Leaf blower revolution unique leaves
LeafBlowerRevolution
2020.12.12 00:49 LeafBlowerRevolution
A place for fans of "Leaf Blower Revolution - Idle Game"
2021.04.25 18:50 HappyAsianCat Leaf Blower Revolution The Idle Game Fans
For fans & players of the Steam idle game Leaf Blower Revolution. This subreddit is a work in progress so please keep that in mind.
2023.06.08 23:22 akelseyreich Korok Art
| I’ve been creating my own koroks. Used pressed leaves for some and looking forward to making use of some oak leaf varieties. submitted by akelseyreich to TOTK [link] [comments] |
2023.06.08 23:16 PM_ME_YOUR_ROBOTGIRL Character Database: The Aeons, Part 2 (VERY LONG)
| Please read Part 1 here if you haven't. This was meant to come yesterday, but then Limbus Chapter 4 Part 2 grabbed me by the balls. IX  The Nihility. An extremely passive Aeon that believes everything is worthless, everything about them is a total mystery. Those that approach its divine body, if they even find the coordinates, disappear. Simulated Universe implies that approaching, maybe even thinking about IX, induces apathy and mental breakdowns. IX ultimately represents nothingness - the dark side of the Universe that completes its balance, providing non-existence to existence. Aha once helped the Annihilation Gang try to assassinate it as a joke, but it unsurprisingly ended in failure after the Elation-enhanced Gang members vanished when approaching their coordinates. IX is the roman numeral for nine. WOW. It's almost certainly meant to be read as "nine", because of the way Device IX's name is structured. I looked for the potential significance of this number but like, nine being a number within the base 10 system we love so much basically means every culture in the universe sees it as significant. Followers \"Those running away from the past think no one understands their despair. When they finally take a breather, they'll find their future selves staring right at them with bloodshot eyes.\" Those who manage to share their mentality with IX sometimes earn a glance from them. When this happens, those who fall into despair have their physical bodies self-destruct and become something called a Self-Annihilator, made out of "true nothing". Interestingly, though this initially appears to be a grim fate, Self-Annihilators are somehow still alive and capable of thinking, and it seems implied they can revert to their original forms if they regain hope. Those, however, who remain steadfast in their beliefs become Doctors of Chaos, who are convinced they can 'heal' IX and make it see value in the universe. They do so by going around the universe preaching that you can derive meaning from it and doing crazy actions in the hopes of inspiring those around them. They also have a hobby of trying to cure Self-Annihilators, and they're pretty good at it. Device IX is the third Nihility faction, which is so mysterious its existence is straight up questionable. It's alleged to exist in the voids underneath all Reality. The only thing that can really be traced back to them is the "dark web" which allows for the trade of rare and illegal items, and probably other things as well. Qlipoth Let the fire that forged the bricks and the ones that laid the wall's foundations be known! The Preservation, known as the Firmament Arbiter by the Xianzhou. Their divine corpus is so huge, it has planets orbiting it. Qlipoth, at one point, was alerted to the "catastrophe of the Finality" and to prevent it, became building a large wall known as the Subspace Crystalline Barrier which isolates worlds from one another (or at least that's the IPC's narrative). They also built the Celestial Comet Wall and the Great Attractor Base, but we don't know what those are for yet. Qlipoth is very ancient, being a veteran from the Dusk Wars that resulted in the disappearance of all Leviathans. The IPC claims that the Dusk Wars and the Leviathan race ended as soon as Qlipoth ascended, but this doesn't appear to be the case. Furthermore, the IPC also maintains that Qlipoth is the first ever Aeon, which also doesn't appear to be the case (Oroboros says hi) Whenever Qlipoth strikes their hammer, the Subspace Crystalline Barrier expands, and the IPC has used this as a way of marking time in "Amber Eras", one for each hammer strike. However, the hammer strikes are inconsistent, so how long each AE lasts is different. That makes AEs a terrible way of keeping track of time, but everyone just accepts it anyway because the IPC is obsessed and arguing with the IPC is a really easy way to get on their bad side, which no one wants. On the side, most civilizations use their own timekeeping systems which are generally more accurate. In any case, it's currently 2158 AE, with 0 AE going all the way back to the "end" of the Dusk Wars, and 0-180 AE being a 'dark spot' with few historical records. The IPC's official stance is that there just isn't much information, but it seems more likely that they're withholding records from that time period, which would indicate something about it makes them or Qlipoth look bad. The Qliphoth is basically the "evil version" of the Kabbalistic Sefirot, the emanations through which the spirit of God reveals itself. That probably doesn't matter though, because most likely they chose it for the fact that the hebrew name קְלִיפּוֹת literally means 'shell'. Followers \"Seriously, out of everyone who had faced an Aeon, that old man was the calmest I've seen. Even Screwllum's gears squeaked when he saw Nous...\" When mortals first became aware of Qlipoth's wall, there were two reactions - the first was to imitate Qlipoth, going around the universe building stuff, and the other was to help them. The former became the Architects, who travel the universe building stuff and helping protect other civilizations. They were the ones who made Belobog's wall, core, and Engines of Creation. They must receive some implicit endorsement from Qlipoth, because they're able to tap into the Preservation's power to build their things. Generally, most people view the Architects as stubborn, but those protected by their abilities are eternally grateful and even join them. The other... So, a bunch of people, including geniuses Louis Fleming and Dongfang Qixing, decided to accrue a large number of construction materials to give to Qlipoth. They did this through trade, but quickly realized that in order to get what they needed, they'd have to specialize in more than just construction materials. Louis Fleming and Dongfang Qixing utilized their expertise to scam and trick establish trade deals and routes with other civilizations, until they had amassed a vast network of trade with themselves as the intermediaries. In 1388 AE, Louis Fleming and Dongfang Qixing decided to take things one step further and founded the Interastral Peace Corporation (IPC) together, and established an universal currency (credits) that facilitated trade between species, getting rid of themselves as the middleman and also making themselves fabulously wealthy in the process. The IPC integrated themselves into the economy of various civilizations, ruining those who refused to work with the IPC or utilize credits. As a result of this, the IPC became the most powerful entity in the universe and are very close to being its de-facto rulers - they display deference to only a handful of entities (such as the Genius Society), and even then only because they're too insular (and oftentimes protected by an Aeon) and useful to be manipulated or "coerced" into cooperating. Almost all transaction and trade in the universe is done with the oversight of the IPC and many, many civilizations rely on them for an economical backbone. They sponsor the creation of new inventions, research that benefits them, and produce their own products while also facilitating the sales of others'. They don't merely preside over trade, they may as well own half the universe. Again, if you cut ties with the IPC, you also lose access to these things. Safe to say, no matter how awful or inconvenient the IPC may get, going against them is simply not an option for all but the most privileged or stubborn few, and those arrogant enough to try anyway will learn the errors of their ways very quickly. Because the IPC is obsessed with the Preservation, it makes it very hard for anyone to actually study Qlipoth or go against them. Qlipoth appears to, on some level, approve of what they're doing, since an unknown Emanator of Preservation appeared in the IPC some time ago. However, they don't make use of the vast industrial quantities of construction materials piled up in the planets orbiting them that the IPC provided at all, so in a sense, what they're doing is actually pretty useless. But still, the IPC is fueled by absolute faith to their Aeon. Yaoshi  The Abundance. Known by the Xianzhou Alliance hunters as the Plagues Author, and by the Xianzhou faithful as Sanctus Medicus. If we assume that Denizens of Abundance cannot exist without Yaoshi, then they're at minimum ~6900 (nice) years old, and possibly much, much older - the earliest Denizens of Abundance we can date having encountered the Xianzhou at 1200 SC. Yaoshi's primary goal is the extension and continuous growth of life in the universe. The lightcone Cornucopia implies that Yaoshi views life as a form of order, which opposes the chaos of death and the early universe. To achieve this, they 'bless' life in certain worlds, causing the sapient inhabitants to become Denizens of Abundance and also causing an outgrowth of powerful and equally long lived plant and animal life alike. Those blessings generally come in the form of great, immortal trees, whose fruit can grant long life. In general, Yaoshi prioritizes worlds and individuals who are experiencing great suffering and hardship. Yaoshi is the mortal enemy of Lan, although it's hard to say if the feelings are mutual. Yaoshi will never rest until all beings in the universe know the blessing of life, and Lan will never rest until Yaoshi has been killed in the final and greatest hunt. Yet, the cycle goes on for eternity. Yaoshi is a reference to the Chinese name of a Buddha called Bhaiṣajyaguru, which is a Buddha most commonly associated with healing and medicine, and is also pretty important, being up there with Shakyamuni (aka THE Buddha). He's a doctor who vowed to rid the world of pain and suffering. So yeah, makes sense. Followers \"The mercy of Sanctus Medicus, the Ambrosial Arbor's new growth. Disciples shall attain enlightenment together.\" Those blessed by Yaoshi gain remarkable biology - their cells and biological systems are placed in a state of perfect equilibrium, made possible through the ability for their cells to freely convert between differentiated cells and stem cells (builder cells, which can turn into any other kind of cell). This gives them the ability to effectively, live forever, as well as an extremely powerful healing factor. Though it does not altogether prevent death, it does allow for things such the regrowth of lost limbs and organs. The unfortunate fact of this arrangement is that the body when it is born provides a 'blueprint' for the blessing, making those born with congenital defects forever unable to correct them with surgery - the body will simply "heal" the "damage". However, there is another aspect to Yaoshi's blessing - upon fulfilling certain conditions, blessed individuals have a marked shift in biology, causing a form of 'evolution' that fundamentally alters their biology. This can fix things such as congenital defects but also essentially puts cells into overdrive, exacerbating existing biological processes of the species (such as molting for reptilian beings) and potentially causing insanity. For the Xianzhou natives, this is known as being 'stricken with mara'. Those who manage to survive the process with intelligence become known as the Denizens of Abundance who go around singing praises of Yaoshi. However, Yaoshi's blessing also causes fundamental deficits that force those long-life species into either constant suffering or constant conquest in other to offset these setbacks (such as the borisin's implied necessity to take over other worlds to house the hives necessary to create their biotechnology). The Denizens of Abundance love Yaoshi for making their lives "better", and are thus the sworn enemies of the Xianzhou Alliance, which also hates them and are seen (naturally) as blasphemers. Of course, there are also many civilizations that greatly regret contact with Yaoshi, such as of course, the Xianzhou Alliance. People who know of Yaoshi but are mortal and long for their blessing are known as Elixir Seekers, immortality hunters who go around the universe hoping to meet and be blessed by Yaoshi. Probably the most well-known Elixir Seekers were, indeed, the original Xianzhou fleet, which was sent out by an unnamed emperor into the stars in order to obtain immortality. Funnily, even though they did get it, they never returned to their homeworld. I wonder what it was like? The Disciples of Sanctus Medicus were the internal faction in the Xianzhou that worshipped Yaoshi and actively held contact with them, being led by an Emanator of Abundance named Shuhu. Yaoshi did speak to their disciples as well as other Denizens of Abundance and may have even spoken to the actively hostile Alliance as well, but the specifics of this are mired in legend and mystery, and so Yaoshi's true intentions regarding their followers are unclear. Oroboros The Mariners' Intemperance The Voracity. Wants to eat everything (eats planets), and was a Leviathan, which makes them about as old if not older than Qlipoth. Potentially, they are the only surviving Leviathan. That's about it. We don't know anything else. The Ouroboros is a well-known Western symbol with philosophical and alchemical significance that consists of a dragon or snake eating its own tail. Mostly it represents infinity. It was probably chosen though because Oroboros is the dedicated vore god. Cool! Aha Look upon the courtesans' extravagance. The Elation, known as Joyseeker to the Xianzhou. Hard to tell if it's true, but legend goes that Aha once actually reached the end of the Imaginary Tree. When they did so, they appeared to have gained some sort of advanced perception, and began to view the universe as one huge joke. Perhaps they realized they were made by a video game company? They certainly seem to have some sort of heightened awareness. In any case, though Aha claims and seems to believe that they only wish for others to see the humor in all things, their true purpose as an Aeon is that they serve as a catalyst of change, manipulating reality in extremely minor and undetectable ways until they butterfly effect massive events into happening. Although the displays of their power are minor compared to Qlipoth's massive wall or Lan's planet purging arrows, their effects on the universe far outweigh the others. They owe this success due to their closeness to mortals - unlike most Aeons who barely even bother communicating with others and are by nature mysterious, Aha displays a strong understanding of human society, as a matter of fact, they believe it is the exclusive privilege of intelligent beings to understand joy. This understanding allows them to mess around with people on a far more personal level than other Aeons do, even getting involved with other, separate factions if they believe it's funny enough. They're also especially talkative. Of course, sometimes they decide to be major instead, and do a little bit of trolling. Trolling attempts include blowing up half the Express and an entire planet after hiding out on it for a year disguised as a human (success), helping the Annihilator Gang assassinate IX (failure), trying to get a Noblesse Worm into the Genius Society (failure). And although the latter two appear like failures to us, I'm sure they got great enjoyment out of the bewildered reactions of those observing them. Aha is laughter, obviously, but it could also be a reference to various things including the 1980s Norwegian band, which composed Take on Me. That sounds stupid but that's Aha for you. Followers Well, bye for now. Send my regards to the guys and girls in the tavern. Aha attracted a group of straightforward followers called the Masked Fools that go around the Universe doing a little bit of trolling, though more specifically they act as agents of change that have been responsible for starting riots and revolutions (including a notable one against Rubert I during the Emperor's War), and they're not above violence. They also maintain taverns and other places centered around having fun and doing trolling. Simultaneously, however, they also have a group of *anti-*followers called the Mourning Actors, who instead go around the universe being sad, noting the destruction of worlds and death, encouraging celibacy and abstinence, among other things, in the hopes of opposing the Elation. Aha thinks this is hilarious, and also recognizes tragedy as the flipside of comedy, so they purposefully enhanced them, allowing them to travel the stars. Although the Mourning Actors are mostly ignored by the universe, they possess an uncanny ability for detecting tragedy (probably Aha's fault); they visited Jarilo-VI when it was embroiled in the war against the Antimatter Legion, and they have some use as announcers for when worlds are destroyed or civilizations fall, often being the first to broadcast these events to the universe. Aha makes basically anything and anyone into an Emanator so long as they think it's funny, so it's not really worth noting here. That said, the one Emanator we do know of was a Noblesse Worm that they infused with super-intelligence to see if Nous would accept them into the Genius Society (they would not) Fuli And finally, measure the world against yourself, and take all such things to heart. The Remembrance. Fuli's age's unknown, with records of them being essentially non-existent. Their ultimate goal is to preserve all of the universe's memories in order to facilitate "the rebirth of the universe", and they have the memories of every single living being in the universe, including those of other Aeons. They physically manifest before the occurrence of extremely significant events in the universe's history, and then vanish after obtaining whatever it was they needed from it. When this happens, they appear as a being made out of a mirror-like crystal. Though this has happened many times, their only recorded manifestation was at the end of a speech by the aging Louis Fleming, in his final public appearance. Fuli is named after a deity in the Shenxiao sect of Taoism. English sources for this are basically non-existent - I put the Chinese wikipedia article through DeepL and got the world's most sophisticated word salad and basically all I could gather is that he was the father of some bigshot emperor. Okay. Followers Memes: The DNA of the soul Fuli utilized their power to enhance a specific group of mortals, allowing them to abandon their physical forms and live on as memetic lifeforms ( not internet memes, ideas and behaviors that spread from person to person within a society, though HSR basically uses the term as "things that live in your brain"). This allows them to interact with a being's memories and subjective perception directly. It also allows them to freely travel between worlds without any physical effort on their part, which sure is neat! This faction became known as the Garden of Recollection, with the most active members being the Memokeepers, who preserve the memories of individuals considered significant. They also created Light Cone technology, which allows them to physically manifest and preserve the memory of an individual. Most Memokeepers prefer to keep themselves hidden, disguising themselves and harvesting the memories of others without ever being acknowledged. If a being possesses exceptional memories or qualities such as the Trailblazer, they might choose to manifest and communicate with them directly. Because the Garden of Recollection members are memetic lifeforms, they can only manifest to people who know about Fuli, the Remembrance, or associated concepts. If you literally don't know anything, you're inaccessible to them. After all, these spicy memes have not been passed on to you. The Garden of Recollection doesn't have just Memokeepers. It seems some members (or defectors?) known as Memosnatchers go around forcefully taking the memories of other individuals, potentially causing amnesia. Because the Messenger calls them "those thieves", it seems they're not looked highly upon by Fuli's other followers. Another faction in the Garden of Recollection that draws the ire of the Memokeepers are the Cremators, extremists who steal memories gathered by others and destroy the ones they consider to be useless and return the important ones. In doing so, they believe themselves to act as a sort of filter or curator for the memories of the Aeon, relieving them of their "burden". The stance of the Garden of Recollection is that every memory has value, so obviously the Cremators aren't seen in a positive light. In any case, the current objective of the Garden of Recollection is preserving the universe against the Destruction, believing that everyone can still live on through memories. Ultimately though, the Garden of Recollection likely existed long before Nanook's ascension, and their greatest goal is to fill Fuli's pure land with memories, which assists Fuli's own ultimate goal... which is unclear to us at the moment. Idrila Listen to the infant in the mirror. The Beauty, known to the Xianzhou as the Wondergazer, and also in some places as Anne Duray. Though mortals superficially interpret them as a god of beauty, Idrila's true nature revolves around the realm of perception - your conscious qualia (sight, smell, taste, etc), your ability to reason, and the values instilled upon you by your own personal circumstances. The intersection of these attributes is what creates the subjective idea of 'beauty'. In other words, beauty exists in the eye of the beholder. Idrila cannot create beauty. Instead, they can manipulate these attributes to embody something that's always going to be beautiful to the observer, independently of their tastes. A memory bubble even implies that Idrila is even capable of granting sapience to unintelligent species, creating the conditions for them to be able to observe 'beauty'. Idrila, essentially, allows beings to "observe" the universe in its purest form. This causes the people exposed to Idrila's power to frequently become intensely obsessed to the point of insanity, and many legends describe those affected by them as committing devastating acts for Idrila's sake - something which gave them a large amount of pleasure. They created civilizations and tore apart people who were in love just by existing. It's probably safe to say that no one knows what Idrila really looked like, but it was always the most beautiful thing they've seen. One day, Idrila just up and disappeared. Adios. The Mirror Holders believe that Idrila 'died' and shattered into many pieces, and could return if those pieces are gathered again. The Knights of Beauty believe that Idrila is still very much alive, just... hiding out somewhere, I guess. I tried to figure out what the name "Idrila" might be derived from, but I couldn't find anything. The Japanese and Chinese characters are phonetic. Anne comes from Anna which comes from the hebrew Hannah which means grace or favor, as in "God graced me with a child". Duray is a significant royal family in France and Scotland which derives from an old French word that means king. So like, King/Queen of Grace I guess. Cool. Followers \"If I win, please admit that Idrila the Beauty is the most beautiful of all!\" - Argenti Among Idrila's followers (of which is implied that there are many of), the most tame are the Knights of Beauty, which run around the universe telling everyone how awesome their Aeon is (kind of a trend). They practice a chivalric code which basically says that you can only be worthy of the Aeon GF if you grind hard everyday to become the greatest gigachad of them all. Because of this, other factions in the universe regard them as not having a whole lot of faith in their Aeon. I mean, if you make your entire dynamic a competition to see which of you is the most deserving of getting your god's attention, you're basically saying that your god would never care about most people, right? Only the best ones. Then again, maybe Idrila really is like that. Idrila, did, however, have more faithful followers, the Mirror Holders, who possess artifacts named Mirrors of Transcendence. These artifacts hold within them some level of Idrila's power, which allows the wielder to project an observer's subjective perception of the most ideal beauty outwards into reality. Usually, the Mirror Holders seem to use this to indoctrinate new people into their thirst cult. A Mirror Bubble implies that the Mirror Holders may also be Emanators, but maybe it's just one person who happens to be both an Emanator of Beauty and a Mirror Holder. Though the Knights of Beauty hold the delusion that their Aeon GF will someday come back, and I guess decide which one among them is the most fabulous, the Mirror Holders have a different perspective. They believe Idrila 'died' because of society developing differing subjective views on beauty, shattering them into pieces. As a result, they work to make sure society has an unified view of aesthetics, while also hunting down the remainder of Idrila's artifacts. They believe these combined factors will allow their god to return, ushering in an age of harmony where everyone is really infatuated with Idrila all the time. I guess that sounds like heaven to them. Tayzzyronth Tayzzyronth... Tayzzy█ronth... Ta█yzzy█ronth... Ta█yzz██y█ronth█... Ta█... █yzzy███ron█th███... The Propagation. Known as the Swarm Author by the Xianzhou and the Imperator Insectorum in some places. Tayzzyronth was a very, very lonely beetle who, after getting fed up with being all alone, appears to have developed the ability to self-duplicate endlessly, ascending into short-lived Aeonhood afterwards. What resulted was one of the most severe catastrophes to affect the universe, the Swarm Disaster. Worlds were invaded and turned into massive hives that to this day are uninhabitable despite the loss of their master. Tayzzyronth's clones slaughtered all living beings in their path, bred endlessly, and moved on to the next world, all in blistering speeds. The scale of destruction was so massive that it actually worried the IPC for maybe the first time since the Emperor's War. Tayzzyronth seemed close to unstoppable and posed a very real risk of destroying the entire universe, when the sheer intensity of their threat caused an incredibly rare occurrence in the universe - multiple Aeons put their personal missions and differences aside and teamed up to get rid of Tayzzyronth once and for all. We don't know the specifics of Tayzzyronth's death, but it involved them being encased in an organic prison, which appears to have deprived the rest of the Swarm of the ability to reproduce. After this, something killed them, which put an end to the Swarm Disaster for good. However, just because Tayzzyronth's dead doesn't mean the Swarm disappeared completely, or that they may never return. The surviving members of the Swarm managed to evolve into different beings, the worlds converted into hives by the Swarm are still to this day impossible to live in, and fragments of the Imperator Insectorum's prison and body still buzz with activity and an energy that makes it very possible they might still return. Even though Tayzzyronth lived for only a tiny amount of time compared to most Aeons, their destructive impact on the universe cannot be understated. After all, it might even be possible that they indirectly led to Nanook's ascension, due to the Swarm's attempted takeover of Adlivun. Tayzzyronth didn't seem to have followers, much less Emanators - it seems their own clones were all they ever needed. I actually feel kinda bad for them. Beetle just wanted a friend. Can You Believe It, just like Idrila this is another name with no real source. Personally, I think it might just be completely made up, perhaps made to sound like something a bug would make. Mythus The Waves as they Enter the Dream The Enigmata. Like Qlipoth and Fuli, Mythus too believes that there is some sort of calamity approaching the universe. Their approach to it, however, is a bit different - the Enigmata sees the obfuscation of the past and of observable facts to create a 'mist of uncertainty' that obscures a 'narrative drive' determining the Universe's fate, which would allow everyone to escape that calamity. Of course, since the Erudition directly wants to observe the Universe and solve it, that would only ensure the opposite, which makes them Mythus' direct enemy. From latin Mythus. Means myth. Comes from Greek μῦθος (muthos), means tale, myth, legend. It's not that deep. Followers To achieve their goal, Mythus appears to random mortals already teetering on the edge of obscurity and 'inspires' them into becoming even crazier than they likely already were. The Riddlers specialize in obfuscating language, whereas Mythus' own personal Emanators, the History Fictionologists, mess with historical records and memories, making certain historical events more confusing, harder to understand, or just straight up inaccessible. The items created by Mythus' followers possess the supernatural ability to directly affect history, even though history is more or less an abstract concept and those are physical items. As such, it can be assumed that Mythus is granting them their power in this way, which makes them one of the more proactive Aeons. HooH The Tipping of the Balance The Equilibrum. They merged their consciousness with the logic of the universe itself, hoping to attain perfect universal equilibrium. While many attempt to outsmart HooH and make things unbalanced in their favor, HooH has already accounted for them, and victory is impossible. Even if something is unbalanced now, it'll become balanced eventually, and HooH's patience is unmatched by any other Aeon. HooH's English name is made up and meant to appear symmetrical, as is the case for HooH's original Chinese name, which is 互. This character means "mutually" or "reciprocally" or "intertwining". It was probably chosen just because it looks symmetrical from the top down, but that last meaning does have the added bonus of fitting with the fact HooH is woven into the fabric of the universe. Followers Long Arm Those who like the cut of HooH's gib become dedicated to balancing the universe, the Arbitrators, who decided they'd try and get rid of extreme binary concepts, placing everything in balance. But because they're mortal, they don't have the great big picture view HooH has, and so they constantly mess up, having to correct their problems in successive "patches". An Arbitrator talks to you when you reach the first Trial of the Equilibrium, and it seems they possess the ability to alter the entire universe in a scale that's incomparable to the followers of other Aeons. It may be because HooH has somehow managed to integrate themselves into the universe much further than any other Aeon has, and that might explain why Aeons tend to be opposed by those with equalizing concepts, and out of control Aeons tend to get the shaft. Think about it. Tayzzyronth was a threat, but several Aeons believe Nanook is already going to destroy the universe. Why don't they team up again and kick their ass if so? Well, because they're balanced about it. Nanook's rate of destruction is slow and easy to counter enough that unlike Tayzzyronth, they can't take over the entire universe in years. Therefore, in a sense, they already have a place in equilibrium. For every planet-destroying campaign that takes centuries, Yaoshi and the Architects have already protected 5 other worlds. There's no need for something, or some one, to push them towards correcting that balance. Ena I only survived because the spirit of \"fuck it we ball\" burned brighter than the \"it's so over\" around me. The Order. An Aeon that was absorbed by Xipe due to conceptual overlap when the latter ascended, which is safe to say, a pretty definitive death (though perhaps some part of Ena lives on through Xipe? I mean, they are a plural Aeon after all) Ena's only known group of followers are the Beyond the Sky Choir, a choir group that made songs praising the Order. When Ena was absorbed, they effectively disappeared, no longer having a god to worship. However, the Choir audience did record some of their performances into special disks, that could only be played with unique Phonographs of Order. The problem is, the last Phonograph was lost during Emperor Rubert 1's campaigns, so nobody can ever listen to them again. As a result, this Path is deader than dead. Maybe the energy's still accessible, but with no Aeon, no followers, and no extant artifacts, it might as well not exist. Ena is a character from the web animation series ENA made by Peruvian artist and animator Joel- wait no. Actually, I don't know where the English translators got the name "Ena" from, but their original name is 太一 or Taiyi, which is the supreme deity of Heaven worshipped during the Chinese Han Dynasty. There's a lot to Taiyi, but I'm just going to ignore all of it because it was probably actually chosen because the name literally means "Great Oneness" or "Great Unity". Long I didn't know what to put here. The Permanence. A Chinese dragon thing, Long died ages ago, but we don't know how. Before they died though, they left descendants in the form of Long's Scions, or the Vidyadhara, which possess the power of the Permanence in their very biology. Because of this, the Vidyadhara have a very peculiar characteristic - when they reach the natural end of their lifespans, they pull a Turritopsis dohrnii and regress back into an infantile stage, effectively making them ageless. Of course, the Vidyadhara that 'reincarnates' loses all memories of their previous self, making the newly reborn Vidyadhara a different individual altogether, though Vidyadhara culture does encourage seeking a greater connection to your past incarnation. It's also possible they might be able to experience some aspects of their previous lives through dreams. Vidyadhara, however, cannot reproduce. This means that their numbers are limited and losses to their population (through unnatural means) are permanent. Frankly as far as I'm concerned, this basically means Vidyadhara extinction is inevitable, as statistically speaking they probably wouldn't be able to avoid dying through accidents or intentional acts forever. Currently the vast majority of Vidyadhara live among the Xianzhou Alliance, and it's rumored that those among them that fulfill certain conditions and pass specific rites can return to the form of a dragon. The High Elder of the Vidyadhara receives strict training in order to one day become the highest among them, the Imbibitor Lunae. Another thing about Vidyadhara. The fact the Permanence's power flows through their cells allows individuals who have harvested Vidyadhara bone marrow to transplant some of that power into their own bodies, provided that they have the right ingredients to reactivate the stem cells. For regular mortals this only results in a short lived burst of power before their immune system destroys the transplanted Vidyadhara cells, resulting in a catastrophic regression that would most likely lead to death for most individuals. However, for long-life species blessed by Yaoshi, Long's power can actually stabilize the explosive evolutionary process... allowing those stricken with mara to retain their sanity. The cost is only a little murder. Long is the Chinese name for the dragon (or specifically the Chinese dragon which is different from the Western perception). WOW! However, dragons do have great significance in Chinese folklore and culture and were worshipped, so this is a fine name. They also have associations with water, which is probably why the Vidyadhara are also associated with water. Terminus The Shapeless Prince The Finality. If we ignore bits of CBT2 that were removed upon release and now exist in a canonical limbo, this Aeon is the one we basically know the least about. I mean sure they've been mentioned more than Oroboros has, but we at least know what Oroboros is, and what their objectives are. Terminus, though? Well, besides the fact that the IPC (and maybe Qlipoth) oppose their goals... we know the name "Terminus" and the Path of "the Finality", and that's it. They encountered Akivili at some point, so they're active somewhere, but that doesn't tell us much. Terminus does appear to share a bit of a concept with an important HI3 character, the Herrscher of Finality, but there doesn't seem to be any direct connection, and finding actual summaries and information on stuff that happens toward the latter half of HI3's story that aren't too short or badly written to be useful is impossible. I'd have to play the game and read all the side-content, and frankly that'd take me weeks, and this post already took a long time to write as it is. So we'll take Terminus for what the game tells us about them, which is nothing. Terminus is the Roman name of a god that presided over boundary stones (his name also refers to those stones), which were meant to mark, you know, boundaries. Like the limits of a region or an area that couldn't really be represented by natural landmarks. Essentially, he was the end of one place and the start of another. Considering that Fuli's lore hints at a cyclical nature to the universe, this is an interesting name. In Chinese, though, their name is different. It's 末王, which literally means "king of the end". Quite the powerful name. And that's the end of the Aeon section. Because the manuscript for the mortal characters hasn't been written, it'll take a while longer to come out. Probably a few weeks. If I end up finishing it too close to the release of the remaining Companion Quests, it'll have to wait until after. submitted by PM_ME_YOUR_ROBOTGIRL to HonkaiStarRail [link] [comments] |
2023.06.08 23:16 Marvynwillames [Excerpt: Dark Heresy The Inquisitor's Handbook] Civilian ships in the Imperium
Most imperial citzens won't ever leave their planets, yet, starships are what allows the Imperium to exist at all, moving megatonnes of recources and people around the stars. Some people ask how in system starships work, this post got some details.
I'm sure the Rogue Trader RPG books got more data on it, but I don't have those.
Common merchant & Commercial Vessels
Broadly speaking, the non-military vessels of the sector are transports. Some only haul cargo, others only passengers, but most carry a mix of the two. All legitimate craft operate under an Imperial charter, granting them the right to fly lawfully between stars. Some charters allow only for travel along specific routes, while others allow for travel anywhere. Many charters date back thousands of years and it is a rare thing for a new charter to be granted. Most vessels operate in fleets, the better to protect each other from raiders (and rival merchants) as well as facilitate cargo loading and unloading.
As in most sectors, Chartist captains dominate the stars of Calixis. Operating without Navigators or Astropaths (luxuries normally affordable only to the military or planetary governments), they rely on carefully maintained star charts to make journeys from point to point. Some of these maps cover paths of relative safety for warp travel and must be followed precisely. This often means extremely circuitous routes, such that a linear path of tens of light years might entail dozens of jumps totalling hundreds of light years of travel. But for some systems, such a route is the only way possible. Often these planets may go generations without a visit if they are especially distant.
Bulk cargo transports
Of the Chartist ships, bulk cargo transports are the most numerous. In Calixis space, Greatholds are the largest, dwarfing all but gargantuan vessels such as Emperor-class battleships or unique monstrosities like the Misericord. Each Greathold can carry enough goods such that offloading takes dozens of months. Almost as large are the Excolati refinery ships which take this a step further and actively process raw materials during the trip, so products such as weapons-grade promethium are ready to deliver on arrival.
When one of these huge vessels arrives at a planet, it is an occasion noted all over the system. While the Misericord is infamous for the bad luck it brings, other arrivals are a cause of celebration and holidays as it means badly needed medicines and foodstuffs as well as new toys and diversions for the local rulers. As the saying goes, when the Governor is happy, everyone else eats better.
Transports
There is a limited demand for pure passenger ships, as most travellers make do with transport ship accommodations. For those who can afford it though, there are several options for connecting the more populous and powerful systems for the nobility and corporate lords. Pilgrim Ships are the more common type, dedicated to taking the faithful to and from planets of spiritual note or allowing them to retrace the steps of the favoured saints
Mixed passenger and cargo transports are the most common type to be found, primarily carrying one while also providing limited space for the other. Sizes range widely, but most are medium level crafts that can service most of the sector depending on their charter type. Short-range system Hoppers and Void Jumpers for example usually operate under low-level Hereditary Charters. They work short-range trading routes between nearby systems, normally only making one or two jumps to reach their destination. Smaller tramp freighters are also widespread, working without regular routes and barely surviving from one job to the next. For Imperial agents, especially those wishing a low profile, these types of ships can be a common means of transportation throughout Calixis.
Other Vessels
While not actual ships, most systems host a variety of other space-born facilities. These include orbiting centres such as planetary monitors and docks, beacon stations, emergency lifehouses and more. Some are as large as small moons and act as the major nexuses of commerce and shipping for a system, while others may be little more than a refitted cargo hold conducting research on the fringes of the system.
System Ships
System ships are just that: lacking warp engines they operate within the system using plasma drives alone. A civilized system might have hundreds working to move cargo and people throughout its space, while lower level planets may only have a handful to support larger transports on their arrival. Most captains look down on these vessels, but they are vital in systems with multiple inhabited planets or stations.
Limpet Boats are small craft carried onboard Greatholds or other gargantuan ships, and are designed to detach once the main craft has reached its destination. Limpets then scurry about transporting cargo, shuttling crew and passengers, and performing other necessary tasks to ensure that the parent ship will be ready for its next journey.
Shuttles and Lighters are another common craft, working only between their home planet and any orbiting vessels. When a new ship arrives to their planet, they blast into space vying for any work to be had. These boats are also useful for fast (but expensive) planetside transport as well.
And then there are the Rogue Traders. Each as eclectic and unique as their master, they can range from one vessel to many. Rogue Traders operate almost as a law unto themselves; with no boundaries except those proscribed in their charter, they roam the edges of the galaxy in search of new worlds to exploit
Catching a Ride
Unless you have access to a dedicated vehicle (perhaps your Inquisitor has a permanent arrangement with a Chartist captain, or even owns his own ship), you will need to manage your own travel arrangements. Most of the time this is a relatively straightforward affair as most planetary docks have procedures to arrange berths on passenger ships. Most transport captains are also willing to take on some passengers and indicate their destinations and rates at the docks as well. If you’re in need of transportation to a location not listed, though, or need arrangements outside the norm (such as expeditious speed, possibly illegal cargo or travel to forbidden worlds) then some serious negotiations will be needed. Having plenty of Thrones or bartering merchandise on your person can aid this process immeasurably.
Most Inquisitorial agents refrain from simply commandeering a vessel on the authority of their rosette, and save that as a last resort to be used only when regular means such as payment, bribery and subtle threats fail. Keeping the negotiations “sub-rosa” helps maintain good working relations with the merchant fleets and helps ensure that the next time you need a ride things go smoothly. It also helps keep them in business and available for you in future endeavours. Indeed, if you treat them well, most captains look forward to your repeat business, thus making life easier for all parties concerned.
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2023.06.08 23:14 neptox_q Compilation of issues I have with Diablo IV.
I'm playing Diablo 4 heavily the past week, and I'm generally having a lot of fun. However, as fun as the game is, it has in my opinion have some problems that hinders it going from
good to
great. Mind you, what I'm writing about is mostly about content you can expect at the later stages of the game (World tier 4, Level 75+)
Maybe I'm alone in a lot of these, but here they go:
- No real reason or incentive besides glyph level to do nightmare dungeons
- Renown feels like a tedious and and annoying way to gain power.
- Not enough build diversity.
- Not having enough interesting uniques to enable more builds to be great.
- Not having nightmare dungeons be the most efficient way to gain both and general gear.
- How clunky a lot of builds feel, especially in regards to resource generation (Barb and necro in particular).
- Necro being straight up the slowest class by a mile for no reason.
- No map overlay. It's a staple in most ARPGs for a reason. Currently im just spam pressing tab and looking at my minimap which feels very off.
- Pressing teleport out of dungeon and ending up in a completely random town where you have no idea where anything is.
- Barricades everywhere. Makes traveling the world more annoying.
- There was a reset dungeon button in the beta, but it was removed for launch. Currently you can just press leave party while in a dungeon to reset it anyways. Either add the button back in, or make it so you cant do that anymore. It just feels like an oversight.
- Affixes on mobs don't feel very balanced. Some of them barely tickle your health while lightning and poison hurt like crazy.
- Pretty bad GUI when mousing over items. It feels like you can fit everything in one line of text if it was cleaned up a bit. Instead it just looks like a huge mess of text on every item.
- Desync issues, especially during movement effects (for instance, if you barb charge, your character doesnt update his position for another half second, so you're still able to get hit by mechanics where you initially started the charge) - i assume its the same for other movement abilities.
- Health globe visuals feel very unclear when you have a lot of active effects (Vuln, potion heal, barrier, low health, fortify) - hard to see my actual health at times.
- Not a fan of the death prevention elixir - devalues hardcore.
- A lot of the materials you gain feel unneccesary, redundant and just kind of .. thrown into the mix without any real care.
- Dungeons with the "slay all" objective feel terrible to do.
- No leaderboard (I know it's coming in season 1, but how come it's not out already?)
- Personally I believe season 1 should've come with launch.
An honorable mention:
- Having the game already "figured out" pre launch with build guides, boss guides and everything in between felt very off to me.
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2023.06.08 23:12 OwnDefinition327 My essay abut BL for English class just got graded lol
The World Of Boy’s Love
Amongst the vast array of genres, BL is, without a doubt, the most outstanding. Boy’s Love or more commonly referred to as BL is a genre that focuses on the romance between two male characters. Unfortunately, however, many view this genre as disgusting and strange due to its unusual nature. If not for this, other minorities mistake it for Yaoi, a genre that focuses on the bedroom relationship between men. Unlike the assumption of many, BL isn’t an inappropriate genre in fact it appeals to its audience with its healthy relationships, understanding fanbase, and its large array of plots.
One of the many reasons for BL’s rising popularity is due to its healthy representation of relationships. In most romances between opposite genders, the male character often feels a need to protect the female character. While this can be seen as sweet and romantic it can also be interpreted to suggest that the female character is inferior to her partner. In contrast to this, due to the BL genre consisting of men, no one feels the need to protect the other depicting the equality in their relationship. Unlike traditional heterosexual relationships, seeing a relationship where both partners don’t feel the need to protect the other highlights the respect they have for each other. It is this aspect of BL that causes so many of its fans to enjoy it. Furthermore, the couples in BL are commonly depicted to have similar struggles and interests. One instance of this can be found in a BL anime called “Given”. Here, the two love interests share a similar passion for music. Additionally, in another anime called “Sk8 The Infinity” both characters are seen to act direct toward each other and once more share the same interest in skating. Having similar interests and struggles not only is an appealing dynamic in the eyes of many but it also allows them to form a deeper connection with each other. Additionally, this deep connection reduces their chances of misunderstanding contributing to a healthier relationship in the process.
Although BL itself is well known amongst the vast array of genres, it is its understanding fanbase that makes it radiate. A shared experience amongst many fujoshi and fudanshi alike is the sense of surprise felt upon entering the BL fanbase. Recounted by many, these fans state that while somewhat energetic, the majority of longtime fans provided the newcomers with warmth and insight. Of course, there will always be a part of the fanbase that acts cruel towards the rest, however, the majority of the fandom as shown above treats not only the newcomers but everyone with warmth and help. While it may not seem significant, these actions are what cause so many individuals unfamiliar with the BL genre to join. Moreover, another appeal of the fanbase is how open-minded and accepting they truly are. This is exemplified through the fans who openly present themselves as members of the LGBTQ community and through the fact that all of its fans willingly read and watch a genre containing romance between two men. The amount of understanding and acceptance within the fanbase can be highly appealing to a large array of people. This factor of the BL community holds a significant role in how BL became as popular as it is today.
Contrary to the expectations of many, the BL genre includes a variety of different plots. One instance of this can be found in “Heaven's Official Blessing”. This BL anime is about a banished god and his various encounters throughout his journey. Contrary to this, “Semantic Error” is a Korean drama focused on Jang Jaeyoung, a college student who recently started facing difficulties due to his classmate Chu Sangwoo. Although both plots fall under the BL genre, storywise they are complete opposites to each other with Heaven's Official Blessing being based on the historical era while Semantic Error couldn’t be closer to modern times. The clear contrast between these two BL plots highlights how vast the BL spectrum truly is. Furthermore, “Heartstopper”, a prominent Netflix series, focuses on our protagonist Charlie Spring and his budding romance with Nick Nelson the “straightest” guy in high school. This Netflix series contrasts entirely with the BL anime “Yuri On Ice” which centers around Yuuki Katsuki a competitive ice skater and his goal to compete in the same ice rink as his idol, Victor Nikiforov. These two prominent BL works further highlight how BL makes a point to be unique, offering diverse plots that make the story appealing even without the BL aspect.
To the surprise of many, BL isn’t the menacing genre people often assume it to be. BL is a genre full of goal-worthy relationships, an open-minded fanbase, and a diverse range of plots. BL appeals to its audience with its healthy representations of gay relationships as well as with its lovely yet energetic fanbase. It additionally pulls fans in with its intriguing plots that’ll leave you begging for more. Hopefully, with this newfound understanding of BL, the reader will go explore the wonderful world that is Boy’s Love.
Works Cited
Gao, Kun, et al. “Crunchyroll - Watch Popular Anime & Read Manga Online.”
Crunchyroll, 14 May 2006,
www.crunchyroll.com/.
Wales, Jimmy.
Fandom, 18 Oct. 2004,
www.fandom.com/.
Huffman, Steve, et al. “Reddit.”
Reddit, 23 June 2005,
www.reddit.com/.
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2023.06.08 23:09 lovvekiki Feeling like I’ll never find anyone better.
I'm 24 years old. Still a virgin. I was in my first relationship a couple months back, but he broke up with me unexpectedly. I was kinda shocked at how determined he was to end it. He just vanished from my life. I don't know why I wasn't enough for him.
I've recently tried to put myself back into the dating scene. But every date I go on leaves me feeling hopeless and sad.
Everytime I meet a guy from Bumble or Hinge, they are quiet, awkward, not talkative, unfunny... just plain boring. They say not to compare, but it's really hard not to when most guys lack what he had.
My ex was a dorky guy who had a lot of nerdy hobbies. It was great because finding someone with similar interests is really hard for me. He was also sweet, and very attentive.
But on top of that, he was very handsome, outgoing, and funny. Super funny. He always made me laugh. He had this unique charisma that's hard to find.
I had a great time with him... unfortunately he didn't feel the same.
I feel like I'll never find another guy with that combination of qualities. Most of the time, my dates are awkward and lead to nothing. I'm so sad.
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2023.06.08 23:03 ChaseTengu The Second Largest Succulent I Own - ID Help
| Bought it at Lowe’s about a year ago. Started out the size of a cantaloupe. Don’t know what color it will be when it blooms. Sprouting props off the stem; just going to leave them alone and see what happens. Only had 1 “successful” leaf props out of 12 attempts. Anyone know what this is called? Recall it having Grand in the name. I think. Lost the bucket with the ID on it. 🤦🏻♂️ submitted by ChaseTengu to succulents [link] [comments] |
2023.06.08 23:02 bunny_grrl uk native woodland groundcover varigated leaves (white dots) oval/diamond leaves
| i cant find a photo (i cant go to a woodland to photo it either atm), apologies its a uk native, its everywhere in woodlands (you will 100% have seen it if you live here) its leafy, i'm not sure if it flowers, it grows up to about 15cm tall in small clumps of leaves that poke through the leaf litter, the leaves are around 15 cm long and 5cm wide, and have white dots on them it has a slightly hairy/dusty looking leaf i think? almost how a foxglove leaf looks dusty (in comparison, i wouldnt say that a bluebell leaf looks dusty) it's not bluebells/snowdrops/spanish bluebells/wild garlic/lords and ladies, it has a more diamond shaped leaf than that so sorry everyone, its common and can grow like a weed if given enough time, it prefers shade thank you!! https://preview.redd.it/ice56dtvyu4b1.png?width=694&format=png&auto=webp&s=9d3cbcbd7e0f7920a4a313743b9327f2a00e2ae6 submitted by bunny_grrl to whatsthisplant [link] [comments] |
2023.06.08 22:59 JulianSkies Emergency Services Guild R&D: Stampede Studies
This little piece I wrote because I have zero mental energy to write something I care too much aobut the format and quality, and i've been wanting to have a look at this topic for a while.
Don't expect a lot of quality, but here have a thing.
---
[This video is shown in its raw form for purposes of transparency of the procedures. For the edited version please visit the Emergency Services Guild public-facing site]
[Content Warning: This video contains images of both stampedes and wartime stampede incidents of the following situations: Human First Contact, Operation Blindside, Sillis Occupation, Kolshian Scouting of Venlil Prime]
[This video will be subtitled instead of utilizing audio translation]
The camera’s view is completely obscured by a grey mass “I think it’s running, can you check it for me?” says a deep bassy voice of a human.
“Yes, i’m getting the audio and a very good closeup for your shirt” the voice of a venlil sounds hoarse
The grey mass recedes and the room becomes visible. A large naturally-lit room of plain appearance, there is a long table set in the center of it surrounded by chairs, the table itself is clearly designed with a holographic projector and at the far end of the room there is a large display.
There are seven people present, three humans dressed in grey outfits with red highlights, each one of them with a different insignia emblazoned on their breast but all three of them have similar themes, a helmet, an axe and a ladder is present on all three designs. Four venlil represent, two with sashes of office with the white with red stripe color and the exterminator’s pyre-and-shield insignia and two with armbands with the red pawprint.
“Alright, before we start the actual meeting, can I ask why are they here?” says one of the humans, well-built and with a lighter complexion, pointing at the two venlil with sashes.
“Because it’s part of our job? Because we’re involved?” says the one with greyish wool and dark spots
“I’m sorry if i’m skeptical why an exterminator is in a meeting involving public safety and stampede response”
“Because” the venlil’s voice becomes louder “It’s our job. And I’m already brahking tired of this whole act. I’ve heard every variation of ‘you shouldn’t be the ones doing this’ you can imagine. Every human I’ve met has said this, multiple times” he slams his fists on the table
“And I brahking agree, look!” he points at one of the venlil with the armbands “Our jobs literally overlap, why do we even HAVE this overlap? What could the exterminator’s guild do in a stampede that the emergency services guild couldn’t? Why is it that any job that requires you to have the slightest bit of tail to do it they drop on us? I don’t brahking know!” he’s taking deep breaths “So… Why don’t we skip this part and just get to the meeting?”
The humans are taken aback, while it seems like the venlil were quite unfazed at the sudden energetic outburst in a strange reversal of the usual reactions. “Not… Quite what I was expecting” that first human adds “Alright, I’ll keep my thoughts to myself for now”
With that, the human that had been adjusting the camera sits down and the arrangement of seating is visible clearly: The four venlil are on one side of the table while the three humans are on the other. One of the venlil with the armbands speaks up “We are gathered at this moment for a presentation of the United Nations’ Extraplanetary Emergency Response Division’s research on the nature and possible mitigation of stampedes”
“Present for this meeting are three human representatives of the UNEERD, Captain Fabia” a human female with short crimson hair and wiry build nods “Captain Jorge” the first human nods “And Captain Ishikawa” a human much taller human with shortly cut dark hair and mildly reddened skin speaking of a disagreement with the eternal twilight nods.
“Present are also four venlil representatives. Representing the Exterminator’s Guild are Division Lead Toss” the venlil who had the outburst earlier nods “Of the Stampede Response division, Division Lead Tunam” a venlil with a strangely reddish coat halfway between pink and red nods “Of the Behavioral Studies division” the speaking venlil himself, best identified by an eyepatch on his right eye, nods “Representing the Emergency Services Guild is me, Division Lead Onam of the Stampede Response division, and Division Lead Liram” the venlil beside him nods, a woman with a distinctive vertical striping pattern “Of the Medical Response division.”
Onam takes a deep breath “You may begin the presentation, Captain Jorge” he’s being incredibly professional
With that, Jorge uses a holopad to summon an image on the monitor at the far end, a simple bullet point list “Though all present here already know, I’ll state it for the record. The ESG has requested from the UNEERD an independent study of mitigating techniques for stampede events, both to help us increase our understanding of the local needs and to acquire an outside perspective that may improve their own understanding”
“We will be presenting our current findings, which have proven to be pretty surprising in my opinion” he gives another command to his holopad moving to the next slide “I’ll begin with the most important finding before we look into how we’ve reached this conclusion. But in effect, a proper stampede event can actually severely reduce to completely eliminate casualties in a situation of panic, however, those events can devolve into panicked flight as well as not every species is capable of those”
At that, Toss tilts his head to the side “Of all things… Stampedes preventing casualties? That’s really difficult to believe”
Ishikawa offers a shrug “I know. I’ll be honest we kind of came into this with, let’s say… A bit of a bias against you. But the observations held true, and it turns out the situation is considerably more complex than it seems”
Jorge nods “Take note this is mostly a preliminary study, we don’t have a lot of data of the sort we needed.” he pulls up another bullet list in the screen “Our work was focused more on the behavioral end, as you’ve more than proven to have the infrastructure and technical superiority here, but we have found a distinct lack of behavioral studies on stampedes”
Tunam takes a deep breath “Sure. More stuff we got wrong, as always” but before one of the humans can say something he waves dismissively with his tail “It’s alright, you’re just doing your job. It just gets exhausting hearing this every damn paw. Sorry for the interruption, please continue”
Jorge has a look on his face for a moment, something like worry and sympathy, before continuing “We have performed our studies by examining footage of stampede events with specific characteristics. First, monospecies events, with three examples. The stampede events during our first contact, as a sample of stampede events amongst the Venlil, recovered footage of an event in the Cradle during Operation Blindside, as a sample of stampede events amongst the Gojid. Take note that while this particular footage was from a situation far from any attack sites and before the arxur invasion, the reliability of it is shaky because of the wartime situation. And a stampede event on Sillis that happened recently in response to peacekeeper forces”
As he talks, three of the bullet points light up “Additionally, we later compared stampede events involving multispecies groupings. Particularly we have studied the very recent events here on Venlil Prime during the kolshian threat as well as a second event that occurred on Sillis involving a damaged dam” the last two bullet points light up
The female firefighter pipes up “We’re going to treat you like adults here but early warning we’re not going to be censoring any of the footage. I imagine given you all work with this there shouldn’t be anything you’re not familiar with”
The one-eyed venlil makes an assentive motion with his ears “Sadly, we’ve all seen enough of the carnage to be used to it”
Jorge moves on to the next slide, which contains video. He passes the holopad off to the human woman at his side “Your turn, Fabia”
She nods “We’ll start by examining this footage of the first contact. First tell me if there’s anything unusual you notice here” she says, letting the footage play. It’s an aggregation of a few different cameras, apparently from residential apartments. It shows the residents, all Venlil, running away from their apartments and spilling over in the streets, the residents of each apartment building start running towards where presumably the nearest bunker is. It only takes a few moments before they start pushing each other out of the way and the ones at the fringes of the herd end up unable to follow the group as the ever-growing mass of people start to push them against the walls of the buildings and side streets, a little while longer the first tramplings start to happen.
Tunam has had a very careful eye on the footage “This looks like a textbook case of a stampede. Nothing particular to it” he flicks his ear to the side
Taking the sign, Toss adds in “Dreadful, as always, but not even the worst example I’ve seen”
Onam sighs “I remember that one. Wouldn’t want to be those two knowing all of this was caused by them. But still, a pretty normal stampede, if anything a mild one”
Liram makes a dismissive wave of her tail “Didn’t even manage to overflow the hospitals, so i’m calling that one a win”
The sunburnt human bites his lower lip, trying to keep something inside. But ultimately it spills over “How bad is it for those kinds of responses?” it’s not so much an accusatory tone as much as a sad one.
“Very” is the only answer Onam gives.
At that, Fabia waves “And here is where a human, or more specifically outsider perspective helped.” she presses a couple of controls in the holopad, rewinding the footage to the start “I want you to pay attention to how this particular herd moves, just the one from the beginning of the video”
The footage plays again, showing the residents of the apartments rushing out, most take the stairs while a few take the elevators. There’s parents carrying their pups and some elderly being rushed along. The footage switches to the outside view where the whole herd of venlil from the apartment seems to erupt out of the front doors at the same time, it follows them for a bit until they’re closer to another group leaving their residence before Fabia pauses “Here’s where we noticed something, how much panic do you see in here?”
It’s Tunam’s turn to respond “Normal levels, i’d say, nothing out of ordinary. Which, they were expecting a raid or worse, so keep that in mind.”
Fabia nods “And that’s why the difference is important. Pay attention to their movement” she rewinds to the moment where they’re leaving the apartment building “Pay close attention to their feet” she zooms the video
The four venlil focus on it, seemingly unable to see what is happening “It takes humans at least months of training to be able to do this. They’re all moving in perfect synchrony” she rewinds one more time, and with the information out there it’s clear that at this point, this herd’s footsteps are moving in perfect lockstep “And I have severe doubts those people have any sort of training”
Onam turns his one good eye towards Fabia, then back at the footage, then back at Fabia “That… Yes, I can see that. But that has to be a fluke, if that is true then we wouldn’t have tramplings”
In response, Fabia changes footage. It shows a different apartment building, but the contents are similar: Up until the herd is a good distance away from the building their movement is synchronous and even the exit, though clearly panicked, seems to flow without injury. She shows footage from three more apartments “We thought that too, but this pattern repeats every time. This is a level of instinctive organization that’s, to me, supernatural. But at some point it breaks down”
The medical lead had his eyes closed in thought for a while now “That… Now that you say that… Stampede injuries are always outside. Well, no, not always of course. But less than twelve percent of them happen inside buildings, the vast majority happens on the streets”
The human woman passes the datapad aside, Ishikawa picks it up and calls up the footage again. It’s the same as the initial one, but it shows two herds approaching “And here’s where it breaks down. Look” he plays it as everyone pays much closer attention to the details of the video. The two different herds simply crash into each other, causing people to fall over and the two previously-synchronized groups to fall completely out of order.
Tunam’s tail swipes a short arc forwards “Ah, I see. Each herd is acting like a single unit at that point, so this situation is like two people running into each other. Now they’re on the floor and confused” he stares as the footage continues, and what was two groups ends up splitting into four completely disorganized groups “And the herds are unable to reform after that”
“This is where i’m going to introduce some specific terms we’re using here” Ishikawa adds “Specifically we’re referring to the organized movement portion as a ‘stampede’ proper. The situation where everything breaks down and they are completely disorganized we’re referring to as ‘panicked flight’, much how it is for us humans. And this specific situation that caused the breakdown of the stampede we’re calling an ‘impact’ event, given it was two herds impacting against each other”
Ishikawa then changes to a different piece of footage “And this will be the second breakdown situation we’ve recognized, a ‘command failure’ event.” he starts the footage, it’s a proper stampede, the video is from a camera on a defensive bunker proper, the masses trying to get inside are visible at the bottom of the image. Something happens in the incoming stampede, it slows down a little bit, before suddenly the back half overtakes the front half, tossing people into the ground.
“Notice how the approaching herd seems to be behaving as we’ve initially expected, even going so far as slowing down to prevent from barrelling into the people waiting to enter the bunker” he adds, before rewinding to just before the breakdown and zooming the video “But notice here, at some point those two start having a discussion while they run” the video is zoomed on a pair of venlil who seem to be shouting, though the video has no audio “Shortly after, the entire formation breaks and the rear speeds up, trampling the front”
The crimson venlil adds “They were following the one on the right…” he has a certain tone of awe on his voice “They all had their attention trained on him”
At that the female firefighter makes a questioning noise “How’d you figure that out?”
Tunam does a quick sideways flick of his ears in a dismissal move “I guess you don’t know how to see where we’re focusing our attention on when we don’t have to turn our entire heads for it. But pay attention to the ears, when they’re completely upright to take in sound they’ll be tracking whoever the focus is. As you can see, they were all focusing on the one on the right, which was the one being yelled at” he focuses on the now still image for a while “You can see he has his tail in his hands, while the one yelling at him has his chest first ruffled out.” his eye seems to focus beyond the image now “This herd didn’t break down because of another, but they lost guidance, is that it?”
Jorge sighs, but he has a slight smile “See, I told you it’d be wise to have at least one venlil in our team. Just from being able to read their body language he skipped past two weeks of comparisons”
Ishikawa gives a light sigh “But that’s correct. This is a ‘command failure’ situation. We’ve noticed that in every stampede there seems to be someone that works at least as pace setting, if not straight up herd leader. It seemed in cases to mostly be arbitrary, but once someone got in that position everyone would follow that one”
Jorge picks up the holopad again “Next up” the screen changes again, it’s another video that is quite clearly not on Venlil Prime “This one happened during peacekeeping operations on Sillis…” there’s a certain inflection of disgust in the human’s voice as he mentions ‘peacekeeping’ “You probably already know what to expect but I want you to focus on the differences here”
The video that plays out starts with what seems like a protest in front of a UN field base, the recording is from the body cam of a soldier on top of a watchtower. There’s a moderate mass of tilfish with all sorts of signs, there’s shouting. The camera turns to show an APC get close to the mass from inside the base, there’s shouting from the human guards but nothing happens, until the APC revs up its engine heavily. At the angry roar of the vehicle the protesters started to bolt, four large groups forming in different directions.
The camera follows one such group as it starts heading off down a street, unlike the venlil stampedes this one starts from moment zero with trampling and people moving into each other. At some point it’s visible someone at the middle of the formation seems to hesitate and slow down, causing the entire mass to slow down for a moment, and then someone else near the slower raises their arms. At this point this is too far from the soldier’s body camera to catch noise, but what seems to be a discussion has happened, and suddenly the stampede speeds up and the scene that follows gets considerably worse as the mass turns into a tangle of limbs cross across eachother and tearing itself apart as they try to move in the same general direction.
“It started bad” says Toss “But it got worse. I’ve never seen a stampede get worse like that”
Onam puts his tail on the table, tapping the surface gently with it “It happens as it grows in size but this group didn’t change. That did seem like a command failure situation causing it to get even worse, yes, but they seemed to already be very out of sync from the start”
The human with the holopad nods “And that’s the biggest failure of your treatment of stampedes showing itself.” he rewinds the video to when the APC starts roaring “And honestly, we were stuck on that failure mode for a while too until one of the younger members of our team spoke their mind. Pay closer attention to the amount of damage that is happening during the stampede here” they all lean closer as they watch the start again “How many wounds are you seeing?”
It’s the one-eyed venlil that answers “None… They’re not trampling eachther, they’re climbing each other, and walking under the others, somehow without hurting themselves?” his voice has a definite awe to it.
Jorge nods “Yep. Tilfish, both from their body plan and however way their kinesthetic sense works, appear to be fully capable of moving over, through and under each other like they weren’t even there. That seems to be pretty unique to their species”
It’s the red furred venlil that comments now “But they lose that coordination when the command failure happens, so they start to miss their movements and now we have limbs tangled on themselves and tearing themselves apart”
“Comparing medical reports from this with medical reports from the first incident with just venlil” starts the female firefighter “We see different wound patterns. A monospecies panicked flight of tilfish will lead primarily to damaged and removed limbs while one of venlil will lead to crushing wounds. Because your herd movement patterns and capacities are different, when the stampede fails into panicked flight the wounds are different”
Liram tilts her head to the side “That’s what you meant. We… Speh, the entire federation, has been treating stampedes like they behave the same for every species” her tail swats left to right for a while with an excessive amount of force “But this makes sense. And I presume you have an example of a species that doesn’t stampede up next, right?”
Jorge nods, moving to the next video. It shows a wide, long street “This one was recovered from the Cradle, this happens during the strikes on the orbital defenses but before the first orbital drop. Meaning, long before any ground operation starts” the video is sped up considerably at the start, the trickle of gojid into the streets is slow as to require that, but the flows from the buildings and side streets slowly thicken as more and more people start fleeing away from the camera’s direction. The mass that forms is enormous, taking up the entire street, and to flows and moves as if it wasn’t a mass of people, not even like a mass of animals, but it flows like a river, like it ceased to contain living beings and it now contained fluid particles.
Tunam, whose expression has been growing more and more serious by the moment, initiates “I… I’ve never seen a stampede like… It really shows the difference seeing the comparison, here we didn’t have groups forming at exit points and leaving, we have a slow trickle until the mass of people is…”
Ishikawa nods “Until the mass of people starts behaving like a fluid, completely detached from the will of the people inside of it” he puts his elbows in the table “Very much how it works with humans. At that point, you just need to let the flow move you and hope for the best, while trying to keep yourself safe”
Jorge zooms in the image, which appears to be sufficiently high quality to get detailed images of any particular member of the mass “You can even see the measures they take to prevent harming themselves” he directs the zoom to an area where you see the gojid have somehow arranged themselves back-to-back and front-to-front as they’re pushed and shoved, trying to avoid harming themselves on each other. It’s visible, however, they have no control over the motions as they’re simply being moved by the mass. One unlucky woman trying to hold on to some form of backpack gets pulled under the mass of bodies by the article. Most gojid seem to be taking conscious effort to keep their quills from flaring out, but many are failing and some trickle of blue can be seen on some backs
“Of course” the zoomed out area directs to a different section while zooming out “This is neither instinctual nor organized, as you can see the vast majority of the cases are like… This…” the best description of the moving mass of very sharp people being dislocated by nothing but panic and fluid forces is… A meat grinder. There’s more blue than brown visible and the speed with which the human moves the video elsewhere is quite indicative of how none of the present trained emergency workers had the stomach to witness it.
Liram has stood up “By the void… But- But- There’s gojid population on this planet! I’ve never seen anything like this when they’re involved!” there’s straight up panic in her voice.
With a command, Jorge moves on to the next slide “And that segues well into the next topic of research, multispecies stampedes” there’s a still image of a large street in the capital, mostly empty at this point “As you can imagine there’s behavioral differences in multispecies situations”
Jorge passes the holopad over to Ishikawa “This one is pretty recent, hell I still remember it myself. The kolshian probing attack” the video starts, and for a few seconds the slow foot traffic of the mostly empty street seems undeterred. Then, most everyone still walking the streets, which here in the capital means a variety of species from venlil and human to takkan and iftali, picks up their holopads at once. And with different degrees of urgency and reading speed, they start running.
Nothing seems to progress further than that other than people entering buildings, but after a while longer it happens, groups start leaving the buildings in large herds “As you can see” Ishikawa pauses “We see them exiting buildings in large groups, just as the stampeding species do” he let it play again. Just like in the first two videos the large groups seem to be moving roughly in coordination within themselves, but it seems to be a much more frail kind of coordination as the group’s form changes and shifts as the people inside adjust their position.
Ishikawa zooms into one of the groups “Here, check their movement” it’s visible that only a portion of them is moving in actual synchrony, the venlil as well as a pair of sulean and three krakotl seem to be moving very much in lockstep, and one human who seems to be acting as a leader as she points and shouts. Meanwhile the other humans, two takkan and a gojid aren’t moving quite in synchrony but seem capable of keeping themselves in formation thanks to the others around them. “Here we see the effect of a mixed species setting. The stampeding species manage to give enough structure to the group that the others can follow”
Tunam is staring intensely at the video “But that’s a very fragile configuration, isn’t it? The ones organizing on instinctive drive can’t possibly keep this much structure for long? Without training this is going to break down quickly”
Ishikawa nods “That’s what we thought as well but…” he lets the video play, and they watch that mass of bodies continue to move mostly organized down the street. At some point another equally mixed group starts approaching from the side, but one of the takkan appears to start shouting. But instead of things breaking down, what happens is that both groups merge together, there’s some minor bodily impacts but from the visible motions of the group there’s some shared apologies and they continue moving at a slower speed, matching the speed of the second group “That doesn’t happen, the whole situation is even more stable”
The video continues for a while, and Ishikawa zooms to the front of the formation. The human who’d been the apparent leader taps rather violently a venlil on the shoulder. There apparently seems to be a verbal altercation, but both give each other affirmative visual cues and the venlil speeds up a little bit. And the rest of the herd matches pace as the group changes direction to another street “And this is a smooth change of command, presumably the human that’d been the unofficial lead figured out who knew the shortest path to the bunker and they’ve began following him instead”
The crimson venlil sinks down in his chair “That’s… I’ve never seen a stampede move quite like that, even multispecies ones. It has to be you…”
“Much as i’d love to give us all the credit” Jorge starts “I don’t quite think it is. Or rather, it’s not something i’d say is inherently human. If it was, once that group changed command they’d break down, or it wouldn’t be able to merge that easily with a takkan mediating. No, I think it was just those specific humans being able to keep their cool that helped it.”
He looks at Tunam for a half second before continuing “Everyone else seems to be… Very prone to panicking quickly. And while we’re just as prone to panic we don’t seem to get there as fast as the others. For some reason. Keeping a bit of a calmer head allows the prevention of command failures and the overall effect of reducing the panic level in a herd enough that any member present has enough wits to negotiate through an impact as well”
Upon noticing Tunam’s souring expression, Ishikawa gives the pad another command to move on to the next video “To give a bit more context to an important part of the behavior we’re analyzing here, we have this one footage of what is essentially a stampede event, but not one most people would recognize as such”
It seems to be footage of Sillis again, most obvious by the number of tilfish present. The footage is from a cargo hauling drone in a work site by a river at the bottom of a dam. There are a handful of humans, a half dozen venlil and a gojid all wearing construction uniforms identifying them as part of one of the UN relief forces, the various tilfish around are also wearing bright construction vests and protective gear and with the exception of two of them, they seem to be trying their best to stay away from the others. Suddenly, the gojid who’s near the river looks down at his feet, then starts running away shouting. At that everyone other than the tilfish start running as well, the group slows down for a moment as the tilfish workers run towards the group and they all continue together up a hill. A few seconds after they crest the hill there’s suddenly water in the worksite as the dam cracks and collapses. The group stops at the top of the hill, and quickly they’ve brought up holopads to start doing damage assessment as a few head closer to the rushing waters.
“This, as you can see, looks nothing like what you expect out of a stampede. We’ve interviewed those workers remotely to get a better grasp of what happened” Fabia adds “Thanks to their sensitivity to ground vibrations, the gojid worker caught the dam’s damage early and called for the others to run, which caused the work crew to evacuate to higher ground.” she waves at Ishikawa, who rewinds the video and zooms on the group as it runs “As you can see, we have the organized movement of a stampede proper” and known his cue he skips ahead to the group on top of the hill “And they stopped quickly, as well.
The human with reddened skin rewinds the video again to show the moment the group slows down “And here’s the particular detail I want you to pay attention to. Notice the group formed when the gojid called out the emergency, but only two tilfish joined it. The two that were already talking with the UN forces”
Onam tilts his head, clearly in thought as his blind eye is facing the screen now “You’re saying there’s an influence of familiarity?”
In answer, Ishikawa shakes his head in negative “Yes and no, we believe this is an effect of threat-assessment. The two that trusted the veracity of the information about the danger moved as quickly as the rest of the herd, which had managed to form thanks to the presence of the venlil and tilfish. Only after the other tilfish recognized those two did they start moving”
“And the whole group slowed down for them, without breaking apart” the crimson venlil adds “This is very much not anything we’d consider a stampede, however as you said the synchronized movement happens and they even managed to clear through the obstacles in a surprisingly safe manner on the way out”
Jorge picks up the holopad again and moves on to the next slide “So to sum up our theories. Certain species have an innate capacity of large-numbers collective movement, what we call a stampede is simply that natural capacity displaying itself during mass flight. That capacity can be harnessed to reduce casualties of panicked flight by giving the moving group an organized form, but only as long as the organization can be sustained. This mass movement capacity also applies to situations where other species would still perform in an organized fashion, but its instinctive nature severely speeds up the process.”
Before he can continue, however, Tunam mutters a little too loudly “But the results you’re going to give us are going to be the same brahking thing as always”
Jorge ignores the muttering “To begin with we’re going to suggest a system similar to the fire brigades we have on Earth. Essentially, any group large enough, such as a company or an apartment building, needs to have a handful of people with some training in emergency procedures for fire escape, so they can guide the rest of the people.”
Ishikawa intrudes “And in countries with higher seismic activities like mine, those procedures also include how to deal with earthquakes for example”
Jorge nods, and takes a deep breath “Look, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Your threat-assessment skills are horrible, for some reason- No, I think for reasons we’re all acquainted well enough by now, you’re all very likely to jump at shadows, far more than you should. However, your flight responses are part of your nature, trying to fight your nature never, ever works, you always have to work with it.” he’s staring directly at Tunam, who has met his stare with his right eye “So the primary suggestion is to introduce a form of ‘emergency herd lead’ training in organizations so that we’re certain there are individuals capable of keeping command and a lower baseline of chaos during a stampede event as well as further research into better methods of performing such a function”
Tunam doesn’t flinch from the stare “Come on, say it”
“No. As much as I’d love to say something like what you think I will, I’ll be honest. You guys expect to face orbital bombardment threats with enough frequency that civilian bunkers are part of city planning. Not a human alive today could imagine living in this nightmare their entire lives, I’m going to give you some credit here. Plus, in real threat situations as seen in the last video, you have very beneficial threat responses.” Jorge adds
Jorge waits for a few moments, then continues “That concludes the presentation of the early findings and initial measures we’ve identified. It should be noted that this topic will require much further research, preferably from a multidisciplinary group with representatives of multiple species. Though those findings may be applicable at the present our suggestion is that any action taken at this moment be only provisional and on an experimental level until further research can be made”
Onam stands up “Very well, with that I declare the meeting concluded” he takes in a deep breath and sits back down, making an annoyed sound with his voice as he swats his tail to the side “What is it about you humans that you could see all those things?”
Fabia shrugs, sitting more relaxed in her chair “I don’t think it’s something special, we’re just outsiders with a different perspective.”
A loud screeching noise can be heard, and as everyone turns to face Tunam the source of the noise is visible as the hand he had on the table had dug its claws into it “It’s not like we haven’t found out those things before, isn’t it?” he doesn’t seem to be directing his words to anyone in particular
The one-eyed venlil tilts his head to the side “We did have that work group almost fifteen cycles ago. I remember they were considering a suggestion like what we just had right now, but the work group never went anywhere and we never got any real results”
Tunam stands up suddenly, sending his chair scattering “One more to the list I guess…” there’s a tiredness to his voice “I should figure out where they wound up…” he turns around and goes to leave “We’re done here, yes? I should go” and stalks out.
The remaining people in the room look at his exit confusedly, as Ishikawa comes over to turn off the camera the others can be seen leaving.
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2023.06.08 22:32 Impressive_Rough_100 What if... Humans did NOT die on Copper-9?
this is my second what if... story and the last one exploded so I got milk this what if... series like matpat milks FNAF so lets watch the story of love, lose and revolution.
In the beginning the workers continued working as slaves for the humans but a worker named Novi was a rebel girl always pick fights with other bots to try to kill the humans but Novi did not just want the humans dead because she was sick of the slavery no, she was having a kid with a worker named Khan and she had already had a name for her, Uzi. One day Novi was out on her break a worker pulled her into a dark corner and gave her a letter and said "5, bar, oil" before running of, Novi decided to go check the bar (there was only one and human owned) and opened the letter, it said 'when you get there say oil to the worker at the center of the bar' so Novi said oil to the worker and the floor below her and Novi landed in a room full of workers. Novi's mum ran up to her and gave her a necklace (the one Uzi weared in Ep4) and told her the power Novi had and that she had the power to control objects.
The next few weeks Novi prepared for a war and practice the 'absolute solver' her mother asked her to use in the fight for freedom in a days time KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK she was here, her little Uzi would be here. Novi ran to the door and opened it and yes, little baby Uzi was sitting on the foot of the house Novi grabbed Uzi and took her inside.
Novi looked at Uzi and had a strong feeling to drink the oil inside Uzi and Uzi started to cry and the solver flickered on her screen and Novi ripped of the necklace she was wearing and the feeling lifted a little "Muma!" said baby Uzi. Novi did not want to fight anymore if that feeling was going to take over or hurt Uzi Novi ran to Khan's place and burst open the door "Hey who are you?- O hey Novi what's up?" said Khan "Good news, Uzis here, bad news, we need to leave the planet" said Novi and then tolled Khan everything "There's a friend of mine that's going to a new planet, we can catch a ride if we sneak on" so the plan was set and Khan, Novi and Uzi sneaked onto the rocket and luckily no humans can go to the planet because of the toxic atmosphere "what.. the take over was today!?" after a week in space trying to fix the engine LOL. Novi ran to pickup Uzi and look out the window and there it was, her old home and in a second later a huge explosion covered her old home and everything on cooper-9 turned black and small flicks of flames where left "Muma..." said Uzi before falling asleep Novi needed to forget cooper-9 "Uzi, we will be ok"
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2023.06.08 22:29 Anon-Ymous929 Behavioral Sink - The rat utopia experiment
Many of you have probably heard of this experiment, but the short introduction is that starting in 1958, a researcher named John B. Calhoun began performing experiments on populations of rats to see what would happen if all of their resources were unlimited and they were kept safe from predators, diseases, weather, etc. Of these initial rat experiments
Calhoun wrote:
"By the end of 27 months the population had become stabilized at 150 adults. Yet adult mortality was so low that 5,000 adults might have been expected from the observed reproductive rate. The reason this larger population did not materialize was that infant mortality was extremely high. Even with only 150 adults in the enclosure, stress from social interaction led to such disruption of maternal behavior that few young survived." [...]
"The consequences of the behavioral pathology we observed were most apparent among the females. Many were unable to carry pregnancy to full term or to survive delivery of their litters if they did. An even greater number, after successfully giving birth, fell short in their maternal functions. Among the males the behavior disturbances ranged from sexual deviation to cannibalism and from frenetic overactivity to a pathological withdrawal from which individuals would emerge to eat, drink and move about only when other members of the community were asleep. The social organization of the animals showed equal disruption." [...]
"The common source of these disturbances became most dramatically apparent in the populations of our first series of three experiments, in which we observed the development of what we called a behavioral sink. The animals would crowd together in greatest number in one of the four interconnecting pens in which the colony was maintained. As many as 60 of the 80 rats in each experimental population would assemble in one pen during periods of feeding. Individual rats would rarely eat except in the company of other rats. As a result extreme population densities developed in the pen adopted for eating, leaving the others with sparse populations." [...]
"But the same pathological "togetherness" tended to disrupt the ordered sequences of activity involved in other vital modes of behavior such as the courting of sex partners, the building of nests and the nursing and care of the young. In the experiments in which the behavioral sink developed, infant mortality ran as high as 96 percent among the most disoriented groups in the population. Even in the absence of the behavioral sink, in the second series of three experiments, infant mortality reached 80 percent among the corresponding members of the experimental populations."
This phrase, "behavioral sink" is commonly associated with Calhoun's experiments. His most well known experiment was in 1968 on mice, which was designed to hold nearly 4,000 mice but the population maxed out at 2,200. Most of the rapid growth was in the first 315 days, but between 315 and 600 days, population growth slowed and violence became more prevalent. Social structure began to break down. Females stopped caring for the young, males didn't need to defend their resources because of the lack of scarcity but did form into groups that attacked each other, cannibalism, and Calhoun specifically mentions an increase in homosexuality. Calhoun describes many of the mice spending their time grooming themselves and doing other solitary behaviors, which he called "the beautiful ones". Eventually breeding activity stopped and the population declined to the point of total extinction.
Calhoun's original intention was to study the effects of overpopulation, and of course most of the people who cite his experiments do so in terms of overpopulation, however overpopulation is not exactly what happened in Calhoun's experiments. The rat and mice populations died out not because of lack of resources or lack of space or because of diseases, etc. What killed them off was their own behavior. They simply stopped reproducing and destroyed themselves. Overpopulation may have been the intended control variable of the experiment, but what the experiment appears to have actually been testing is
what happens when resources are infinite. Calhoun clearly expected us to apply these lessons to humans, saying "I shall largely speak of mice, but my thoughts are on man." And I find this information relevant to both sides of the Capitalism vs. Communism debate because
in a communist system, resources are arbitrarily infinite, while in a capitalist system resources are produced efficiently so as to become seemingly infinite. In Bolshevik Russia, the 1918 Code on Marriage, the Family and Guardianship was ratified. This code was intended to implement a Marxist view of the family, where the nuclear family was unnecessary and would be replaced by communal resources. Adoption was abolished, because the state would take care of orphans, divorce was made easy, etc. By 1921 there were seven million orphans roaming the streets and the government didn't have the resources to care for them, and in 1936 a new code was written that shifted back towards a more conservative family arrangement, re-establishing many of the social/sexual standards that had been done away with. Divorce was made harder, limitations were put on abortion, and large families were encouraged.
Still Russia saw a massive decline in fertility starting in the early 1900s which never really stopped.
Western countries show similar fertility declines.
The USA for example dropped below replacement levels in the early 1970s and has never recovered since. The USA as one of the richest countries in the world is not lacking resources, and one proof of this is that
poor people are more likely to be obese than rich people. So our food and water are functionally unlimited, arguably similar to the rat/mice utopias. Notice how our society went through a
sexual revolution, and yet we're having fewer kids. I don't want this post to become a debate about the LGBT movement however I still point it out because of the correlation with Calhoun's notes,
that LGBT rates are on the rise in newer generations. We idolize celebrities and models (the beautiful ones), we're becoming more socially isolated, technology is advancing and economic comforts are easier to obtain, but rates of stress and depression prescriptions are rising. Perhaps you believe that fewer humans are a good thing for environmental reasons or whatever, but over the next few generations this is still going to be a huge economic problem because older generations are dependent on the production and subsidization from the younger generation, in the form of programs like medicare and social security. They spend their 401Ks buying goods that we are producing now. Fewer of us now means a top-heavy economy.
So what do you think, can we compare the breakdown of American society today to the rats' 1962 Behavioral Sink? I certainly see a lot of similarities. And which system is the rat utopia a better metaphor of, communism or capitalism? Perhaps the conclusion we should draw from all of this is that some amount of struggle is necessary for mammals to behave properly. We evolved for tens of millions of years in a wild environment not knowing where our next meal might come from, but now we sit in air conditioned houses with pantries stocked with food, and that transition just happened far too fast for our brains to evolve into.
Side note: The organization Calhoun was working for was called the National Institute of Mental Health, or NIMH, which was the inspiration for the "Rats of NIMH" novel, which was eventually made into a Don Bluth movie called "The Secret of NIMH". In the novel and movie the experiments made the rats smarter, but obviously the real experiments had nothing to do with that.
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2023.06.08 22:27 m80mike I Was a Pilot on Strike. This is Why We Went Back to Work.
Summary: A labor dispute coupled with an outbreak of unknown disease pushes all sides to war and a new truth.
I Was a Pilot on Strike. This is Why We Went Back to Work.
I was the second in command activist pilot in the Union based at O'Hare International, the unofficial headquarters of the strike movement. I remember when our strike started to heat up very vividly.
Fred, our Union boss, and Leo, the first in command activist, were sitting in the pilot's lounge, watching the tv coverage flash our picket lines from airports across the country. Something like “what do we want? The Package. When do we want it? Now!”
The Package was the nickname for our list of demands which included more security in the wake of the so-called Body Bombings last year, better pay and benefits, more job security, and perhaps, most controversially, cleaner fuel and fuel efficiency standards for current and future airliners.
The TV chirped up again, “well, folks its the twenty first day of the pilot strike most jets have been grounded now for the last eighteen as the pilots and their associated ground personnel unions have occupied major airports – only major international carriers at the coastal hubs are landing or departing now as we've seen a huge increase in train and car travel as we approach the fourth of july weekend. That's right, and our next top story as we gather for the holiday for first time after the omicron wave, health officials are advising to watch out for symptoms of a new skin...”
Fred hit mute on the remote. Fred was a balding, thick man, with thick arm hair, rolling over his grizzled sun burned flesh like barbed wire.
Leo lit up a cigarette. Leo was short, thin, and young in his looks but old, like faux 50's old in his heart. “There's no smoking in here, Leo,” Fred said sternly.
Leo didn't flinch.
Then Fred broke a smile and chuckled.
“Media bums aren't even interested in what we want anymore.” I said.
“Only these media bums. Follow the money.” Leo mumbled over his cancer stick. “That media group got a lot of money out of the bailout. Probably more than us.”
Fred looked at his watch, “We should probably get going.”
“Make em sweat for once, for Christ sake.” Leo nearly spat out his smoke.
“I'm with Leo on this one, Fred” I said.
So we made the negotiators sweat a little longer.
About an hour later we finally met them at the table. We sat on the left, the various airline owners sat on the right. This was the third time during the last three weeks but now, there was a new guy at the head of the table, a Federal mediator.
The Mediator had black rimmed almost square glasses, thick gray hair, and a blotchy face, “I'm calling this meeting to order. Before I present this offer, I have impress upon both sides how essential it is we start our air travel again soon, both for the holiday but also the good of the country. I am at this time presenting a voluntary compromise – officially, the Federal government supports the pilots' initiative to enhance security in the wake of the last year's incidents and we are prepared to use some of the unspent bailout money to supplement private airliner's initiatives and spending. We are also sympathetic to pilots and ground crews positions on their pay and benefits. The Federal government, however, is not, at this time, interested in imposing nor supporting job security, nor fuel charges nor efficiency standards. I yield to the industry representatives for comment.”
The chief industry rep, Michelson Connery, was a young looking, smooth talking, sleaze bag with jet black hair from New Jersey who had a habit of touching his coke inflamed nose every five minutes or so.
“You know back in Jersey, we're used to being shaken down, as they say. Now we appreciate the nice talk, we appreciate your brass knuckles and tommy guns are firmly tucked away, we appreciate you're giving us a break or too, but a shake down is a shake down none the less. No deal. I yield.”
Fred sat up in his chair, his mouth agape, he cleared his throat while adjusting his microphone, “No deal.” He flopped back into his chair.
“Before we depart,” the Mediator quelled the commotion as both parties began to leave, “As I said the federal government has a strong interest in resuming flights as soon as possible, we are considering using our unique power to impose a settlement on the Union, if necessary.”
Fred lurched forward, “What kind of power? What kind of threat is this?”
“It's no threat.” The Mediator paused, “It's a threat to a threat, if necessary, we will invoke our powers under various emergency statutes to effectively Federalize pilots and ground crews – under those provisions, we would impose work or removal provisions to settle this.”
“That's total bull!” Fred lunged at the Mediator, “You're basically telling us all they have to do is wait it until you force us back to work! And what about the future? These efficiency standards aren't just about hippie dippie environmental stuff, its about fleet upgrades, fleet safety and thus worker and pilot safety!”
“Gentlemen, please, I putting something on the table and it has neither a definite nor indefinite timeline – in the meanwhile, your adversaries are hemorrhaging cash and depreciating their capital and you're folks – especially your ground crew union, are running out savings – I suggest you both, in good faith, consider the current and official Federal position in good time to sort this out sooner than later rather than a threat of a threat become a threat. Good day.”
Within hours, each side called a respective press conference. Industry denounced the compromise set out by the Feds while we denounced their denouncement. Neither side budged and neither side disclosed the Mediator's so called “threat of a threat”. We sat on the picket lines for another week as each side floated various non-serious proposals and misinformation in the media. We found ourselves back in the pilot lounge before our next round of serious negotiations. This time Fred and Leo were both smoking while I had to exhale bad news.
“The ground crew union is gunna crack first, Industry is offering them a side deal and I think they're gunna take it. They go back to work, it's gunna be next to impossible to leverage the whole of the hubs, then the scabs come in, they'll just work around us.” I told Leo and Fred. “Then we maybe we should float lower pay increases for ourselves. Overall, you pay the few pilots a little bit more, you pay the huge ground crew nothing more, that sounds like the win for us and Industry.” Leo pitched back. “Leo, where do we stand on public support?” Fred inquired.
“I don't know.”
“What do you mean you don't know?”
Leo clicked on the TV, “our top story tonight, farm fields across the country are now being seemingly afflicted by some kind of blight resulting in, at in some cases, widespread crop failures as the department of agriculture is mum. Meanwhile, more and more people are reporting severe skin deformations and damage while the CDC has been all but muzzled save for recommending that people stay inside and avoid direct sunlight. At this time there is speculation but no official word the crop blight and the skin disease are connected.” “See, it's all blight this, blight that.”
“So fake,” Fred said, “I've been out in the damn sun all week on the line and I've got nothing. Whatever the damn news wants to keep real progress from being made here. Anyway, I say we stay the course and we firm it up with the ground crews, have some solidarity.”
There was a knock on the door, “heh, maybe this good news.” Fred left his seat to open the door. A neutral representative walked through and announced the Federal Mediator has canceled the session. Leo and I brewed up from our seats to go raise holy hell with Fred at the mediator's delegation when all the television screens in the lounge turned to an Emergency Announcement Service message. Leo fumbled to unmute the television as the seal of the office of the President blasted on all the screens. “My fellow Americans, it is with great dismay that after nearly a month of grounded air travel across these great United States, because of a dispute over many complex issues, I am forced to use the power legislated to the executive branch by various emergency statutes, that I am announcing the immediate federalization of pilots and ground crews. Effective immediately, they will have a forty eight hour cooling off period before I am ordering them, as federal employees, to return to work or be dismissed. Also, their demands for higher pay and better benefits will be met in part by the conditions of Federal employment. I will be going to Congress, in the morning, to seek long term funding for our new national employees to secure their jobs for a long while. Any deviation from this will have significant physical consequences...”
The TV trailed off as representatives from the ground crews burst into the room in a ruckus, “Long term employment my ass! That jackass knows this is a bandaid – there's no way Congress is gunna pay us, in ninety days, we're as good as fired, begging for our old jobs with no retirement and no Unions.” Ground Crew Union Head Reggie Weston flipped off the TV. “I say, we sit on the damn runways after forty eight hours! You're with us, right? Can I get a yes yes?”
“And here we heard you were about to sell us out and now you're all about it huh?” Leo grumbled. “It was nothing like that. I swear. You know how much talk flies.” Reggie looked offended.
“I'm with Reggie, this is unbelievable, just like that our retirement plan, what? Probably gone? We're not employees anymore afterall. Forced to work – basically at gunpoint now. No. No. No.” I said. “Fred?” Leo prodded.
Fred stood there scratching his scalp in dismay and despair then he straightened himself up, took a drag off his smoke, and turned to us, “Tell all folks, we're going to war.”
We were a bit concerned some of the locals might pull off on the eve of the forty eight hour period but when the forty ninth came, they were steadfast and when they fired us, and then the cops came in, we were ready, both in the courts, and on the lines. On day four, ninety six hours after the announcement, the picket lines were more like trenches, and the pilot's lounge a war room. Each airport was a mini Battle of Blair Mountain. I had my arm wrapped up in an ice pack from a rubber bullet ricochet while Leo was still furiously blinking out yesterday's pepper spray. Fred hadn't been back from the riot on the runways.
Rocks, molotov cocktails scorch marks, and burned out tear gas canisters dotted the parking lots and tarmacs. Overturned vending machines, kiosks, and stacked chairs and tables from the food courts barricaded the concourses. A fire started in one of the hangers and it only just now started to burn itself out. They cut the power and we sweltered in that Midwest heat as we quickly discovered how poorly insulating all of the windows actually were. We had a few generators but they were being used to run the CCTV cameras which we connected to some of the TVs in the pilot's lounge so we could see which direction the next charge was coming from and send out warnings.
On the fifth day an injunction had been filed and granted against the entire federalization and the cops withdrew to their side of the no man's land. It wasn't a moment too soon as we the pilots and the ground crews were nearly depleted.
It was early that morning as the leadership started to gather in the pilot's lounge that we got our first of several mortifying discoveries.
Reggie held a flashlight to his bruised face as he announced, “We lost contact with our brothers at LAX and Denver International.”
“How? Why? Did they surrender?”
“I don't know about LAX but I got this out of Denver.” Reggie played a video on his phone. It was poorly lit and unsteady but in the dark of the early morning you could make out the sound and outline of two large transport helicopters. As they hovered for a landing, someone out of the frame shone a large flashlight against the side. The helicopters were civilian in design and bore the shield of a notorious private military contractor – the Blackdogs. Some one else shouts “get ready!” as black tactical troops streamed out of the choppers and the video abruptly ends.
“Oh my god!” I exclaimed, “They're gunna try to Pinkerton us.”
“What about the damn injunction?” Leo stormed.
“It's an injunction on the feds, the cops. These are private operators. I'm assuming that they're bought and paid for by Industry.”
“You think they're gunna kill us?” Leo pondered.
It was then, the for the first time, during all of this, even after taking that rubber bullet, that I felt real fear and real uncertainty about the outcome and justness of all of it. It was the first time I considered blinking. Then it got worse.
There was a commotion at the door as some of the ground crew and pilots pulled in a makeshift stretcher with Fred laying on it.
“Oh my God, what did they do to him?” Leo exclaimed as he came to help pull him into the room. There was too many people around to see Fred clearly, something like a towel was covering most his face and head. Fred could barely speak and was clearly in some kind of distress. My thought was tear gas but none had been fired for hours and usually someone inundated with it start everyone off into similar distress.
The crowd broke as I huddled in, I shown my flashlight around him to see.
“Pull it off, pull it off, they have to see” Fred gasped.
Some of the ground crew members pulled off the towel and I could plainly see Fred's face and head – what was left of it anyway. I staggered back a step.
“It's the Blight, guys, half of the ground crew, they look like this, now!” Fred yelled. “I can't, I can't feel any of it and I can't see!”
His eyes were whited out like he had severe cataracts and his head, most of his face, and arms were encrusted in bulging, asymmetric, blotches, lesions, and black marks of various sizes and textures. It looked like he had been horribly burned.
“Hey, guys!” Reggie barked out over the shock and attempts to help Fred. “Cameras are down!”
“Well when the shit did that happen?” Leo exploded as he buzzed around the jerry rigged monitors hoping to get signal back.
I picked up my radio and asked everyone to report in, the south, east, and west reported but the north was just static.
Leo tried to rally some of the guys helping Frank to head to the north but they and Fred protested saying there weren't enough guys without the Blight to go stop a push if there was one. Everyone was silent just a moment and in that moment we heard the sound of some thirty guns cocking just outside of the pilot's lounge door.
“Fred Little, Leo Jones, and Mark Debs, step out of the lounge slowly and peacefully, we wish to negotiate the end of this.”
“Fred is incapacitated,” I yelled back with a dry mouth, “Reggie Weston of the Ground Crew Union, Leo and I stepping down. Don't shoot.” I said sheepishly.
Leo and Reggie looked to me to push open the door as I did I was immediately blinded by the tactical lights of some twenty or so submachine guns.
The same voice came again, “keep stepping through the lights, that's it, nice and slow, no one is going to hurt you. I just want to talk and show you something.”
Leo and I made it past the lights into a glare lit spot of the terminal where the commander of this platoon of Blackdogs with his two personal retinue stood with their helmets off, “I'm commander Don Doughty. I'm here on behalf of country and I would like to share something with you.”
“Commander, with all due respect, there's an injunction in place.”
“I know, that's why this is a private operation, not a military or police one.”
“Look, we don't have to go with you.”
“Look, you do. Now I'm going to level with both of you. We stormed the other airports today, you probably heard, a lot of my company men are hurt, a few near death, but we know you're not holding out. We know most of you have the Blight now and that's why we're here.”
“Why you're here, huh? No dedicated medical personnel, no biohazard suits? Kind of strange for what you're saying is a mission of medical mercy for a disease of unknown origin?” Leo perked up.
“It's not unknown. In fact, it's one of the most common diseases around. What is still unknown is if I have to drag you to what I want to show you or if you'll come willingly.”
Leo and I looked at each other and then back at Don. He was disarming and rational, something I hardly expected but he also had our number and between the Blight and the willingness of the government to now literally put guns to our heads to go back to work, I had so many questions and he was offering the answers. Leo and I went willing. We stepped out of the terminal and took a motorized cart to the fuel hangers as Don requested.
On the cart, Don started to open up, “Leo, Mark, tell me what you know about chemtrails.”
Leo scoffed while I replied, “chemtrails, yeah, I've some whacko come up to me in a few bars shouting in my ear about how as a pilot I am unwittingly spraying geo-engineering materials to change the Earth or make global warming real or spreading COVID or nerve gas in contrails. The kookiness seems to change by season. Why?”
“Next question. Do either of you know what CFC's are?”
Leo piped up, “Chloroflorocarbons, I think. They used to be used in fridges and spray cans before they were banned in the 80's – virtually globally because they were screwing up the ozone layer.”
We arrived at the hanger where the fuel was stored. Another small group of Blackdog troopers had one of the ground crew members in detention near the partially open sliding door. His badge was gone but I recognized the ground crew member as part of the fuel truck lead team.
“What does this have to do with anything?” I asked. As we all were led into the hanger where the fuel trucks were stored.
Don, out of no where saluted the fuel truck leader. To my astonishment, the fuel truck leader saluted back. They shared a “semper fi – once a marine – always a marine!” and then Don beckoned him, “show them, it's okay, show them what you know, show them what you do.”
The fuel trucker turn a spigot on the back of the fuel truck nearest to him and splashed some jet fuel from the truck on the hanger floor and then shone a UV flashlight on it and the truck without any change. He muttered out, “Ordinary jet fuel.” Then, turning to the truck adjacent to him, he shone the same uv light and there was a square code marking that appeared on the back of the truck. He turned the spigot on that truck, splashed out a bit of the fuel and then shone the light on it. The fuel reflected back a dazzling brilliant display of glow as it flowed across the concrete. “Not so ordinary jet fuel.”
“Now you see gentlemen, for the past fifty years or so, we've known that CFCs were impacting the ozone layer and created a hole, you were told, like everyone else, that the hole was healing and mostly fixed after we banned CFC's and other substances. Well, in truth, that's only partially correct, its healing or mostly fixed because we fixed it, or more accurately, because the great people who work in the sky and ground, by sheer volume of air travel across the world, had been burning this modified fuel, depositing its unique chemical composition into the atmosphere at altitude to keep that ozone hole closed or at least as protective as possible. Without it, well, look at your boss, look at the fields of crops failing across the country, look at the hospitals around the country filling up with ionizing radiation burn and cancer victims. Without you, there's holes in the ozone breaking open all over the North American continent.”
“We really have been spraying chemtrails this whole time.” Reggie murmured.
“Now, let me explain to you how this is going to work – as we speak, other Blackdogs, funded by the Federal government, are infiltrating every airport in the country and showing the rest of your leadership the same thing you just saw. We're also showing this to Industry. We're getting you the Mediator's deal. You'll have your old jobs back, and while a handful of you will go to jail for the rioting, none of you will be convicted of felonies or serve time. That's the deal. All you have to say is yes and tell everyone to go back to work now and then, with you all back in the air and back on the ground, the Blight will end.
In the end we went back to work, we took the deal. If you can call it a deal. It wasn't a deal but essentially a reboot with a cost of living increase. The other option was that some of us would be imprisoned, fined, be out of a job and oh yes, Leo, Reggie, and I shot on spot.
We were sworn to secrecy over the truth about the ozone layer and chemtrails but I'm breaking it. I'm breaking it because you deserve the truth. I know that this will end up in the internet gutter realm of aliens and bigfoot but I don't care. I'm big guy, a big name, and if anything happens to me, like an “accident”, I'm pretty sure that would only lend credence to what I've told you here.
Happy landings.
Theo Plesha
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2023.06.08 22:11 KappaAlphaPhi Part 4 Conceptual Approach on How to End [Nuclear] War + A Matter of Pride and Integrity
9
Remembering integrity and pride in trade, it's time we value and respect cleverness and bravery across borders.
If you seek to disrupt a system, then why attack the freedom of those friends in mind whose interest and spirit can actually challenge a regime? Even the smallest good challenges what's fundamentally evil. The flourishing of achievement, grown self-esteem, and freedom are the most pressing threats to the power of those who attempt to justify their actions through deceit. That's why power-amassing tyrants always attempt to chain up entrepreneurs.
Yet, no matter the governance type or person visible on top, they all rely on clever entrepreneurs to keep things running. All processes in a society go through entrepreneurs at some point. Political demands cannot be met solely by the military or bureaucratic workforce, not even imprisoned workers can make a suitable substitute. This makes entrepreneurs uniquely positioned to stifle a toxic regime's processes on all levels from within. The focus should, therefore, be weakening the regime by stressing discrepancies between the regime and inner entrepreneurial interests.
10.
Why am I constantly being plagued in my social media news feeds with groundless claims of an uprising Russian population planning assassinations?
Indeed, I wonder how it can be propagated for Russians to execute a coup against the government if their resources for such endeavors are simultaneously cut short. Such claims are either hypocritical or brain-dead.
Violent attempts by average people to overthrow a regime happen under one condition only: The broad majority of a society has absolutely nothing left to lose. People only riot if the likelihood of dying in the effort to overthrow tyranny is equal to the likelihood of being slowly but certainly tortured to death by the regime. This is not the case in Russia. The situation is getting drastically worse by the minute, but right now, many Russians still believe they can make it through this simply by keeping their heads low enough to be out of the bullet trajectory line. Therefore, expecting the Russian society to overhaul itself from bottom-up is nonsensical.
10.1
In terms of peaceful sabotage, the ones in key positions are citizens themselves who uphold their system one way or another through their labor. Denying such service is a profound peaceful resistance.
However, not supporting a regime is a decision that drastically impacts one's lifestyle. The moment a person makes their discontent clear, they and their loved ones are immediately threatened in terms of privacy, income, possessions, and safety.
If you want people to take such a fundamental risk for everything they have built in their life, they have to be at least able to trade. Access to financial means is crucial for a communication infrastructure and self-defense means, such as preparations to escape a regime.
What can people in positions for sabotage, the ones at the core of the regime, Russians themselves, not do right now? Transfer their funds and purchase what's necessary.
P.N.
As long as this is the case, dignity is to stop whining in my altered social media front page feeds about sabotage headlines the responsibility whish they had not have to fake.
I am aware that the answer to the rhetorical question in point 10 is solely to fake that the economic sanctions contribute to some sort of positive process against Russia's autocrat.
Deceit became a necessity in order to keep Europeans quiet, who see their livelihoods diminished through this policy. The sanctions are an assault on sanity against both conflict parties' countries.
11.
Who goes down first?
The process of affecting a regime through economic sanctions is lengthy. Decades and generations of autocratic rulers will pass before the breaking point is reached.
However, this breaking point is not the love of democracy, a fight for dignity, or a wish for justice. Even the aspect of vengeance comes second. The breaking point manifests itself in a violent fight for bare survival, sometimes called civil war, though it's better described as a country internal resource war. Repeatedly, what triggered such violent riots was food scarcity.
Such a severe lack is not the case in Russia, and it won't be in the foreseeable future. Just like any major market, Russians are able to adapt their economy. Whereby it is not sensible to blame people for simply wanting to live well.
Those who impose economic sanctions, claiming they want to weaken a regime, simultaneously express an intention to cripple the country's society to the brink of a resource war.
But even if someone wanted to impose unjustified terror on the Russian population for decades to come, it would not halt the Ukraine conflict tomorrow, next year, or in twenty years.
11.1
It cannot be claimed that a slow painful demise of a culture leads to betterment for certain either.
If chaos erupts it is a great opportunity for a new oppressive regime to take over. There are countless of examples like Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Cambodia, Myanmar, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela...
12
Do you prefer to not have your home country suffer a similar period deprived of dignity, with it´s integrity crushed, as those listed above?
Let's stay aware that almost all countries have military agreements with one of the so-called "military superpowers." They will all join in destruction and experience immeasurable loss, just like them, once they battle. Therefore, if you want to protect your country, it is necessary to contribute to peace efforts between these parties.
Ukraine should have peace.
Europeans should not suffer from preventable economic deterioration and resource restrictions.
And everyone in the world should not have to fear for their lives just because some autocrat throws a fit again.
12 P.N.
I might have not made it clear enough that, although I talk a lot about Russia, these thoughts are supposed to relieve foremost Ukraine and ultimately the European suffering as well.
I have no ties to Russia at all, no friends or family, or financial connections. I have never been there. And unfortunately, even my understanding of Russian culture is basic at best, which might be the most disadvantageous factor while considering my position. With that potential disadvantage in mind, I would be glad to change that in a setting of flourishing free cultural exchange.
My reasoning is simply that I consider treating the Russian population like any other sensical.
13.
Humanity is already an internationally interconnected society. Borders are only in the minds of the last few less curious specimen. Their mental mishaps are no justification to punish those who have already welcomed international unity in their hearts and minds.
This practically includes all humans with access to the internet and native to the digital age's possibilities. Several times a day, we go online and unite our interests and abilities. No matter our race, religion, skin color, age, or gender: We overcome language and cultural barriers constantly, interact, and exchange our knowledge based on common mindsets to support each other in achieving common goals even if we're continents apart.
And those curious of the older generations happily explore the new possibilities likewise.
With about two-thirds of the human population enjoying internet access, it can be safely estimated that at least one-third of humanity would learn no moral from unity through separation through war. We have already left these solely mental boundaries behind years ago.
Even if one-third does not yet enjoy constant internet access, and another third would clinge to an age that has already passed: the revolution of the mind advances unstoppable for good. Older, less curious, soon-to-be-dead minds [L1] pose no threat. The conversion of pratically all of humanity towards enjoying international community is inevitable. [L2]
13.2
Empathy is the basis of a functional international society. Our empathy rises if we can experience, see, and talk about problems and goals.
Therefore, I cannot think of a reasonable justification to shut down communication. It's an essential enabler of working together to overcome challenges.
For everyone caring about human society, it is of utmost urgency to restore and enable social media access globally, as well as protecting the organic spread of topics of actual interest.
I consider international access to social media fundamental to peace.
Equally, taking away connectivity is fuel to the flames of chaos [L2].
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2023.06.08 21:52 Comfortable-Buddy343 The divine elder explains the dao
2023.06.08 21:51 maximusrusticus Help: First Pulled Pork - 5.7 lbs 11 hours in and still at 180
| https://reddit.com/link/144j56x/video/scjhk1tgmu4b1/player Hi everyone, I am sure many of you are tired of hearing this story. I have become obsessed with smoking and grilling. I am on amazingribs.com most of the day or leafing through Meathead's book. We just had a baby so I cannot read a lot of the chemistry but I am doing my best. Bought the WSM '14. Did ribs last week and a day later I wanted to do pulled pork for my family and the neighbors, since I just moved in. The butt was 5.7 lbs and I had it on at 225 most of the time for the first three hours on the WSM (14'). I had the grill probe wired through the grommet and the meat temp probe going under the lid. Disaster struck when I attempted to re-run the meat probe through the second tiny hole in the grommet after I saw some smoke seeping through the lid and got bothered. Well, the grommet popped off and I had to reinsert it with gloves as the heat started blasting. I did it after 15-20 mins of wrestling with it (some of you may know this is an annoying thing to slide in) - the temp was blasting at this point at 290 since the fire was eating all the oxygen. I stabilized it at around 250 - 270 for the rest of the cook. By 7 pm, it had been 11 hours since I had started cooking the butt and the internal meat temp was not moving past 180, in fact, it was at times dipping to 179 even as I cranked the heat to 290, etc. I was expecting the infamous "stall" but this was 6 hours after the it stalled at 159. Now, it was not moving past 180 for hours. By 8:30 people were getting ready to leave and packing their things. I just took it out at 180 and everyone loved it. People were groaning as they ate saying it was the best meat they'd ever had yada yada. It was good - I'm sure it would pale in comparison to what most guys would do on this sub, but the meat was tender and juicy. Now, I tried my thermometer today in boiling water and it seems to be OK. Could it be that it stalled for extra long at 180? Could it be that I had the thermometer in the wrong place even though I repositioned it a few times? Any ideas as to what may have been happening will be very appreciated. Thank you! submitted by maximusrusticus to smoking [link] [comments] |
2023.06.08 21:44 liquorice-barbell Rodent Bait Box Contamination OCD
I’ve had OCD since I was a kid (maybe 17 years at this point if I were to guess). My biggest contamination fear for a while has been rodent bait boxes. I often scan the ground for them, and even if I see one in the distance, I think my mind fixates on it so strongly that I worry that it was actually closer than I remember, and that I may have accidentally touched it. Sometimes I need to retrace my steps to convince myself that I didn’t pass one too closely, or touch one with my foot, or that the sound I heard when I stepped on a rock or leaf wasn’t a box that I accidentally kicked.
I’ve quarantined an item I was carrying in my shoulder bag one day when I walked by a bait box on the sidewalk, worried that I’d gotten too close to it, and I think my act of worrying so much about it actually convinced me that I should be worried, when deep deep down I know that it’s probably safe and I didn’t really touch it.
The most difficult experience I’ve had with them is when my partner and our dog were sitting at a table in the courtyard of a cafe, and I realized that a bait box was immediately right behind the chair my partner was sitting in, and my dog was on the ground beside it. There were leaves scattered all over the ground and it was super windy, and I know that my dog probably did get close to the box or even touch it because she was so near to it. My mind kept spiraling after that, and I’m still afraid to touch the boots I was wearing that day, the shoes my partner was wearing, and for a while I was afraid of the backseat of the car where my dog was sitting on our ride home due to perceived cross-contamination.
This has really been weighing on me because the bait boxes are so prevalent anytime I go out, and while they often are against buildings, I’ve seen them hidden in bushes and right on sidewalks, so I never know when I might stumble upon one. I used to live in a major city where the boxes are everywhere, and I didn’t even acknowledge them then, and it’s really frustrating that now they stop me from going too close to buildings, sitting on the ground, letting bags hang at my side, etc. and that I’m so often checking where I’ve walked (indoors and outdoors just in case). I want to let go of the fear that my irresponsibility, if I don’t look out for them, could lead to my shoes getting contaminated, and that my shoes could then spread those contaminants to others. I need to break the cycle of thinking that spending a few seconds or minutes checking is better than the very slim but not impossible chance that I’d been contaminated and would then cross-contaminate things in my home and those around me.
It’s hard to push past that fear because it all boils down to me not wanting to cause any harm to others. I don’t even care about getting sick myself. I give so much time and energy to making sure I’m responsible and “clean,” and I throw away or quarantine things that I enjoy if I perceive them to be contaminated or unsafe. I want to be able to go out and wear the shoes that I think look best with my outfit instead of just the ones that feel clean and don’t have a memory of when I thought they might’ve been contaminated attached to them. I want to walk and look up at the world around me instead of the ground.
submitted by
liquorice-barbell to
OCD [link] [comments]
2023.06.08 21:43 remus989 r/hockeydesig will be going dark on June 12 – 14 in protest of Reddit's API changes
Please visit
ModCoord, read this letter, and then sign on with your subreddit name and/or username if you support this initiative.
Dear Reddit Community and Management,
As active members, users, and moderators of numerous communities within Reddit, we come forward with concerns about recent changes to the platform's API pricing, especially as it relates to third party Reddit apps.
The Situation Recently, Reddit has significantly increased its API pricing, rendering it increasingly unaffordable for third-party app developers to continue their services. The prohibitive cost threatens to make it difficult to mod from mobile, stifle innovation, limit user choice, and effectively shut down a significant portion of the culture we've all come to appreciate. Indeed, on May 31, 2023, when these changes were announced, every third party app developer on Reddit made essentially the same statement: "I will have to shut down the app." Apps can also no longer show ads which was a primary source of revenue. So not only do they have to pay exorbitant fees, they can't even mitigate those fees with ads.
apolloapp redditisfun Relayforreddit GetNarwhal BaconReader /ReddPlanet /redditsync /Infinity_For_Reddit /JoeyForReddit RedReader pager /BoostForReddit /SlideforReddit The Impact on Moderators and Communities As moderators, we find ourselves at the intersection of Reddit’s management and its user base, striving to facilitate respectful and meaningful dialogues in our communities. The recent API pricing change is detrimental to our efforts in several ways.
Many of us rely on third-party apps to manage our communities effectively. Let's just rip the band-aid right off: in many cases these apps offer superior mod tools, customization, streamlined interfaces, and other quality of life improvements that the official app does not offer. The potential loss of these services due to the pricing change would significantly impact our ability to moderate efficiently, thus negatively affecting the experience for users in our communities and for us as mods and users ourselves.
Concerns about NSFW Content and the New Policy Mature content, aka NSFW content, or 18+ content and subreddits are subject to new restrictions that make this type of content unavailable via the api. That means that if the other restrictions on third party apps were not present, they still would not be able to display that content.
These changes render moderation of nsfw communities via automated processes or by a third party app null and void. If a moderation bot does not have access to this content, it cannot operate. Moderators of these communities can no longer use a third party app to mod even if they were still going to be financially feasible to run. Having access to only content in the subreddit that the bot moderates is not sufficient to prevent spam, karma farming, link-dumping, and the other types of behaviors that ruin subreddits and sometimes separate users from their money. Mature content has long been something we don't really talk about; like it's a second class citizen or something not to be discussed in polite company. But we all know that mature content is a big driver of traffic, otherwise spambots and onlyfans promoters wouldn't try so hard to monetize it. Spam in these communities will skyrocket with these changes requiring either an exponential increase in brute force human moderation, or a give-up attitude on the part of mods leaving communities overrun with spam.
This also impacts communities other than mature content ones. Communities for art, chat communities for minors, and communities for nudist lifestyles are examples of non-"mature content" spaces that need their bots and mods to be able to see when a user is posting in mature content communities.
The reasons given for this restriction indicate complying with legal requirements or helping content creators better control their content. But we see no reason that third party apps could not incorporate a similar process as reddit would use to display the content in their own apps. Their lack of discussion combined with the high level of restrictions indicates another reason might be at play. Indeed, past interaction and communication with admins would all but guarantee it.
Communication Concerns One of the longstanding concerns with Reddit management is the lack of transparent and consistent communication, particularly with those of us who contribute significantly to the platform's functionality and growth: the moderators. Over the years, we've experienced abrupt changes with minimal to no notice, as reddit made changes or launched new features or tools with little to no notice, creating unforeseen repercussions and consequences in managing subreddits. Entire subreddits and initiatives have been formed over the years to address these concerns. And while there have been some improvements, the communication gap remains sizable and often leaves us — as unpaid moderators — scrambling to adapt and ensure our subreddits remain places where every user feels comfortable enough to comment without fear of attack or other negative engagement.
Furthermore, inconsistencies between what is communicated by Reddit's management and the actual outcomes contribute to growing trust issues between mods and admins. Promises of advance notice of changes have repeatedly fallen through, further exacerbating our concern about this recent API pricing change.
Our Plea We understand that Reddit, like any company, must balance its financial obligations. However, we believe that the longevity and success of this platform rest on preserving the rich ecosystem that has developed around it. We urge Reddit's management to reconsider the recent API pricing change, finding a compromise that allows third-party app developers to continue contributing to this platform's success.
We ask for a solution that recognizes the vital role these third-party apps play and takes into consideration the negative impacts this decision might have on both users and moderators. A sustainable pricing model that encourages rather than discourages these apps' growth and innovation will only strengthen the Reddit community.
Conclusion.
We've seen how, in the past, responses to big issues can be a bit vague. We totally get that when tough questions come your way, it's not always easy to be there with a quick answer. Likewise, we understand that putting yourself out there in public can be hard, but we feel it simply comes with the territory when these times arise.
Unfortunately, these recent actions undertaken by Reddit come off as inconsistent with previous commitments, which makes it challenging to maintain trust between mods and admins. We are sincerely asking for an honest and direct response to this letter with tangible action that mitigates the issues raised here.
We hope this letter will facilitate a meaningful conversation among Reddit's leadership, its diverse mods and users, and third-party app developers upon which many mods rely. We firmly believe a solution can be reached that would be mutually beneficial to all while helping reddit achieve its goals. Likewise, we hope reddit will consider that its unique strength is derived from its diversity of mods, users, and developers and the myriad tools used to engage with the platform.
Thank you for your attention and understanding.
Sincerely,
The undersigned
edit: Please consider crossposting this to your community or any space you think should be made aware of it. These changes will affect all users.
submitted by
remus989 to
hockeydesign [link] [comments]
2023.06.08 21:34 MydnightSilver [WTS] - [WTT]: Gold, platinum, paladium, poured silver, slabbed silver, Niue • Palau • Cook Islands • PAMP & collectibles, and a little bit of junk. New items & lower prices! Free 90% bonus gift & free monthly giveaway contest!
Hi Folks! Up for grabs today Also up for grabs ☆ Everything is tested on a Sigma Pro
☆ All orders get a free 90% silver bonus
and get entered to win a free (shipping too) 1oz SilverTowne bar, factory sealed! Drawing monthly, winner announced first post of each month, 1 ticket per item purchased.
☆
Trading: I'm looking for gold or platinum 1/10ths, mostly. I also really like SilverTowne casino / poker chips, and 90% junk. If it's not on my list, I might still be interested just hit me up :)
GOLD - PLATINUM - PALLADIUM
2000-W Bi-metallic Library of Congress - Proof - with all OGP including outer sleeve - This Proof gold & platinum coin is the first gold and platinum bi-metallic coin issued by the US Mint.
☆ Contains 0.2509oz of platinum surrounded by a ring of 0.2509oz gold - Asking $975 with free shipping
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Platinum Kook - BU w/capsule - $155 (low mintage)
Closeupand Reverse
~
PAMP Paladium Fortuna w/assay - 10g - $670
Closeup and Reverse
BOXED & PACKAGED
2021 Palau - Inca Sun God with COA & display box - $160
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Niue - My First Treasures - My First Diamond - Only 1,000 minted! - Box, COA, packaging included - only $80
Closeup and Reverse
~
2017 Zombucks Walker Proof - with matching box and packaging. Small tears on top flap of outer packaging - $105
Closeup and Reverse
~
2021 PAMP Fender 351 Heavy guitar pick - limited edition, 10G sterling, absolute mint condition - $85
Closeup and Reverse
~
1992 Columbus Quincentennial - 1oz Proof with box & COA - $45
Closeup and Reverse
GRADED SLABS
2022 Cook Islands - Iron Maiden, Fear of the Dark - PF70 Ultra Cameo with box & COA - $140
Closeup and Reverse
~
2015 Palau - World of Wonders: Abbey of St. Gaul - Colorized, ER - PF69 Ultra Cam - $135
Closeup and Reverse
~
2014 Niue Disney .5oz - Season's Greetings - Colorized - PF69 Ultra Cameo - $90
Closeup and Reverse
~
Palau - Undated Good Luck Casino Set - Green - MS69 - $75
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Niue - Hogwarts: Dumbledore's Office - MS70 Antiqued - Comes with packaging too - $150
Closeup and Reverse
~
2023 Chad Black Mamba - 2oz Figure 8 - Antiqued high relief - MS70 - Only 888 made and only two MS70 in existence - Comes with original boxing too! - $340 each, FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING - Serial #160 - Last one left!
Closeup and Packaging
~
2021-S ASE - MS70 T1 FS EI - $77
2021-P MS69 T1 FS EI - $45
Closeup and Reverse
● Take both silver eagles for only $120!
~
2019 Britannia - Reverse Struck Thru Error - MS69 - $185
Closeup and Reverse
~
2014 Britannia - Lunar Horse Obverse Mule Error - Gem Unc - $90
Closeup and Reverse (which is missing castellation)
~
1/4 Onza PF70 UC - $47
1/4 Double Eagle PF70 UC - $47
1/2 Maple RP70 DCAM (#15 of 259) - $65
Fractional slabs and Reverse
● Take all 3 for $155, shipped!
~
Australian MS70 DCAM Kooks - 2013-P + 2016-P - $50 each
Closeup and Reverse
● Take both and get free shipping!
FINE SILVER
Hand pours - RCM .9999 shot - Bravo's Coin - End the Fed (new stamp) ripple bar @ 6.4oz ($200) - End The Fed @ 4.9oz ($155) - Fuck The Fed @ 3.7oz ($115) - End the Fed @ 2.8oz ($85) - Weights rounded down, these are fat... scale pics by request.
● Get $5 off any pour with purchase of any other item!
Closeup
● FREE SHIPPING ON POURS!
~
Maple Pick 2 Lots! - 2x 1989 + 1x 1993 + 3x 2015 + 1x 2014 + 1x 2022 - pick any 2 for $70 - pick any 4 for $135 - BIN all for $270 and get free shipping. All with airtites.
Old style closeup (note the small burnish spot on one) - Old style leafs - New style closeup - New style leafs
~
2022 Allegories - Germania & Polonia, with the convex airtite - Comes with COA too! - $39, only 2 left available!
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 KOMSCO Phoenix - $49
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Niue Hawksbill Sea Turtle - $40
Closeup and Reverse
~
2006 Cook Islands - 9/11 Freedom Tower - $44
Closeup and Reverse
~
2oz 2017 Pheli Mint - Temptation of the Succubus - $86
Closeup and Reverse
JUNK SILVER
LOT: $10fv 40% Kennedy halves - 8.2x = $82 (2.958 ASW)
Closeup
~
1935 50% Fiji Florin - $12 or add to any order for only $9!
Closeup and Reverse
Payments & Shipping
In order of preference: Zelle, CashApp, Venmo FF, PayPal FF, Google Pay, or BTC.
Shipping is $5 tracked, $10 Priority. I pack items like they're being airdropped into an active war zone and hand deliver fast (same day when possible) to the counter, but insurance is available. Once delivered to USPS, out of my hands. Willing to middleman at buyer's expense.
Everything is priced below comps, let me know if I'm overpriced on anything 😎
DM preferred but can do chat... make sure to leave a comment so I get notified on mobile.
Thanks for looking & have a fantastic day!
submitted by
MydnightSilver to
CoinSales [link] [comments]
2023.06.08 21:33 MydnightSilver [WTS] - [WTT]: Gold, platinum, paladium, poured silver, slabbed silver, Niue • Palau • Cook Islands • PAMP & collectibles, and a little bit of junk. New items & lower prices! Free 90% bonus gift & free monthly giveaway contest!
Hi Folks! Up for grabs today Also up for grabs ☆ Everything is tested on a Sigma Pro
☆ All orders get a free 90% silver bonus
and get entered to win a free (shipping too) 1oz SilverTowne bar, factory sealed! Drawing monthly, winner announced first post of each month, 1 ticket per item purchased.
☆
Trading: I'm looking for gold or platinum 1/10ths, mostly. I also really like SilverTowne casino / poker chips, and 90% junk. If it's not on my list, I might still be interested just hit me up :)
GOLD - PLATINUM - PALLADIUM
2000-W Bi-metallic Library of Congress - Proof - with all OGP including outer sleeve - This Proof gold & platinum coin is the first gold and platinum bi-metallic coin issued by the US Mint.
☆ Contains 0.2509oz of platinum surrounded by a ring of 0.2509oz gold - Asking $975 with free shipping!
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Platinum Kook - BU w/capsule - $155 (low mintage)
Closeupand Reverse
~
PAMP Paladium Fortuna w/assay - 10g - $670
Closeup and Reverse
BOXED & PACKAGED
2021 Palau - Inca Sun God with COA & display box - $160
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Niue - My First Treasures - My First Diamond - Only 1,000 minted! - Box, COA, packaging included - only $80
Closeup and Reverse
~
2017 Zombucks Walker Proof - with matching box and packaging. Small tears on top flap of outer packaging - $105
Closeup and Reverse
~
2021 PAMP Fender 351 Heavy guitar pick - limited edition, 10G sterling, absolute mint condition - $85
Closeup and Reverse
~
1992 Columbus Quincentennial - 1oz Proof with box & COA - $45
Closeup and Reverse
GRADED SLABS
2022 Cook Islands - Iron Maiden, Fear of the Dark - PF70 Ultra Cameo with box & COA - $140
Closeup and Reverse
~
2015 Palau - World of Wonders: Abbey of St. Gaul - Colorized, ER - PF69 Ultra Cam - $135
Closeup and Reverse
~
2014 Niue Disney .5oz - Season's Greetings - Colorized - PF69 Ultra Cameo - $90
Closeup and Reverse
~
Palau - Undated Good Luck Casino Set - Green - MS69 - $75
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Niue - Hogwarts: Dumbledore's Office - MS70 Antiqued - Comes with packaging too - $150
Closeup and Reverse
~
2023 Chad Black Mamba - 2oz Figure 8 - Antiqued high relief - MS70 - Only 888 made and only two MS70 in existence - Comes with original boxing too! - $340 each, FREE PRIORITY SHIPPING - Serial #160 - Last one left!
Closeup and Packaging
~
2021-S ASE - MS70 T1 FS EI - $77
2021-P MS69 T1 FS EI - $45
Closeup and Reverse
● Take both silver eagles for only $120!
~
2019 Britannia - Reverse Struck Thru Error - MS69 - $185
Closeup and Reverse
~
2014 Britannia - Lunar Horse Obverse Mule Error - Gem Unc - $90
Closeup and Reverse (which is missing castellation)
~
1/4 Onza PF70 UC - $47
1/4 Double Eagle PF70 UC - $47
1/2 Maple RP70 DCAM (#15 of 259) - $65
Fractional slabs and Reverse
● Take all 3 for $155, shipped!
~
Australian MS70 DCAM Kooks - 2013-P + 2016-P - $50 each
Closeup and Reverse
● Take both and get free shipping!
FINE SILVER
Hand pours - RCM .9999 shot - Bravo's Coin - End the Fed (new stamp) ripple bar @ 6.4oz ($200) - End The Fed @ 4.9oz ($155) - Fuck The Fed @ 3.7oz ($115) - End the Fed @ 2.8oz ($85) - Weights rounded down, these are fat... scale pics by request.
● Get $5 off any pour with purchase of any other item!
Closeup
● FREE SHIPPING ON POURS!
~
Maple Pick 2 Lots! - 2x 1989 + 1x 1993 + 3x 2015 + 1x 2014 + 1x 2022 - pick any 2 for $70 - pick any 4 for $135 - BIN all for $270 and get free shipping. All with airtites.
Old style closeup (note the small burnish spot on one) - Old style leafs - New style closeup - New style leafs
~
2022 Allegories - Germania & Polonia, with the convex airtite - Comes with COA too! - $39, only 2 left available!
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 KOMSCO Phoenix - $49
Closeup and Reverse
~
2022 Niue Hawksbill Sea Turtle - $40
Closeup and Reverse
~
2006 Cook Islands - 9/11 Freedom Tower - Proof - $44
Closeup and Reverse
~
2oz 2017 Pheli Mint - Temptation of the Succubus - $86
Closeup and Reverse
JUNK SILVER
LOT: $10fv 40% Kennedy halves - 8.2x = $82 (2.958 ASW)
Closeup
~
1935 50% Fiji Florin - $12 or add to any order for only $9!
Closeup and Reverse
Payments & Shipping
In order of preference: Zelle, CashApp, Venmo FF, PayPal FF, Google Pay, or BTC.
Shipping is $5 tracked, $10 Priority. I pack items like they're being airdropped into an active war zone and hand deliver fast (same day when possible) to the counter, but insurance is available. Once delivered to USPS, out of my hands. Willing to middleman at buyer's expense.
Everything is priced below comps, let me know if I'm overpriced on anything 😎
DM preferred but can do chat... make sure to leave a comment so I get notified on mobile.
Thanks for looking & have a fantastic day!
submitted by
MydnightSilver to
Pmsforsale [link] [comments]
2023.06.08 21:33 Omni_Keizer Original Toa Team + Story Layout
A while back I had begun thinking of my own concept for a Bionicle story, naturally beginning with an original Toa team, asking about what different elements could be utilized. Basing it in the original Matoran Universe, the approach of changing up the elements from the traditional six, seemed like free real estate, and even expanding the number to encompass more than just six, too, recalling how the Toa Mangai had roughly eleven members.
So, to start with, the team layout I have is thusly;
Team A.)
Ekimu - Toa of Light.
Umarak - Toa of Iron.
Mamuk - Toa of Fire.
Owaki - Toa of Water.
Agarak - Toa of Plantlife.
Etoku - Toa of Earth.
and Varian - Toa of Psionics.
Keen-eyed viewers might recognize these names. And that's fair. All of these, minus Varian who I'll get to, are all names taken from G2 of Bionicle. I felt the need to take and reutilize names and ideas from G2 of Bionicle, and revisit them in new lights. Perhaps even laying the foundation for the days of Okoto within the same universe, y'never know.
Mamuk, Owaki, Etoku, and Agarak are all the names of the original Protectors from G2 Bionicle, hence why I used them specifically, whilst leaving out Uganu and Kerato for reasons I'll get to.
Ekimu is of course the name of the Mata Nui type character from G2 of Bionicle. I really liked Ekimu. I thought he was a nice alternate take of a Mata Nui type character, and his use of the Mask of Creation, something that had only been referenced in G1 Bionicle (even if it weren't necessarily the same thing) gave me even more to look at. I made him a Toa of Light as I feel that would be the most natural fit for him.
Umarak is where things get complicated. Essentially, he's supposed to be the allegory for G2 Makuta, with his name derived from the 'Hunter' character from those waves. I felt that was applicable since he not only used Makuta's Mask of Control, but also was created from shadows. It's admittedly a roundabout way of looking at everything.
One last idea I had was that each of them would be from different nations in the Matoran Universe.
Ekimu and Umarak would both be from Artakha, as an obvious connection to G2 Ekimu's connection with the Mask of Creation. And from there, I tossed it around that-
Mamuk would be from Voya Nui. Owaki would be from Metru Nui. Agarak would be from Karda Nui. And Etoku would be from Mahri Nui.
Now, this in itself can become very complicated, I realize, but that was at least a fun concept that a part of me wanted to play around with, with each individual having a unique lease on life based on their histories, beyond different elemental bases as Onu-Matoran or Le-Matoran.
Varian is another complicated one. As many of you are, once again, already aware, Varian was a Toa of Psionics who worked alongside Norik during the events of 'Nobody Gets Left Behind.' I really, really liked Varian, ever since I first stumbled upon her in, of all things, a humanized artwork of her after being put in stasis; which I sadly cannot find now. It's a bit self-indulgent to have her be freed, and takes away the impact of her tragic ending, but that's part of what I wanted to see.
So that's the first 6-7 members, and upon revisiting things, I also went to think of a secondary group, which is where I had to get more creative. These would comprise of;
A Toa of Plasma.
A Toa of Lightning.
A Toa of Gravity.
A Toa of Magnetism.
A Toa of Sonics.
and a Toa of Air.
I was inspired to use this set up based on the Bohrok-Kal, actually, who used these elements (Air, being a stand-in for Vacuum of course). In terms of the setting of when this takes place, part of me wanted to actually explore the idea of them being the predecessors of who became the Bohrok-Kal, as a bit of a tragic future, but that wouldn't work since Bohrok are made from Av-Matoran specifically, if I'm not mistaken.
In any case, that's at least the inspiration for where they came from. As mentioned, these would be the secondary cast, since this is obviously a lot of characters to juggle. Going on their own away missions, but meeting up with and having adventures with the core 6-7. This also leaves out Ice and Stone Toa, but... willing to forego that for the time being.
I could go on and on about this for hours, as I do have more foundation for villains and what a general potential of the story could go. But the last thing I'll add is that I'm uncertain as to when this takes place. I mentioned the potential of this being a past story, set far back in the day, possibly before the Toa Metru saga, in reference to the Bohrok-Kal, but I already mentioned an issue with that. Additionally, there's the potential to have this set at the beginning or around Ignition, not for a particular reason, but that's the bias I have as that's where I'm at in my revisit of the Bionicle story.
I hope that this was at least intriguing, I did my best to streamline this as best I could, so please let me know any questions you have and I will happily answer. Thanks!
submitted by
Omni_Keizer to
bioniclelego [link] [comments]