#warm ocean is a Really good biome. this rules

[ponygirlgamer]

Yo so y'all know about the headcanons of "Jimmy Solidarity was a human but got turned into a toy"? Here's my spin on it.

To start I have a headcanon (that probably works best in an AU) that The Sheriff is just the Codfather but because of the seablings prophecies ("Two ancient sea-dwellers ruled the oceans long before human empires ever stood, each able to communicate with creatures of the sea. But should they ever leave the ocean behind, they are doomed to forget their true selves and their past.") he doesn't remember.

I don't remember is the seablings being gods was canon or just fan canon, but for the sake of the headcanon I want to talk about, let's say they are. (And that they can choose to reincarnate if they wish. That's my very quick explanation for Lizzie being a cat this season.)

Jimmy left the Swamp and went far away from any large bodies of water. And because of the prophecy, we could imply that he forgot himself over the course of time. To help him adjust more to dryer biomes (such as deserts and mesa biomes) he enchanted a piece of blue fabric from extra cloth Scott had back in Rivendale and stitched a little poppy in the corner and wore it like a bandana. The enchantments on the fabric was to help him breathe easily out of water and to hide his more fish like features (gills and fins).

By the time he started Tumble Town, he didn't remember the events of season 1. All he knew was that he had to keep his bandana on and never let his fish features show to anyone.

Now for the "Jimmy was human but with a twist" headcanon.

Joel is the God of Stratos. Stratos has existed for a while now and naturally when he heard rumors about a new empire starting up in the mesa, he just had to check it out. (After all, he did used to rule in the mesa before ascending to godhood.) When he saw the way the new "Sheriff" was dressed, the first thought that came to mind was that the Sheriff is a toy.

Luckily for Jimmy, he could take some of the god's teasing due for to his own hidden godhood.

The headcanons of "Jimmy was human but turned into a toy" imply that just because Joel said he is a toy he becomes a toy. But Joel is not the only god speaking here.

The only thing keeping Jimmy from immediately turning into a toy is him arguing that he isn't one. The lore potions that get thrown on him are simply glamours and he instinctively knows this despite there not really being too much reason as to why he should know a lot about magic.

What does start slowly turning him into one is his acceptance.

Scar genuinely came in with good intentions but in the end it unknowingly does more harm than good. It gets harder to breathe despite wearing his bandana and a good soak in warm water doesn't help with the slight ache that started plaguing his body. Admittedly, it's scaring the Sheriff.

Tango is unfortunately oblivious to the change in this one so without wanting to I have made somewhat Team Rancher angst. I'm going to go cry in a corner now :']

[strawberry-jammers]

A child to protect (pt2)

tommyinnit x child!reader|| things dont go as planned

part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4

“Tommy what is this?” dream asks, looking at the, rightfully, scared boy. “U-uh well-” “you lied to me.” dream says, going into the no longer hidden room. “The only rule was to burn you stuff everytime i came here, yet you kept things from me. Tommy you disobeyed me.”

its 1 am and idk what's going on anymore

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“What, dream come on, did i really disobey you-.” dream cut tommy off again, “yes tommy. Yes you did. I'm blowing this place up, destroying your portal. You'll have to start all over again, and you won't have any access to the nether.” dream moved, placing TNT down. “Come on dream, you don't have to do this. Please dream.” 

“No tommy, you tested me one to many times.” dream lit the TNT. the room and house blowing up slightly. Some of his things didn't get destroyed, so he quickly grabbed, making sure dream didn't notice. 

Dream went around. Destroying everything on sight. Tnret, the portal, the rest of the little area ghostbur made, everything. Once dream left, tommy was left alone with the barren area he once lived. Everyhome he had was destroyed or taken, wasn't it?

Tommy built up. He was tired, he didnt wanna deal with dream anymore.he didnt want to be exiled anymore, he wanted none of this.

Tommy finished his tower, staring out around him. At the ocean, the holes dream created with the explosive, the small hut in the distance-

The small hut. (y/n)! 

Tommy still had his kid, he still had the baby he has been raising for the past months of his life. Dream didn't take everything, for there was one thing he still had, and that was his child.

Tommy looked down, seeing a small yet big enough pond. He jumped down, aiming for the body of water. Splashing, he swam up towards the surface. “Go get (y/n), and then think of a plan later.'' Tommy swam out of the pond, running off towards the hut he had made oh so many months ago.

Bursting threw the door, he saw the baby laying in their crib, crying as they always did when he visited. He'll be able to take care of the baby properly soon.

"Hey (n/n), hey shhh you hungry?" The baby cried still, not understanding what he was saying. Tommy grabbed some of the milk he had stored, and put it in a bottle for the child. "Come here." Tommy picked up the small child, and started to feed them. They seemed to calm down. 

"I'm glad he didn't find you. I don't know what i would've done if he did." When they where done, he took the bottle from (y/n) and sat it down. “Idk what to do now….” the child made sounds as usual. “Let's go on a walk, ill figure something out then.” getting up, he left the hut to walk around the woods a bit. They saw many animals as they walked. Tommy sat down near a tree and let the baby crawl around a bit. Tommy watched them, making sure they were safe. 

(Y/n) crawled around, fascinated with all the animals. They crawled up to a pig, wanting to pet the pink creature. Tommy got up and grabbed the baby, "hey hey, don't touch the pig. pigs are gross. I knew a pig once. Terrible man he was little (f/i)." The baby made grabby hands at the pig. "You really like pigs don't you…." Tommy thought for a moment. He decided to visit technoblade. 

"Okay (y/n), we’re gonna go live somewhere else. I'm gonna make you some warm clothes and pack up!” Tommy went back into the hut, placing down the baby on their crib. “Okay, time to fucking pack. It's really only (y/n)s stuff but whatever.” tommy spent a half hour getting things ready for them to leave. He dressed (y/n) up for the excursion. 

“Alright little (f/i), lets go visit the blade.” the child laughed, thinking he was funny. “Alright then, lets go!” they left the plains biome and headed towards technos house, that's somewhere in the snow.

(y/n) didn't like the trip very much.

“I know it's cold, but we have to get there! (y/n) please don't cry, fuuck, its okay its okay.” (y/n) was very cold, the snow being harsher than Tommy had originally thought it would be. “I know, I know, it's cold, but we’ll get there soon. I hope.” they continued there walk thru the snow. 

It had turned night, and Tommy had finally found technoblades house. (y/n) had calmed down after the snow had stopped falling. Tommy had to constantly run from monsters, making sure none of them hit (y/n).

“Fucling finally!! Took forever to get here.'' Tommy looked around to see if the technoblade wasn't there. He didn't see a nametag, so he had to assume the blade was off doing something else. “Alright, we've made it.'' Tommy opened the door, immediately seeing zombie villagers in boats. “AHHH!” he yelled, (y/n) started crying at the loud yelling. “Sorry sorry.” Tommy quieted down as he looked around the house, and soon started going through the chests to steal things. “Oooo, here (y/n) have a gapple. You can't eat it but you can at least look at it.” the child happily took the pretty fruit, gumming at it happily. “Aaawww you got saliva all over it. Gross.” Tommy says, annoyed. 

“Okay, time to make a home under his house.” The child was paying more attention to the apple than they were to tommy. Tommy huffed, sitting (y/n) down, far away from the zombies, and started to dig down.

He made a nice room for them, enough blocks down so he wouldn't be able to hear them. Tommy climbed back up to grab his baby. “C’mere little (f/i)!” he says, walking up to the small child who was still trying to eat the gapple. They were unsuccessful. He grabbed the child. “Gimme the gapple (y/n).” he says, taking it from them. (y/n) whined slightly, wanting the gapple back. Tommy sighs. “Fine you can have it.” Tommy gives them back the apple. (y/n) laughs happily. He smiles, climbing down the hole to their new home.

“Alright little (f/i), this is our home now!” He sits them near the prime log. “This is the prime log, be very careful it's an important thing.” the child crawls over to it, trying to climb on it. Tommy sees this and puts them on the prime log. “(y/n), ruler of the prime log!” the child laughed, clapping. “(y/n), how does it feel to be so cool?” he asks. They just said incoherent words instead. 

They played around for a bit longer, till the child fell asleep on the log. Tommy picked them up, putting them in their new crib. “Good night (y/n).” he says, going to his own bed to try and sleep for the night. 

This time he actually did.

[favoriteginger]

Empires Worldbuilding

The Empires brainrot is real lately, so here, have some worldbuilding that came to me when I was trying to make angst:

The Empires world is filled with a bunch of different types of nature spirits. These spirits tend to stay in certain areas and tend to do their own thing for the most part, but they are willing to help the people living in the world with certain things if it benefits them in some way. I don't really have any specific ideas for Joel, Pearl, Joey, and Gem, but I have ideas for the rest that I'll go through in some detail. Idk much for the jungle yet, and I'll have to see how Joey's series progresses, but the jungle is full of life, full of growth and death and rebirth, which is why spawn is there, why it still has the bones of an old civilization that is once again starting to be populated by people.

(this one is kinda iffy imo but) the ocean spirits are generally happy with the ocean as it is, but they also kinda desire the ability to change and grow and adapt. When Lizzie comes along and starts setting up the beginnings of her kingdom, the ocean spirits see the opportunity available. They can use the infrastructure that Lizzie has put together to grow and change, in return offering Lizzie citizens to fill her realm and warriors to protect it (the villagers, the axolotl golem, her axolotl knights).

I'm thinking that the spirits can also change people over time too, so as the ocean spirits get closer to Lizzie and help her expand her kingdom, she begins to take on some of the same appearance as her citizens, the ocean spirits sometimes deliberately helping it happen so she can more effectively rule her realm (axolotl Lizzie go brrr). The main spirit in the flower forest is the Overgrown (or maybe it's more a collection of spirits that exists and acts as one being). Katherine settles in the area and is called by the spring, a slightly lesser spirit, to protect the Overgrown and help it prosper. in return, she is able to use some of the bountiful life that springs from the Overgrown, using it to make her kingdom look more beautiful and to forge and maintain peace with the lands around her.

As time goes on and Katherine becomes more familiar with the overgrown, the animals and plants become almost attuned to her. She tends to have flowers and vines woven through her clothes and hair, and it isn't unusual to see her surrounded by various animals while tending to her lands. (I also want to incorporate some sort of faerie type lore into Katherine's area but I'm still working on that)

(warning for mentions of death in the next paragraph or two, for any who want to avoid it. nothing specific, and it's not any of the empires members)

(adapting some ideas a friend had here) The swamp doesn't really have any major spirits inhabiting it, and I'm still figuring out what the ones that do live there are like, but it is full of the spirits of the dead. All of these spirits died at different times and for different reasons, but they were all drawn to the swamp and reside there long after any trace of their previous homes is gone. These spirits don't want much, mainly just company and peace for as much of their eternal lives as possible. When Jimmy first settles in the swamp, it seems to be empty of any sentient life, but as time goes on he begins to see the ghostly forms of people long dead and he begins to be able to hear their voices. The first spirits he's able to fully see are a group of children playing in the water with the cod. As more and more spirits appear to him and he gets to know them, he starts working to help them. He does his best to stay on peaceful or friendly terms with the other kingdoms so his land and the people in it can live in peace.

As time goes on, Jimmy starts to look like part of the swamp in a way. It isn't unusual to see him covered in slime and seaweed after playing with the children in the water, and sometimes he has vines woven into his hair, or a crown made of sticks and mud atop his head.

The spirits of the desert are quiet and unmoving, happy to stay where they are and watch the world change around them. Pix is one of these spirits, though he took a more human form long ago because he was curious about the people living in his land and watching from afar wasn't enough. Now, the people he used to be a part of are long gone, and he's left alone in the remains of their once great empire, watching over the world as it changes and keeping vigil over the other empires, still occasionally venturing out to get a closer look at the surrounding lands, and bringing goods to help them when he does.

Now, Pix is also a dragon (because dragons are fun), and though he exists in his human form more often than not now, he still occasionally stretches his wings to fly over the desert, stirring up sandstorms in his wake. He still burrows under the sand sometimes, looking to nap in the warm dunes, and he still hoards copper and emerald ore, using them to ornament his buildings when he isn't able to ornament himself with the treasures as he once did.

(I gave Scott a bit of a corruption arc because they're fun I guess idk) The mountains tend to be populated by wind spirits, forever moving and forever free. Their main desire is for more land to fly over and explore, and they see a way to achieve that though Scott. They offer him the freedom of the wild mountaintops, away from people and connections that could tie him down and cause him pain. As time goes on and Scott starts to hear them more clearly, they begin to tell him that having too many connections would be bad. According to the spirits, alliances are good, since they would mean that other empires wouldn't encroach on the mountains, but actual close friendships would just trap Scott in obligations and promises and do nothing but hurt him down the road. They tell him to expand the borders of his empire and give himself more space to roam free and do as he wished, as well as provide a buffer between him and the people who could hurt him. (I'm thinking that 3rd life ties into this, and after loosing Jimmy in that series, he's afraid of being hurt in that way again, which is why he listens to the spirits)

As time goes on, Scott becomes more cold, both in personality and physically. He extends nothing more than basic pleasantries to the people around him, maintaining alliances but that's it. His skin grows paler and cold to the touch, and his hair grows lighter, starting to look more like frosted ice than the rich cyan it had been before. His fingers and ears also grow kinda blue at the tips and he finds he's sometimes able to manipulate the flurries of snow falling around him or ride the winds across his growing empire.

Fwhip settles in a plains biome and not long after, he comes across the spirits of the stone and darkness, who tempt him with glowing redstone and promise him all the riches held underground and the power that could come with them. Fwhip, having spent most of his recent time alone in a hardcore world, is maybe a tad bit paranoid, and takes these spirits up on their offer, thinking he can use the riches underground to build himself and his people a beautiful city, and to make armor and weapons and trade offers and alliances to protect himself. However, in agreeing to the deal, he gave the spirits a connection to work with and they began corrupting him, making him treasure the dark deepslate and shining redstone even more, convincing him that the heads he mounted around his base were his citizens and friends, that he had to expand his empire and gain more power, or it would all be taken from him. Over time, the corruption starts to take a physical form, and not just in the land that grows darker as redstone-laced spires emerge from the ground, deepslate making it's way through the grass. Fwhip's eyes begin to take on a red tinge, glowing slightly like the redstone he cherishes so much, and his skin starts to appear grey in patches, matching the darkstone consuming his land.

So yeah, worldbuilding

Feel free to add on or whatever if you want I guess

[script-a-world]

Would it be possible to have an entire planet be one biome? Like a really forest-y planet? What would need to happen to make it possible? Or, what's the fewest number of biomes a planet could have? Thanks for all ur guys's hard work!

Bina:Scientifically possible? There’s no way to know for sure! Can you do it anyways? Absolutely.

Single-biome planets are a common feature in sci-fi (Star Wars does it) so no one will bat an eye if you have single or low-number-of-biome planets. It may not be “realistic,” but there’s a precedent you can take refuge in. 

To go more into detail of what’s probably possible, certain biomes are easily suited for covering the whole planet. Like desert, or ice, or ocean. Stuff that’s just kinda dead and uniform. Biomes that consist of organic life such as jungle or forest planets are harder to make calls for. I mean, just what are the conditions necessary for life to thrive and does the entire planet fit those conditions? Luckily for you, you can just make up plants/animals that can easily survive in the necessary range of temperatures, elevations, or atmospheric conditions that your planet contains as it orbits, spins, or has weather. 

The worlds are your oysters! 

Saphira: I think Venus qualifies? I don't know enough about Venus.

I think the fun part is taking a general biome (forest) and making different parts of the planet different varieties of that biome. Instead of making an ice area tundra, make it a winter's wood. A warm area could be a tropic instead of a sahara. Lots of stuff to play with.  

Also, this will be more interesting if your different biome planets are jump-able, more fun for inhabitants who benefit from diversity. Just a thought.

At the end of the day, the world is your plaything.

Tex: My knee-jerk response would be... No TM. A lot of this depends on the size of a planet, its position relative to a star, starting elements, rotational speed, orbital path (also relative to its nearest star(s)), core activity/composition, magnetic field, and amount of water it has. As a taste of how complex planetary biospheres can get, the Amazon rainforest receives a significant amount of nutrients from the Sahara Desert (NASA). 

After poking the internet some, my response is... Mostly No. Deserts, yes! Forests  - ah, not so much. The whole "Can a plant survive bottled in its own ecosystem for 50 years? " idea doesn't quite scale up, because as noted in the link, many of David Latimer's plants in his terrarium actually died. There's more to a biome than amount of available water - about half the links I've put in the Further Reading section will help to further explain why.

Unfortunately, it's very rare that a single biome can canvass an entire planet, because each biome  (ThoughtCo) performs an important role in the biosphere. A desert planet can be a thing because desert biomes don't rely upon the transportation of water within its system, whereas nearly every other biome does, and with the need for water comes many complications. 

I can't actually say for certain the minimum amount of biomes a planet would require, especially because I don't know the goals that these requirements would need to fulfill. Is it plant life? Is it animal life? Is it the propagation of sapient life? The feasibility of these goals are also highly dependent upon their setting - Earth is different from the Moon is different from Jupiter is different from Pluto. 

To use your example of forests, I will note that a forest is never just a forest. There's multiple layers to the plant life that fulfill different functions, the soil must have a profitable composition and contains its own microbiome, the fauna are adapted to both and fulfill niche roles to help keep the system functioning. You can't just plant a bunch of tall trees and toss in a few ferns and call it a day.

Plants by themselves are never just plants, and are mind-boggling. They can make complex decisions , talk to each other, display cognition, and know when they're being eaten. They're not passive reactors to their environment, and actively shape the world around them to benefit themselves for a myriad of reasons. 

That said, forests need a constant supply of nutrients, and given that plants in general are... very aggressive about how they compete for resources, this makes for a very dynamic and constantly-changing environment. Mint is a good example of an invasive species that performs allelopathy, and is absolutely ruthless about competing for territory (another long-winded and theatrical example ). 

The entire subject of forest pathology covers biotic and abiotic factors in forest health, a sub-field of both forestry and plant pathology that covers such subjects as fungal pathogens and the vector that is insects (you can read more about forest pathology in these  two journals). 

I highly recommend looking at... well, literally anything @botanyshitposts has posted because they will more than pleased to go into detail about how plants Be Like That.

Synth: Tex brought up a lot of good info about how and why a mono-biome planet is a "maybe, but probably No" thing if you want to play by real-world climate rules as we know them. Even a 100% ocean planet would not be a single biome: got your pelagic zone, abyssal zone, neritic zone, benthic zone... Of course this is your planet, like Bina said, and you can make it however you want, real-world logic be damned.

But say you want to have a single-biome planet and have the reasoning behind its existence sound at least a tiny bit plausible. How might that be done? Saphira touched on using different but similar biome types to get a single biome by appearance if not quite definition: "forest" on its own is not a biome. There are boreal forests, deciduous forests, tropical rainforests, temperate rainforests... you get the idea. From space it could pass for a one-biome planet, but down on the ground the differences become clearer. You still get a planet that is All Trees All the Time, but with a variety of vegetation and wildlife that reflects the climate of the inhabited area. 

Looking at a global map of biome types, you can see that a few major influences on where a particular biome can be found are: latitude, elevation, precipitation. Are you familiar with the tree line? It's the point beyond which trees don't grow, and occurs high up on mountains at low latitudes (closer to the equator), and also low down on terrain at high latitudes (closer to the poles). You could choose a biome for your planet and then adjust the terrain to fit. Put some really tall mountains along the equator, and slope the land steadily downward as it nears the polar regions. Tweak the major air and ocean currents to bring warmer or cooler temperatures -- and more or less rain/snow/etc. -- to places that would otherwise experience the opposite. You can sort of see this on the map linked above, with how the location of "temperate broadleaf forest" roughly follows the path of the atmospheric Jet Stream carrying warm air from the midwest grasslands and prairies, and the flow of the oceanic Gulf Stream bringing warm water up from the Gulf of Mexico, keeping northern Europe much warmer in winter than it would be otherwise.Further Reading from Tex:

Previous Script-A-World answers

100% ocean planetPlanet with different amounts of gravitySnowy beachesCreating a forest biome

Others

PDF - Mechanisms of plant competition for nutrients, water and light  by Joseph M. Craine and Ray DybzinskiMultiple soil nutrient competition between plants, microbes, and mineral surfaces: Model development, parameterization, and example applications in several tropical forestsby Q Zhu et al.Plant-plant competition outcomes are modulated by plant effects on the soil bacterial community by S. Hortal et al.Atmospheric circulation (effect of wind on climate, and thus biomes)Biogeochemical cycleCarbon cycleSoil Respiration Wikipedia; ScienceDirect; USDA PDFEffect of Sun angle on climateGreenhouse effectWeather and climateOutline of meteorologyMicroclimateSolar cycleEcosystem

[megacircuit9universe]

The Fermi Orthodox

On it’s most fundamental level, life is just chemistry.  And on chemistry’s most fundamental level... it’s just physics... the rules of which are the same everywhere in the universe.

Given what we know about physics and chemistry... and given the fact that here on Earth, they gave rise to biology... before our planet’s crust had even fully cooled... it’s a no-brainer that life is everywhere in the universe... and automatically forms wherever the conditions will allow.

...at least microscopic life, in the form of single celled microbes... or, so called, prokaryotes.

We can assume that prokaryotic, or single celled life forms are constantly popping up everywhere in the universe, every second of every day... but they will only survive, and undergo evolution in places that are somewhat stable... 

...places that have a wealth of hydrocarbons for building blocks, and a steady supply of energy... and that can shield the microbes from UV radiation, and radioactive decay.

...Which means, places with magnetic fields to deflect cosmic and solar radiation... and atmospheres or oceans to filter out UV rays... along with not too much naturally occurring uranium on the surface. 

A fluid medium is also necessary for life... like liquid water... a medium that allows life forms to... move and grow.  This means the temperature has to be relatively constant... within a narrow margin... for eons at a time.

These are the basic requirements for single celled life, but as we know from observation and direct robotic research throughout our own little solar system, a lot of places wind up being totally sterile... such as the Moon.

We think life may have been possible on Venus, and Mars in the past... but if so, only for a limited period of time before the former became too hot, and the latter became too cold.

We think it’s possible there could be microbial life hiding further out in the solar system... but have zero evidence of it.

When we look further out... to the billions of stars in our galaxy, and the billions of galaxies beyond our own... we cannot hope to detect, with current technology, any sign of microbial life around other suns... though we can assume it must exist.

The bigger question is... how often does it happen that prokaryotic, or single celled life... make the next step to eukaryotic, or multi-cellular life?

On Earth, that big step took 1.7 billion years to happen... and it only happened once.

In other words, it was a random accident.

Now, while we can assume that prokaryotic life will arise automatically wherever it is possible in the universe... we have to assume that it cannot advance to eukaryotic life unless it’s allowed to thrive unhindered for well over a billion years... that being the order of time required for the odds to even out and produce a random eukaryote.

However, once the happy accident of eukaryotic life happens, in a given cosmic biome, it’s a huge advantage, and will probably maintain a hold, multi-cellular life being... the only path to complex, but much richer forms of life like... plants.

So, out there in the universe, around the billion billion suns we can see, many planets host microbial life, and a small subset of them host actual plant life... primitive forest planets of some kind... maybe even with some primitive animal life in the form of worms.

But for animal life as we know it... swimming fish, flying insects, crawling lizards, etc... a planet needs more than just water... more than just an atmosphere and a protective magnetosphere... it needs a stable axis and a reasonable rotation rate.

Tidal lock is a big problem for planets orbiting stars... settling into an orbit where one half of the planet always faces the sun, getting baked, while the other half is always facing away... forever frozen.

Too quick of a spin is a different problem, leading to endlessly high winds, which hinder large size animals from evolving anywhere but the very deep sea.

When we’re talking about several billion years of stability, in terms of axis and spin, in order to allow for large animals to thrive... there is just no way for a planet to provide that... without a large moon.

Our Moon is, for the Earth, what a long balancing pole is to a tight rope walker. It allows the Earth to maintain it’s reliable axial tilt throughout the billions of years... thanks to it’s hefty mass, and gravitational pull.

And the Moon also acts like a brake on the speed of Earth’s spin.

Without it, we would be spinning a hell of a lot faster, and not slowing down appreciably in the life of the solar system.

Both feats... braking our spin, and stabilizing our axial tilt, are done by the Moon thanks to the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum, and the fact that the Moon is bound up with the Earth in the same system of total angular momentum.

Thus, it is reasonable to assume, any planet which has large scale, land dwelling, animal life... must be part of a, double planetary system, to put it bluntly.

These kinds of planets are rare indeed, but intelligence, as we understand it, will probably arise on all of them... at least in the form of really smart whales, and really smart birds, and really smart monkeys.

It is only on some small subset of these rare planets, where we can expect to find intelligent creatures capable of math, science, and engineering... with most of them stuck in the bow and arrow era, building grass huts and stone temples, maybe playing with static electricity.

Even on our own planet, we still have uncontacted peoples in the Amazon rain forest, and on islands like North Sentinel Island, who thrive with only bows and arrows... but have completely lost the technology of fire.

One would assume their roaming ancestors, who settled in those places, did have both fire, and bows and arrows... but in these particular spots on Earth... fire wasn’t necessary for survival and so, was lost forever.

This way, could, in time, go the entire human race, if you give it one good global catastrophe, such as global warming, or a nuclear disaster.

When we look out there to the stars, what we’re looking for is the signs of at least a radio capable civilization, like we are right now... if not a space faring civilization searching for beings like us.

...and yet... we have seen no sign of it out there.

Not the slightest radio blip, or other visual evidence anywhere in the sky.

This does confirm how incredibly rare it is, for being such as ourselves, to evolve and attain the technological level that we have... such that it perhaps happens only once in a galaxy... and only for a few decades at most on the one planet in each galaxy.

How then, do we square this with the near to home evidence that extra terrestrials are here in a big way?

Where the fuck did they come from?  And why can we not see the evidence of their home world out there?

There is only a certain window of time for any intelligent life to have arisen, bounded by the epoch after which dying stars had produced and exploded enough carbon and other higher elements into the universe for planets to form out of the stuff and give rise to life.

This means that any space faring aliens in the universe could only have about a hundred million year edge on us at best.

And if they arose in our own galaxy, then today, we would easily be able to see the radio and TV transmissions coming from their home world just after they invented radio and TV for themselves... still spreading out into space... unable to be concealed without concealing all other radio range signals out there, which is not the case.

But, we see nothing. 

Thus, the aliens visiting Earth today, must not be from our galaxy.

Thus... they must have FTL travel (because it’s the only way they could have gotten to us now from so far away).

Also, they must have some form of communication that doesn’t involve broadcasting electromagnetic waves out in every direction... like some very laser focused transmission, or, who knows?.. quantum entanglement?

Whatever the case, they are waaaay more advanced than we can imagine, in terms of technology, and their understanding of physics.  And that would, in turn, explain how they found us, and why they don’t seem to really care about making themselves known.

They long ago conquered their home galaxy... cloaking it in the process, from eyes such as ours.

Indeed, our astronomers now tell us of the Bootes Void... an impossibly large section of intergalactic space which is... conspicuously empty.  

For them to have conquered and cloaked such an impossibly huge expanse of galaxies... would have taken the full billion year lead they could have had on us, in evolutionary terms... but would also mean that they are probably now, just observing us as wildlife on the fringe of their eternal empire... just taking notes and musing about the silly little details of our street lamps, coal burning power stations, little cars and fighter jets, and little teeny satellites in low Earth orbit.

They probably think we’re adorable... if not hostile.

Do they care if we destroy ourselves?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

But our little world... not just in the outskirts of the Milky Way... but in the extreme outskirts of the Bootes Giga-Empire... will go down as one of a trillion similar studies in their great library.. of shit-kicking civilizations around the universe that, once upon a time, had some radio, and some nukes, LOL.

[sherristockman]

What Is Aloe Vera Good For? Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola When you think of aloe vera, you may remember it as a spiky plant with tiny spines along both sides of the thick, variegated leaves that fan out from their base. A succulent plant that grows wild in tropical regions, including the warmest areas and arguably thousands of households across the U.S., aloe vera has had a plethora of uses for thousands of years, both medicinal and nutritional. A blog called Biomed Central notes: "Such extensive human use of aloe vera is nothing new; historical sources suggest aloe vera trade routes were well-established in the Red Sea and Mediterranean regions as far back as the 4th century B.C … Over 500 species of aloes exist, spread over Africa, the Middle East and various Indian Ocean islands."1 Part of its popularity is that it's a striking plant to look at, but the gel inside the leaves also has strong healing capabilities for a number of maladies and conditions. In fact, the gel could easily remedy many of the problems thousands of people purchase creams and lotions for, purportedly containing extracts from the aloe vera plant, but often containing only a fraction of the healing power available from the genuine article. Aloe vera's commercial success, for cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food use worldwide, is estimated to be somewhere around $13 billion annually. As Medical News Today reveals: "Aloe vera contains various powerful antioxidant compounds. Some of these compounds can help inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria … Aloe vera definitely has some unique therapeutic properties, especially when applied as an ointment for the skin and gums."2 Where Does the Healing Come From? It's the gel inside the leaves that contain the highest levels of bioactivity, but here's what's really amazing, according to holistic nutritionist and author Laura Dawn, who launched Happy and Raw:3 aloe vera's got you covered at least eight different ways, as it's: ✓ Disinfectant ✓ Antibiotic ✓ Antimicrobial ✓ Antiseptic ✓ Antibacterial ✓ Germicidal ✓ Antiviral ✓ Antifungal These capabilities come from aloe vera's many compounds and phytonutrients, such as vitamins A, C and E, choline, folic acid, and B1, B2, B12 and B3 (niacin). Minerals include selenium, zinc, calcium, iron, copper, manganese, potassium, magnesium and chromium. You'll also find high amounts of: Polyphenol antioxidants — These help combat free radicals, which contribute to disease, infections and hasten the aging process.4 Fatty acids — Aloe contains plant sterols, which are valuable fatty acids, including campesterol and B-sitosterol, as well as linoleic, linolenic, myristic, caprylic, oleic, palmitic and stearic acids.5 Amino acids — There are about 22 amino acids, called the "building blocks of protein," that are necessary for your body, and aloe vera contains 18 to 20 of them, including all eight of those considered essential for human health. One study shows aloe vera contains 75 potentially active compounds, including lignin, saponins and salicylic acids and amino acids, 12 anthraquinones, which are phenolic compounds traditionally known as laxatives. It also provides campesterol, β-sisosterol and lupeol, and the hormones auxins and gibberellins that help in wound healing and have anti-inflammatory action.6 As an adaptogen, aloe boosts your body's ability to adapt to external changes and increases your ability to deal with stress, be it physical, emotional or environmental. Scientists believe adaptogens balance your system and stimulate your natural defense and adaptive mechanisms, further helping to combat illness and disease. Also: "Aloe alkalizes the body. Disease cannot manifest in an alkaline environment. Most people are living and subsisting on mostly acidic foods. For great health, remember the 80/20 rule — 80 percent alkaline forming foods and 20 percent acidic. Aloe vera is an alkaline forming food. It alkalizes the body, helping to balance overly acidic dietary habits."7 Topical and Internal Benefits of Aloe Vera The first aloe vera-based ointment for sunburn entered the marketplace in 1959, but studies allow that it's effective for first- and second-degree burns. Whether it's a burn, puncture wound, cut, psoriasis8 or bug bites, topically applied aloe vera exerts powerful healing benefits. Aloe's analgesic qualities help with pain relief while preventing and relieving itching as an antipruritic. Being astringent, aloe gel causes body tissues to contract, which helps reduce bleeding from minor abrasions. As an antipyretic, it's used to reduce or prevent fever, and being 99 percent water, it's great for hydrating your skin. Happy and Raw asserts: "Aloe increases the elasticity of the skin making it more flexible through collagen and elastin repair. Aloe is an emollient, helping to soften and soothe the skin. It helps supply oxygen to the skin cells, increasing the strength and synthesis of skin tissue and induces improved blood flow to the skin through capillary dilation."9 The Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry notes that aloe helps the body cleanse itself,10 and a four-study review acknowledged that it could reduce the healing time of burns by as much as nine days in comparison with conventional medicine's remedies.11 In addition, aloe vera: ✓ Reduces dental plaque, kills plaque-forming bacteria and Candida albacans12 ✓ Helps heal and alleviates pain of canker cores13 ✓ Improves cardiovascular health as beta sitosterol helps optimize cholesterol ✓ Aids digestion; reduces constipation due to the compound aloin, or barbaloin14 ✓ Lowers blood sugar levels15 ✓ Reduces inflammation ✓ Helps detoxify your body ✓ Boosts your immune system due to polysaccharides ✓ May improve skin, increase collagen production16 and alleviate wrinkles From all the above advantages from using aloe vera, weight loss is considered to be a secondary benefit simply because things like improved digestion, reduced constipation (aka regularity), detoxification and lowered blood sugar are all related, and have a varied but direct impact on your weight. Growing Aloe Vera Plants for Medicinal (and Other) Use Native to tropical regions, aloe vera plants can grow outdoors even in Northern climates during warm weather. Growing them in the ground is very straightforward. Rather than just plain soil, I would highly recommend adding compost and a layer of wood chips, which improve the soil quality and provide valuable plant nutrients. One thing about growing aloe vera is that it's incredibly easy to do, and the baby plants they produce are so plentiful, you can remove new shoots fairly regularly and pop them into separate pots to give away or fill several window sills with the spiky succulents. They grow faster when their roots aren't crowded, so leave several inches of space in between so they'll grow bigger faster. It's probably no surprise that these plants love bright light, but especially if they're in a pot, allowing them to bake in hot sun and high temperatures all day might scorch and kill them. Indirect light is best. If you don't grow it yourself, you can purchase a plant from many health food or grocery stores. Water your aloe plants well, but to keep rot from setting in, allow at least one or two inches of top soil to become completely dry in between waterings. Water less often in the winter. Additionally, when placing aloe vera plants in pots, even tiny plants, the pots must have drainage holes at the bottom. Otherwise they'll eventually become waterlogged and die unless you pick them out, dry the roots for a few days, then place them in dirt again. When a plant gets large enough, you can cut individual leaves off, as close to the ground (or just under the soil level) as you can. Carefully slice off the little spines on each side, slice off two or three inches (or as much as you need), then cut through the flat side of the leaf to expose and scrape off the gel for use as a cooling aftershave lotion or sunburn remedy. In fact, fresh gel from an aloe plant (rather than an aloe product) is one of the best remedies for sunburn. You can even slice open the leaves and open like a book to lay the exposed gel directly on skin needing its healing properties. For a refreshing drink, place a few teaspoons of the gel (not the skin) in a small glass bowl and use a hand mixer or high-speed blender for several seconds, then add a bit of fresh lime juice. Products Containing Aloe Vera (or Claiming to) Not Always What They Claim It's already been mentioned that the most potent way to get the effects of aloe vera is to use the plant itself, not some product containing percentages along with a lot of other stuff, including chemicals. There is such a thing as certification by the International Aloe Science Council (IASC), which was created in the early 1980s due to rampant abuse in the representation of many different consumer products claiming to contain at least a percentage, but many did not. There are still "wannabe" (aka scam) products with zero aloe content out there hoping for a corner of the market. In addition, Happy and Raw includes a paragraph addressing intake precautions: "This plant is incredibly medicinal, yet there are some cautions against long-term use. Just because a little is beneficial, doesn't mean that a lot is more beneficial. This is an incredibly potent plant and should be used with a level of respect for its potency. Long-term use can lead to loss of electrolytes, especially potassium. Tip: Avoid taking aloe internally during pregnancy, menstruation, if you have hemorrhoids or degeneration of the liver and gall bladder."17 If you don't currently have an aloe vera plant in your home, you may find having one helpful for many of the problems listed above, or to try it as a fresh, healthy drink.