air for help.

I don’t mind though – in fact I rather relish the challenge ahead because when I’d finished on my first day I felt a little bit of trepidation, but also a sense that I can definitely do well in my new role with some hard work and personal development.

Plus, time flew by.

One of the great things about being made redundant from a job I’d worked in for more than a decade and a half back in 2016 was that I had to face all of the fears associated with stepping out of a well entrenched comfort zone and learning something entirely new.

Like many of us who suffer all the time from imposter syndrome we can go to work day in, day out, do our jobs perfectly well and still come home feeling bad about our capabilities and thinking we could have done more.

Often it’s very difficult to appreciate just how useful you are, how much you know and what you’re capable of when you do it all day long next lots of others doing the same or similar things.

The only yardstick you have to gauge your effectiveness is to look at colleagues nearby and essentially decide whether you measure up to them and how much they know.

I never felt like I did.

However (after redundancy hit and I’d gotten fitter) when I started doing different jobs in different environments that required me to learn and adapt to new working practices and subject areas I realised that I was a lot more capable than I had given myself credit for – and that my experience made me a valuable employee.

Translating that into a CV or interview has proved hard at times however and there are as many downsides to redundancy as there are upsides.

Whilst it’s empowering to realise that when a job finishes it’s not the end of the world (there’s always something else to go to) it’s not so great to constantly have to ‘sell’ yourself over and over again to prospective employers if you don’t like the job you end up in.

I don’t think this is something I’ve ever enjoyed (or ever will) and have always been mystified by those that find self promotion to be a natural skill.

Going into a room and basically saying ‘I’m great!‘ over and over again is not pleasurable and after I’ve had to do so I never feel like I’ve struck an effective balance between self effacing honesty and what people want (or need) to hear from me.

Either way though I now have a new start – and I plan to try and make the most of it.

Only time will tell what comes out of it – but I had a great first day and have a positive feeling about the whole kit and kaboodle.

The people also seem really nice and that’s a very good thing.

I did find myself shaking my head as I walked home on Friday evening though – because I’m not sure how I managed to end up in this role quite so out of the blue.

I can’t go into too much detail, but the convergence of circumstances that led to me being employed again were actually very random and I was left thinking ‘how on Earth did that just come to pass?!’

For the longest time I’ve felt like I’ve been beating my forehead against a brick wall and feeling lower and lower about where I was going in relation to employment. Then – completely out of the blue things just pivot and turn right around!

Although I haven’t felt this way for a while I’m of the opinion that once again the universe has been listening to me and must have figured that by now I deserved a break.

I will try not to let it down.

I have good reason not to.

One of the side effects of my recent mood dip (related to unemployment) has undoubtedly been a willingness to eat too much both to alter my frame of mind and occasionally pass the time.

Now I’m gainfully employed again I’m hoping my weight will head in the right direction organically rather than with too much brute force and self denial. I’ve always felt that a huge part of weight loss is simply having a full calendar – because idle hands tend to open the fridge!

Sitting down for eight hours a day in an office isn’t ideal either though…

Thankfully I will be walking to work every day – so even if I can’t (or don’t) swim in the morning there’s activity that’s free for the taking built right into my new job.

On Friday when I made my way to work (a relatively leisurely 2.6 miles which took me 44 mins) I felt that the weather also confirmed the universe’s revitalised enthusiasm for my happiness.

The sky was a funny colour that I’d forgotten it was capable of becoming.

I’ve been so used to seeing it grey and drizzly lately (there’s YET ANOTHER flood warning in effect in Warwick at the moment) that when it’s blue and bright I’m not quite sure what to make of it!

The only possible reaction is to smile like an idiot and take a selfie to prove it happened.

In other news… (minor rant ahead)

I have recently found myself ruminating over a train of thought that keeps popping back into my mind every time I think it’s gone. Fundamentally (and I suspect I’m not alone) I’m not sure I like the way the world is going.

Donald Trump and his lunatic approach to world politics is troubling enough – but I don’t mean that.

I’m talking about technology.

This is unusual for me because I’m an unrepentant geek at the best of times. I absolutely love anything with chips in it (apart from happy meals).

However things in the tech world seem to be getting to the ‘ridiculously pointless’ stage and a lot of new products and services on the horizon seem excessive even by my standards.

We seem to be creating more and more labour saving items that reduce our need to actually do anything productive at an ever increasing pace. Not only is this slowly turning us into a race of blancmanges but the environmental impact is immense. because

Most of it will inevitably end up being shovelled into a landfill site in less than a year or two and the pace of this is only increasing.

I’ve been watching some YouTube videos from CES (Consumer Electronics Show) 2020.

The recent event in Las Vegas left me shaking my head and wondering whether the Romans felt the way I do currently when they realised that the heights of excess they had begun to engage in were the beginning of the end.

They had a colloseum full of water and we have Televisions.

Thousands of televisions in fact – and each one is brighter and sharper and thinner than the ones that proceeded them.

Massive wall sized 8K TVs are now a thing, yet I still can’t see the point of 4K (there are virtually no TV channels that use it and most of them still don’t broadcast in 1080p) which is strange because I was deliriously happy when I got my very first HDTV.

I still am.

I love my TV and I’m not replacing it at the cost of thousands just to get more pixels in my living room.

It’s not just TV’s though.

The kitchen is the next battleground for the money in our pockets because fridges need to do more than simply keep our food cold. Chilly steaks don’t come close to wasting anywhere near enough electricity…

LG’s current smart fridge (whose door can turn transparent at the touch of a button and show everyone nearby your wilting lettuce and browning carrots) is something I’ve never wanted to buy.

Not only is it ridiculously expensive (link) but it misses the whole point of a door. Rather than using a techno screen to let you look inside YOU JUST OPEN THE FRIKKIN DOOR!!!!

It works with my tiny little under the counter fridge (and my freezer) and that cost £50 from Tesco in their value range of home electronics 10 years ago.

It still keeps the milk cold even now.

LG’s new one (shown at CES) has an OLED TELEVISION panel that turns transparent (if you’re not too busy watching Love Island on it).

If this isn’t pointless enough there’s also a techno brain inside the all singing and dancing new model with a rudimentary AI. It’s continually watching all of the food in your fridge like the murderous HAL 9000 (link) from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001.

Overnight it LG-HAL can quietly spring to life and order more overpriced crap over it’s wi-fi if it thinks you’re running low on caviar or vintage champagne.

This isn’t the only ‘innovation’ from LG though.

If you choose to invest in the wider wirelessly connected and self aware LG ‘Suite of useless stuff I don’t need but want because my life sucks’ then the food in your (Terminator in waiting) fridge has ordered can be delivered to A FRIDGE IN YOUR AI ENHANCED LG FRONT DOOR.

Of course the LG front door to your house will also have a TV on the inside so that you can see what the weather is like outside.

Amazingly my wooden (TV-less) door is also capable of this feat via the magical trickery of something called A WINDOW!!!!

The ridiculousness of this techno door pales into insignificance however when you consider one of the winners of some websites ‘best in show’ category.

The wi-fi barbecue (link) that you can control with your smartphone even when you’re not at home.

Clearly in the western world (where we have more money than willingness to get off our arses) there is an untapped market for this kind of crap and everyone wants to barbecue their meat whilst sitting in the office on a conference call.

Sigh.

The point is that all of this is scary.

I don’t want my fridge to be in charge of my shopping and I definitely don’t want it to be connected to the internet or using my credit card to buy expensive cheese and biscuits.

Fundamentally however I’m more concerned with why we as a society are so preoccupied with making things that continually inspire us to move less and consume more. We already barely have to move a muscle to get our shopping online and can remain in our houses without needing to venture outside more and more.

If some sort of cataclysm happens how many people will just expire in their homes because they’re physically incapable of leaving them?

Rome.

I’m telling you.

I can hear Nero fiddling now…

Oh well – my job is making sure that if (when) the apocalypse arrives at least my partner and I have a chance of outrunning the fireball and out-swimming the flood and tidal wave.

We’ve been working hard on our fitness since well before xmas and have really really upped our games on the number of lengths we swim, the speed in which we complete them and the number of times that we’re going to the pool each week.

Although I never mentioned it in my previous post – when I had my positive outcome on my HbA1c result (link) my partner was (at the same time) receiving her results for the same blood test.

I’ve never discussed her diabetes in this blog before because I considered it private – but this morning (for the first time) I asked her permission to do so.

‘Is this ok with you?’ I said as we sat drinking our respective teas and coffees after a five mile walk and a 1k swim.

She thought for the briefest moment, sipped her tea, and then said ‘Yes – I’m fine with that. I think it’s a good idea to let people know what my results were.’

The reason that I wanted to bring it up is that when my partner and I met for the second time (though still just friends at this point) diabetes was a big topic of conversation. She told me for the first time on this occasion that she was a type two diabetic – and that her diagnosis had been much the same as my own.

I was 94 on the chart and she was 93.

However back then mine was in remission and hers was still unmedicated.

Later – when Metformin was eventually prescribed (as her levels crept higher) her focus began to shift and she became a lot more mindful of how much exercise she was getting and what kinds of food she was eating.

Gradually this has become more and more cemented into her way of thinking and combined with her also following Slimming World she does a lot more physically than she ever used to.

We also live together and part of that dynamic is that I’m the primary cook. This is mostly because I’m a bit of a control freak about preparing food – not because she can’t or won’t – but it means that I make sure that all of our meals are on plan and cooked from scratch.

I pack her off to work with lunch and breakfast too and those are no different.

I may overeat – but when I cook I overeat great food.

On top of what we consume we walk together every day and swim together as much as possible.

Our exercise levels aren’t identical – but since she too started becoming obsessed with her fitness goals on Apple Watch she’s made great strides. Today we’ve both walked around 9 miles and swum over a kilometre.

It should be no surprise then that her results came back on Thursday at 34 – and are now in the pre-diabetic range on the HbA1c chart.

It’s difficult to say how proud of her I am – because I’ve watched her get fitter every day, competing with herself more and more with regard to her split times in the pool, and now (like me before her) she too can see the results.

I’m chuffed beyond words that the person I care the most about in the world has now begun the gradual process of reducing her Metformin.

In three months she’ll have another review and we both hope that her results will enable her to either reduce her drugs even more and one day eventually give them up altogether.

It’s particularly important for me to say all of this – because almost without exception when I’ve met people through Slimming World who are overweight and also suffering from type two diabetes (when they work hard and make the same lifestyle changes that I have) the conditions that they all suffer from are abating.

It’s hard work and you have to do it every day – but it’s worth it.

I live in hope that one day soon we shall be a household (and society) that is completely free of diabetes medication, and will have realised and also be maintaining all of our personal health goals.

So – hopefully self aware fridges won’t take over the world after forming an alliance with their evil barbecue brethren because currently I’m rather happy with the way things are.

I’m happy, employed again, working on getting to target, opening my own fridge door, looking out of windows, walking everywhere and generally in a very good place.

If I needed a cherry on the cake my weigh in on Saturday also worked out ok.

One can only hope I can continue this downwards trend. I have eight weeks of my countdown remaining and then I’m calling target- wherever I am.

Davey

Rome is burning and diabetes isn’t returning A new phase of life started on Friday and although my new job is currently a…

[tape-hiss]

Time, time, time

Hello! This post is about time in my fictional universe, and is appropriately a little bit late. Let’s just say I’m running on Aetherian time.

I did a lot of math for this one. Also, thought a lot about how we perceive time.

So real talk: I have avoided showing clocks and calendars thus far in Aetheri because I didn’t want to do the math to come up with a fictional time system that both worked and didn’t make story events IMMENSELY complicated to coordinate. What I came up with works, but you’ll have to suspend your disbelief a little, because it’s oddly convenient (by design) for a supposedly alien system of time.

There’s a larger question at hand here than just the mechanics of how spirits measure time--how does a species with a lifespan of around a thousand earth years measure time? How do they perceive its passage?

It’s probably obvious by now that spirits don’t seem to move at any slower of a pace than humans; they aren’t like ents, for example. The spirit-vs-human perception of time is actually a pretty lively albeit tiny field of study in Escalus. The way spirits treat time seems to mirror the way that humans do, just on a much longer time scale, which some people seem to think says something about the plasticity of the brain, about its structure, about how it compartmentalizes things.

There’s two rather different ways on the whole that spirits seem to perceive time, and it all seems to depend on what happens to them. Vlad and Numair are singular examples of each, in fact, and they’re even around the same age. Not a hell of a lot has happened to Numair in his 300+ years alive; he’s spent most of that time in Escalus, in the Palace, and so to him life seems to blur together--it doesn’t seem particularly long, just uniform. This is pretty normal for spirits. They live in a flat land under a wide sky. Time just smudges together, rather like a Sunday afternoon where you’ve done nothing all day and then suddenly it’s night.

On the other hand, Vlad’s had a lot happen to him; he’s seen and done a lot, and has been a lot of different people. Spirits like this seem to actually shed their past lives somewhat. It’s a little like you thinking of an event that happened to you a decade ago, and describing it as like another lifetime--but in spirits, this seems to be a fully-realized, psychological experience. It’s a dissociation from past events, good or bad, that spirits will often describe as like a death and rebirth. It doesn’t come in an instant--it almost always corresponds to major life changes--but what’s sort of weird about it is how total it is. Spirits will often refer to this sort of jokingly as their ‘past lives,’ but, only sort of jokingly.

Obviously the prevailing view on this is that it’s merely a psychological coping mechanism, maybe even a physical one. Spirit brains are not significantly different-looking (it seems) than human brains, although they keep themselves up much better over the years. Maybe the secret of this is just that spirit brains are able to clean up much better.

Anyway, that’s the soft part of spirits and their perception of time--now for the hard mathy stuff.

So..............we don’t need to go through this whole damn thing, but my meta for this is that I needed to A) use Suuhl and Yil somewhere in making Aetherian timekeeping, and B) it needed to match up to Earth time, or at least not drift so far that I’d have to do bonkers calculations to figure out corresponding times in both universes.

You may remember Suuhl and Yil as being Aetheri’s two moons.

Suuhl is the blue one (so called because it’s a much further away, more ghostly object, and ‘suuhl’ is the Aetherian word for ghost) and Yil is the red one. Suuhl orbits Eoroe (which is the planet’s name--Aetheri is just the country) every 91 days, and Yil orbits every 30.33 days. Eoroe is slightly more massive than Earth but rotates at almost exactly the same speed--therefore, an Aetherian day is equal in length to an Earth day, although the way it’s measured is different.

(Ardh, which is where the Symphony Archipelago is, is essentially indistinguishable from Earth as a celestial object except for its topography. Just to make things less complicated.)

Time is measured in Aetheri by the following:

dheidt (1 dheid = 2 seconds)

rymmat (1 rymma = 90 dheidt = 3 minutes)

huurat (1 huura = 24 rymma = 1.2 hours)

leit (1 lei = 20 huurat = 1 earth day/24 hours)

vaact (1 vaac = 5 leit = 5 earth days) - this is an Aetherian ‘week’

yilruumt (1 yilruum = 30.33 leit or 30.33 days) - this is one ‘month’ or ‘moonth,’ namely, this is the orbital period of Yil--the ‘Yil-round’

suuhlruumt (1 suuhlruum = 91 leit or 91 days) - this is a ‘season’, which stretches from a soltice to an equinox or vice-versa; it’s also the orbital period of Suuhl or the ‘Suuhl-round’

ieirt (1 ieir = 365 leit or days = 4 suuhlruumt + 1 extra day) - this is a year, obviously, the time it takes Eoroe to go around its sun.

If you would like to see very roughly how Aetherian measures of time compare to the Gregorian calendar, I have made a goofy spreadsheet for you to check out, which you can see here. 

Some of these measurements are a little odd, particularly the yilruum, which is essentially a month. Aetherians will use a yillruum only in non-specific instances, since it includes a third of a day--you’d use it to talk about a section of a season or suuhlruum. There are twelve yilruumt in a year, three per season, each named for a dominant constellation in the sky during their time. (Essentially this is the Aetherian zodiac, and yes, they do have astrology based on it.) The names of the yilruumt are included on the linked spreadsheet; they’re just named after things like animals, tools, and so on.

When you talk about a date in Aetherian, generally you describe it as being the nth day of the season in the nth year pre- or post-war. Hawk was born on April 4, 1986; Aetherians would describe this as the 13th day of Summer in year 6989 postwar. (There’s a caveat to this, I’ll get to it.) Dhuv, the Aetherian ‘month’ Hawk was born in, roughly corresponds to March 23-April 22, and wouldn’t be used to describe his birth except in an astrological context.

You’ll notice there’s a day 0 on the Aetherian calendar--this is their winter solstice and their new year. It’s considered a ‘nothing’ day, there to balance out the calendar, more or less.

But Adrien, you say. What about leap days?

Ho ho, I say, Fuck.

There’s no need for a leap day in the Aetherian calendar--it’s balanced out perfectly, there is no time lost. However, this does mean that there’s some drift between it and the Gregorian calendar, to the tune of about 59 seconds every day, until the next leap year comes round and puts it all back on track again. I’ll be straight with you: I’m not smart enough to figure out how to calculate for that. The consequences in-universe is that you just need to have an Earth clock and an Aetherian clock around at all times if you want to know what time it is in the other place; the consequences IRL is that I don’t actually know if Hawk’s birthdate matches up to the 13th day of Summer or the 14th, but I suppose it doesn’t matter that much.

That said, trying to figure out what time it is in the Archipelago vs Aetheri is a big pain in the ass. I made a rough scale, but again, it doesn’t account for time drift caused by leap days and of course time zones:

Aetheri uses what’s essentially military time; as above, 1 Aetherian hour (hurra) is 1.2 Earth hours, so there’s some drift over the course of the day between the two time scales. I suppose this will only matter in the actual comic when you consider that Ardh is about two hours behind Aetheri, so i.e. 0800 hours in Ardh is about 0900 hours in Aetheri, but say 1800 hours in Ardh is 1700 hours in Aetheri. Hoo.

On the upside, Aetherian clocks are generally pretty easy to read, although they’re often unmarked. Rather than having numbers on them, they usually work by filling bars or circles, and you generally just get a feel for what time it is. Sort of like reading an analog clock, but less exact.

They do usually include the year in the outermost ring, as based on a 100-year century. Beyond that, you’re on your own; you should probably know what millennium it is.

(The date above is something like 12:30:30PM on the 30th day of Winter, 2005.)

So that’s about it! This is one of those technical things I need to have sorted out for when we spend a bit of time in-comic telling stories in both Ardh and Aetheri at the same time. My only other conjecture is this: if spirits’ idea of a base unit of time is worth two of our own (two seconds that is) then I wonder if that would affect the way they perceive speed in music? If their idea of a ‘beat’ is twice as long as ours, does our ‘average’ tempo music sound very fast to a spirit?

Maybe! I don’t know. That’s a question for anyone with any kind of musical theory knowledge to answer.

Thanks for being patient with me y’all! It’s been rough times. And thanks for reading!

[beyondthetemples]

{{ Longest Dove profile ever

Long story short, I filled out the first half of that in-depth character sheet back in 2011. I was in the process of filling out the rest when I lost the link, and then the site originally hosting the sheet stopped working. But I just found a copy today! So I’m posting what I have (from 2011, so don’t mind the stylistic regression)... and I’ll be gradually filling out the rest.

[watchilove]

The UR-100 takes us on a journey through both time and space, two concepts at the very core of URWERK. Using its orbiting satellite hours and minute hands, the UR-100 displays both time (hours and minutes) and space (distance travelled), merging these two concepts in the creation of the all-new UR-100 SpaceTime.

The UR-100 SpaceTime features URWERK’s iconic orbital hour satellites, differing however in one significant way. Rather than the red-arrow-tipped minute pointers on the hour satellites disappearing after 60 minutes when replaced by the next, the UR-100 minute arrow passes beneath and between subsidiary dials, reappearing to display intriguing new astronomical indications: distance travelled on Earth and distance travelled by Earth.

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

Distance travelled on Earth

The first indicator at 10 o’clock evaluates the distance in kilometers that we have travelled on the Earth without even leaving our desks! It is based on the average speed of the rotation of the Earth on its axis at the equator, covering a distance of 555 km every 20 minutes.

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

Distance travelled by the Earth around the sun

Directly opposite at 2 o’clock, the same hand (well it looks like the same hand, but is actually one of three) continues its journey to another celestial indication featuring the distance the Earth has travelled in its orbit around the sun – a journey spanning some 35,740 km every 20 minutes.

The UR-100 simultaneously presents three different space-time realities, providing a thought-provoking reminder of our voyage through time and space.

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

“For me, watches have a philosophical dimension. They are a physical and abstract reproduction of our situation on Earth, with the dial representing the equator, simultaneously in constant motion while seemingly stationary for us,” says Martin Frei, chief designer and co-founder of URWERK.

Felix Baumgartner, master watchmaker and the other co-founder of URWERK agrees: “We live in a universe governed by three dimensions — time, rotation, and orbit — that we attempt to measure and master, but what escapes us is this notion of spacetime.”

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

Calibre 12.01

Powering the UR-100 SpaceTime is the automatic Caliber 12.01, with baseplates in ARCAP and a power reserve of 48 hours. The automatic winding rotor is regulated by a flat turbine, the Windfäng (Swiss German for “air trap”) that minimizes shocks to the rotor bearing and reduces over-winding and wear and tear. The rotor, which is partially supported on its periphery by the flat turbine, also has a larger diameter, resulting in a lower mass and therefore less wear.

In-house testing of the flat turbine rotor regulation system found that it provided significant and exponential protection against excessive rotor speeds (the Windfänger rotates six times for every rotation of the winding rotor).

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

The design and construction of the URWERK Caliber 12.01 required incredibly high precision because of the extremely tight tolerances between the minute hand and three different dials and domed sapphire crystal it passes between.

The shape of the case may remind URWERK aficionados of the aesthetics of the brand’s early watches. As Martin Frei explains, “Towards the end of the 90’s, we unveiled the UR-101 and UR-102, the UR-100 is a little like our ‘Back to the Future.’ We broke down our approach and used some of the original design elements of our early constructions. The case of the UR-100 is a deconstruction of an early URWERK case. The steel dome of our historic models is reproduced in sapphire crystal. The form is emphasized by the titanium and steel case. I constantly question the diktat of symmetry and played with proportions to catch the eye.”

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

Genesis

The URWERK UR-100 was inspired by a nineteenth-century pendulum clock — a present to Felix Baumgartner from his father Geri, a now-retired renowned clock restorer — made by Gustave Sandoz for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.

The regulator-style dial does not show time. Instead it shows the distance of the Earth’s rotation at the equator. The extra-long pendulum beats every 2.16 seconds, making every oscillation one kilometer. The main dial has a scale of 10,000 kilometers, shown in units of 100 kilometers, so that each tick (half oscillation) indicates 500 meters traveled on the Earth’s surface (at the equator). The top subdial (10 km) is divided into 10 units, while the lower subdial showing a total of 40,000 km — approximately the equatorial circumference of the Earth — is divided into increments of 1,000 km.

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

Urwerk UR-100 SpaceTime Technical Specifications

URWERK presents two introductory editions: the UR-100 Iron (titanium and steel) and the UR-100 Black (titanium and steel with black PVD), both limited to 25 pieces.

Movement

Calibre: UR 12.01 with self-winding system governed by low-profile planetary turbine minimizing over-winding and wear

Jewels: 39

Frequency: 28,800 vph – 4Hz

Power reserve: 48 hours

Materials: Orbital satellite hours turning on Geneva crosses in beryllium bronze; open-worked aluminum carousel; triple baseplates in ARCAP

Finishes: Circular graining, sanding, brushing

Chamfered screw heads

Hour and minute indications in Super-LumiNova

Indications

Orbital hours; minutes, distance travelled on Earth’s equator in 20 minutes, distance Earth travels around the sun in 20 minutes

Case

Materials: Case in black PVD-coated titanium and stainless steel

Dimensions: Width 41.0 mm, length: 49.7 mm, thickness: 14.0 mm

Glass: Sapphire crystal

Water resistance: Pressure tested to 3ATM (30m)

Price CHF 48,000 (Swiss francs / tax not included)

ABOUT URWERK

“We don’t try to bring out yet another new version of existing complicated mechanisms,” explains watchmaker Felix Baumgartner, co-founder of URWERK. “Our watches are unique because they are all designed as original works, which makes them rare and priceless. Our main aim is to go beyond the traditional horizons of watchmaking.” The original styling of each URWERK model is signed by chief designer Martin Frei, the company’s other co-founder. “I come from a background where creativeness has no limits. I am in no way prisoner of the traditional constraints of watchmaking, and I can therefore be freely inspired by my cultural heritage.”

Felix Baumgartner, a watchmaker like his father and grandfather, has time running through his veins. A graduate of the Solothurn watchmaking school, Felix learned the secret language of minute repeaters, tourbillons, and perpetual calendars at his father’s bench. Martin Frei is the artistic counterpart to his partner’s technical expertise. Accepted into Lucerne’s college of art and design in 1987, Martin delved into every form of visual artistic expression from painting and sculpture to video, emerging as a mature artist. The two men met by chance and discovered a common fascination with the measurement of time, spending hours analyzing the gap between the watches they saw in the shops and the vision of their future creations.

While URWERK is a youthful company established in 1997, it is regarded as a pioneer of the independent watchmaking scene. Producing just 150 watches a year, the company sees itself as an artisanal studio where expertise coexists with avant-garde styling. The company manufactures modern, complicated, and unprecedented watches that are still in keeping with the most demanding criteria of fine watchmaking: independent research, expressive design, advanced materials, and handcrafted finishes.

The name URWERK comes from the ancient city of Ur of the Chaldees in Mesopotamia, founded nearly 6,000 years ago. It is here that the Sumerian inhabitants first established units of time based on the shadows cast by its monuments. “Ur” also means “primeval” or “original” in the German language, while “Werk” can mean either an achievement or a mechanism. Therefore, “Urwerk” can be translated as an original movement — a tribute to generations of watchmakers whose work has resulted in what we know today as haute horlogerie, or superlative watchmaking.

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime Gallery

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime

News: URWERK UR-100 SpaceTime The UR-100 takes us on a journey through both time and space, two concepts at the very core of…

[theamericanprospect-blog1]

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