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lawrencedagstine · 17 days

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Alien Dimensions #26: Space Fiction Short Stories - "Mars Colonization Edition"

Pleased to announce that I have a Martian-themed short story in the current edition of Alien Dimensions, No. #26. “Mars Colonization, The Red Planet,“ and the 2030s and Beyond is the theme. It is all new, and it is available on Amazon Kindle and in a thick print paperback format (to my knowledge). This would be my third appearance with Alien Dimensions over the years, last time I showed up was in…

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topnotchquark · 3 months

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Behind F1's Velvet Curtain

This article by Kate Wagner on her INEOS sponsored trip to the Austin GP at COTA last year was commissioned by Road and Track magazine and then taken down. Presumably because Kate has was pretty staunch in her opinions about what was essentially a paid trip.

It is exactly the kind of thing I have wanted to read about the felt experience of the money business of F1. It doesn't get into technicalities and does not produce any spreadsheets for reference. It's just, her experience of the presence of wealth in the sport.

She starts off by talking about how she has been covering cycling and NASCAR for a while now and both of those, in comparison, are scrappier sports with smaller sponsors and cheaper tickets.

What I also especially loved was how fascinated she was with the cars themselves, and how they seem like a true marvel of human engineering. She almost described the cars like these alien beasts that came into this dimension out of nowhere and were being constantly monitored and dueled with to furnish wins and glory (and shareholder value for sponsors).

I think I always had an understanding of the weird myth making surrounding F1 and the kind of media attention it attracts, but someone like Kate (who I have loved reading for a while now) putting it into perspective really made it click for me. This sport thrives off of the kind of cocoon it has built around it and understands exactly the certain exclusiveness it needs to maintain to keep the story alive.

Anyway, give it a read, especially because Road and Track is trying to bury it to not piss off sponsors.

#I think matt oxley was talking about how motogp has been struggling with money and hence dorna is trying to woo the American market #and the american tech sponsors #but bikes don't require as much data driven performance engineering as f1 cars do #Ducati is probably leading the operation in this regard because they have audi behind them #anyway I knew motogp does not produce the same level of wealth but I still decided to check numbers #Marc's net worth is $25Mn and he is arguably the best driver of his generation with enough sponsors behind him #Max's net worth in comparison is $165Mn easily over 6 times that of Marc #Vale's net worth is $200Mn but he is still somewhat of an outlier because his popularity far outweighs that of motogp itself #Lewis is still around $300Mn and he hasn't even retired yet #Schumacher was around $800Mn #I know net worth is a very stupid number to consider but driver net worth is an easy way to translate impact ig #the current Max to Mercedes rumours caused Merc valuation to rise by $11Bn #Billion! 11 of them!#honestly I frequently get desensitized to money just purely as a number because I am exposed to businesses with large valuations but #I still wanted a moment to reconsider how much money rides on this sport #and how that ties to how rich people function #just made me remember that Ocon is the last driver from a working class background #Fernando and Lewis are the only other with working class beginnings and both of them are over 35 and ridiculously talented #its not a sport for regular people to break into #Vale also started with karts and had to shift to bikes #anyway I love Kate Wagner please read this #and talk to me about money and F1 #Kate wagner #f1 #formula 1 #road and track magazine #lewis hamiton #mercedes amg petronas f1 team #Mercedes #INEOS

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samlamwambam · 6 months

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Roundtable Presentation: We Don't Need Another Superhero

How do structural mythology, cultural studies, and cultural history reflect the series’ world and world-building around superheroes?

Supergirl’s true identity is Kara Zor-El, with her earth name being Kara Danvers. The show takes place in National City, and besides this world’s advanced technology and interaction with the extraterrestrial, it reflects a world much like ours. The politics of this world is similar in the sense that there are “anti-alien” political groups that lead the aliens of this world to find refuge in their own bars, neighborhoods, etc. In fact, Kara’s best friend, Lena Luthor, develops a piece of technology meant to identify who in a crowd is alien and who is not, a severe form of othering.

In what ways are the superheroes and their abilities informed by their racial, gender, sexual, and cultural identities?

One of the main challenges for Supergirl is coming to terms with her identity and finding space for herself in a world dominated by male superheroes, specifically her cousin, Superman (aka Clark Kent). During the destruction of their planet, a teenage Kara is sent to earth to protect baby Clark. However, Kara arrives on earth much later than Superman because she ended up trapped in the Phantom Zone, a dimension of space where time doesn’t exist. Thus, although Kara is older, Clark is already an adult while Kara is growing up with her adoptive family. In a world where a male superhero with identical powers is established, Supergirl has to work twice as hard to make sure she isn’t just known as “Superman’s cousin.”

Another way Supergirl is informed by her gender is through her interaction with other male characters. Most Superman narratives don’t typically focus on Superman’s love interest, and even if it does, it rarely has a large enough focus to affect the trajectory of Superman’s abilities. Contrastingly, the TV show Supergirl is packed with “damsel in distress” storyarcs, where she is often saved by one of her love interests. This is interesting considering one of the main themes of the show is feminism.

In what ways do costumes and concealing identities further separate the superheroes from normal society? How necessary is it for the superheroes to hide their true identities to successfully achieve their goals?

Supergirl's costume separates her completely from her actual identity, Kara Danvers. The importance of the costume especially comes to light when she is interacting with her boss, Cat Grant, and her best friend, Lena Luthor. Both characters have very different attitudes when it comes to Supergirl versus Kara. Cat Grant idolizes Supergirl and aims to secure interviews with her for her magazine while treating Kara, her assistant, with little acknowledgement and appreciation. Lena Luthor, who begins as friends with both of Supergirl’s identities, becomes both vengeful and terrified of Supergirl and strains their relationship even further by developing anti-alien technology that could dampen Supergirl’s abilities. As for her relationship with Kara, the two are the bestest of friends until Kara reveals her superhero identity to Lena, leading to an extreme loss of trust between the two. For Supergirl, it’s extremely important for her to maintain a hidden identity so that her complex work relationships do not get mixed up with her personal ones.

How do the economic, political, and social events that occurred during the series’ creation and broadcast cultivate and inform the superheroes’ decisions and actions?

Supergirl aired in 2015, and in 2016, the election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was the topic of the year. Thus, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that season two of Supergirl had more episodes surrounding the president than any other season. The President in the world of this series was a woman named Olivia Marsdin. However, one of the biggest shocks of the entire series was in the season four premiere, where The President was revealed to be a shapeshifting alien herself. This is especially interesting considering Trump’s stance on immigration during this time. In the world of Supergirl, this revelation threw the public into utter chaos and shock, especially because of the anti-alien sympathizers spread throughout the country. Although the President shows no immediate threat and has been running the country with its inhabitants best interests at heart, both human and alien, the Constitution leaves no room for the President to not be a natural-born citizen, let alone an extraterrestrial. The revelation tarnished the image of aliens all over the country, including Supergirl, and anti-alien extremist groups gained even more support, with one of the leaders, Agent Liberty, becoming the primary antagonist of the season.

How do the superheroes question themselves, each other, and their obligations and duties to the people around them?

Because she has to keep her identities separate, Supergirl often has to hide parts of herself from the people closest to her. Thus, when she’s able to share her full self with someone, it takes an extra emotional toll on her to lose them. During an invasion, Supergirl has to choose between saving the people of Earth from becoming mindless drones or losing the love of her life, Mon-El. Ultimately, she of course chooses to save Earth, but there is a moment where Supergirl questions whether all she has sacrificed for this world both physically and emotionally is worth it or not.

@theuncannyprofessoro

#oxyspeculativetv

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dirty-bear-rick-sanchez · 2 years

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My fics masterpost

Here’s my writing tag and my AO3

Here’s a list of my fics (note: a * next to a fic indicates that it’s smut, minors please DNI with these!). All fics have a summary including potential trigger warnings and a word count that’s visible once you click on them, and the fic itself is under a cut.

Rick and Morty centric

A Level of Comfort - Rick has a nightmare after the events of Solaricks and has to check on his family to reassure himself that they’re OK.

Aftermath - the aftermath of Rick: A Mort Well Lived.

Never Again - an alternate playout of Solaricks where Rick follows Prime instead of being stopped by Morty (warning for sexual assault).

Double Dessert - while visiting the Citadel, Morty makes friends with another Morty whose Rick seems to be unusually overprotective.

Cold Nights - after a tough day, Rick stays up late trying to distract himself from his negative thoughts. However, he’s soon joined by Morty, who seems to be having the same problem.

Snowman - in another dimension, Rick looks after a toddler Morty.

He’s Like Me - Morty is keeping a secret from Rick and Rick wants to know what it is.

Free Grandpa Hugs - a lone Morty on the Citadel attends the Morty Pride event.

Rick and Beth centric

All The Pretty Little Horses - Beth confronts Rick about the revelation that she's not his original daughter.

Birdrick

Caretaking - Birdperson is worried about Rick overworking himself while ill and takes care of him (can be read as romantic or platonic).

Sunshine Daydream - Birdrick fluff. Just a sweet time between our favourite space couple.

Disobedience - while on a stakeout, Rick disobeys Birdperson’s orders and gets himself injured as a result. Birdperson patches him up, but isn’t happy about it. Rick finds himself enjoying his friend’s rough treatment more than he should.

Alien - Birdperson looks close enough to human that Rick sometimes forgets he’s not only a member of another species, but one from an entirely different evolutionary timeline. Other times, however, the difference is undeniable.

Rick/reader

*Tease - PNP/porn no plot, Rick invites reader over for sex but teases them by working in front of them instead (reader has a vagina, but no gender is specified, or secondary sex characteristics such as boobs).

Rickcest

*Fractal Dust - Rick goes to the newly-built Citadel, where he meets another Rick in a bar and they hook up.

*J19ζ7 - Rick is called to the newly-built Citadel by the Council of Ricks, who have discovered an ‘anomaly’ - Rick J19ζ7.

Jerrick

*PlayRick - Jerry intrudes in the garage and finds an interesting magazine.

#rick and morty #rnm #rick sanchez #morty smith #birdrick #birdperson #rickcest #selfcest #rick and morty fanfic #rnm fanfic #jerrick

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hplovecraftmuseum · 1 year

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Lovecraft considered Algernon Blackwood's tale, THE WILLOWS, to be the finest supernatural story ever written in the English Language. It is my contention that he modeled the single most ambitious of his own stories after Blackwood's masterpiece. AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS would probably have been Lovecraft's proudest moment. Unfortunately, though the story appeared serialized in three issues of the science-fiction magazine, ASTOUNDING STORIES, it was abridged and filled with typos. As far as the similar themes in THE WILLOWS and 'MTS': Both tales feature explorers discovering vast and desolate regions. THE WILLOWS takes place on a broad region of the Danube River. For mile after mile there are only small islands covered in stunted willow trees. Both tales depict terrific winds. In THE WILLOWS the islands that dot the landscape are constantly being eaten away by the waters of the Danube as they rush forward. Lovecraft's tale on the other hand occurs in an unexplored region of Antarctica. In that story a mighty glacier (a frozen river) moves at an infinitely slow pace through the ancient city of the 'old ones' and likewise will one day grind it to dust - Lovecraft here plays with his favorite dimension-time. Another theme shared by each story is that of a mirage acting as a premonition. In THE WILLOWS the pair of lone travelers sees what they at first believe is a human body spinning in the current. The pair look again and realize the thing is really an otter playing near the shore. In 'ATMOM' the adventurers - in this case exploring Antarctica - see a mirage in the distance of the very ruined city they will soon discover. In this mirage, however, the city appears to be in pristine condition and crawling with movement as it may have looked a million years previously. Both stories feature tents and odd footprints or tracks. In the case of THE WILLOWS it is suggested that the stunted willow trees are actually able to move about - though the explorer-friends never actually see this happen. In Lovecraft's tale, reports come to the protagonists that alien creatures, not unlike trees in some respects and definitely as much plant as animal are discovered frozen in a cave. In their frozen state the lobes of their starfish-like heads droop down around their barrel-shaped bodies - reminiscent of the branches and trunk of a willow tree. As in THE WILLOWS our Antarctic explorers never actually see one of the creatures alive and moving. In THE WILLOWS the narrator and his friend, 'The Swede', have shared several outdoor adventures previously. The narrator appreciates that his pal is dependable and somewhat lacking in imagination. Now, however, The Swede, suddenly developes the ability to 'channel' the minds of the terrible 'spirits' of the mysterious region. When Lovecraft's Antarctic adventurers finally enter the ruined city of the alien beings - they refer to them by a variety of nebulous terms - they seem to be able to 'read' the history of the beings in the bas-relief carving they left behind with preternatural detail and precision. In both tales there is a hint of some even greater and more powerful menace beyond even the haunted willow landscape in one case, or the alien-built ruins of Antarctica in the other. In THE WILLOWS the pair of explorers - traveling through the haunted region in a canoe - are able to escape because another victim has been claimed by the spirits there. This time they see the illusion of a creature spinning in the waves again. Here it is not an otter, but a human corpse! In Lovecraft's tale a perusing monster- heard more than seen- is slowed as it stops to feed upon huge, grotesque white penguins in its path. There are other thematic and structural similarities between the two men's stories, but it is almost certain that Lovecraft was making an effort to build the same kind of atmosphere of sustained dread and cosmic fear that he appeciated so profoundly in Blackwood's greatest masterpiece. (Exhibit 287)

#lovecraft #at the mountains of madness #the Willows #algernon blackwood

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deuterium51614 · 7 months

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Behold my Umatani conspiracy board

LOVE -> Robihachi:

Aliens

Advanced technology

Shared universe

Wombat is there

HAPPY KISS -> Fairy Ranmaru:

Real magic

Memory wipe after battles

Butterfly/fairy wings

Dimension alternate to Earth

Royalty

Kiss someone else to transform

Robihachi -> Monthly Delulu Science:

Umatani Taiga -> tiger man

Yang is obsessed with strawberry candy -> Umatani Ichigo

Person A going about their regular life, then Person B enters the status quo and turns his life upside down (basing this off the latter's character descriptions)

Periodicals (Robby was a journalist, this anime is about a magazine)

The characters' names are in Western order (given name, then surname)

(Basically it's like an ABAB pattern...)

#boueibu #boueibu love #boueibu happy kiss #robihachi #fairy ranmaru #monthly moh scientific #(<- tagging it as that consistently until i get an actual title to tag it as since it's on the site)#(still not sure of the actual english title because they split “mousou” which means “delusion”)#(into katakana and kanji instead of just kanji...)#(i've seen it as “mousou”; “delusion”; and “delusional”)#(but because of the mix of how it's written “delulu” might make sense? lol)

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charmixpower · 2 years

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Earth's population reacting to magic and the winx for the first time headcanons? Kinda specific I know

I've been obessed with this topic ever since s4, I love this ask

Pretending that world peace was achieved at some point because I do not want to think about what would happen if magic was discovered in our current......""socio-poltical climate""

I'd imagine the first reaction is "that's CGI", no one in their right mind believes it

Bloom goes on live news to use Magic, and everyone there was like 0_0 oh shittttt

Most people still dont trust some random small news channel, I'm imagining they get invited on to some like Dr Phil, essentially so they can get "Exposed". Bloom invites Diaspro into the interview with her

Bloom proves her magical powers to that audience, while having Diaspro explain their motives and intentions in political speak, and it's essentially bouncing around from TV show to TV show until plot of s4 picks up

I just want Bloom to rock the shit of a condescending asshole on TV, that's all

By that point most people are like "aliens?!" "Magic????????" "ALIENS ARE COMING HERE?!??!?!?!?"

Then s4 and the Vengeance faries happen, and thankfully they don't get very far so they don't scare that many people (Mostly so they aren't universally feared by the people their going to eventually be helping)

Little girls all around the world are obessed, going "🥺 I wanna be a fairy 🥺🥺🥺🥺"

There's definitely immediate witch hunt reaction...that archives literally nothing because magical barriers

The Winx are seen as ambassadors of the whole magical dimension, which, no. They're not. They're 19

The sheer amount of TV appreances they make they become celebrities (?) But less like gossip magazine, and more everyone knows about them

There's a very small amount of people who think they deserve magic that the Fariy hunters would make into a little army, claiming that the Winx we're keeping magic from them

Can you imagine all the men out there who think men are inherently superior learning that magic is a primarily female change, and the most powerful of them are called faries? That would be fuckin hilarious

When the magical core of earth is restored is when shit gets real. Bunch of afabs (and a few non afabs) have magic now. You can imagine the mass "WHAT THE FUCK"

The earth fairies quickly round these people up for an education lmao

The sci-fi and Fantasy fans are fucking going crazy

Conspiracy theorists make fucking bank going crazy about this before the Earth fairies can start correcting things

Most people are like !!!!!!!, With a few bad actors trying to use magic or magical people for their own gain

Earth won't be part of the magical dimension for another couple hundreds of years, while people get used to magic, so it's just years of everyone becoming urban fantasy

#rus chatters #asks #winx club

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cryptid-salem · 1 year

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Salem reads the Doctor Who comic strips: Part 1

Doctor Who and the Iron Legion

Written by: Pat Mills & John Wagner

Art by: Dave Gibbons

Thoughts before I start

The Iron Legion has a very special place in my heart. Not only is it the first strip in this line (first published in Doctor Who Magazine 1,) but this was my first introduction to the Fourth Doctor.

I was 5th grade (possibly 6th) and got a trade paperback of Doctor Who Classics Omnibus, which contained this as the first story in the collection if I remember correctly.

I remember being swept off of my feet by the Fourth Doctor, how even though he looked strange against the story he was in, he fit right in. It made me feel good, given how different everything was for me at the time.

The Fourth Doctor always jumps to my mind when I think about Doctor Who and comics.

This story was also my introduction to the work of Dave Gibbons, a monument to the comic industry.

Plot Summary

In Doctor Who and the Iron Legion, we find the Fourth Doctor travelling alone throughout the universe. He lands the TARDIS on a planet much like our own that is being invaded by an army of robotic centurions from the Galactic Roman Empire. The Doctor gets involved in an altercation with the Ninth Legion that results in a tank firing a shell at the TARDIS as the Doctor takes off.

The TARDIS is thrown into a "dimensional disturbance" and lands in a victory parade for General Ironicus as he and his iron legion return from the Dimension Duct. The Doctor is apprehended almost immediately and we learn that the Emperor, Adolphus is a child. General Ironicus demands the knowledge to how the TARDIS works to help his further campaigns for the glory of the Galactic Roman Empire, when the Doctor refuses, he is thrown into the arena with the "Ectoslime."

The Doctor is sentenced to death by General Ironicus, which the Doctor handily escapes by making a joke to the Ectoslime. This infuriates General Ironicus, who sentences the Doctor to slavery aboard the Imperial Air Galley; a large zeppelin used to transport the royal family to the Temple of the Gods. Here, the Doctor meets Morris, a a cyborg slave who received his cybernetics due to his numerous escape attempts. As the royal family passes by them however, the Doctor notices something about Juno, the mother of the emperor, something that reveals a horrifying secret about the Galactic Roman Empire.

The Imperial Air Galley arrives to the Temple of the Gods, which the Doctor recognises immediately as an alien space ship. Morris and the Doctor soon after escape their chains and outrun the guards before running into Vesuvius, the oldest robot in Rome. They help Vesuvius by turning his pressure valve and relighting his flame and Vesuvius joins the Doctor as a companion. The Doctor asks Vesuvius to lead him and Morris to the Chamber of the Gods where the royal family and General Ironicus are praying to the Gods. The Doctor notices as the statues begin to move, the Doctor recognises the "gods" as members of the alien species the Malevilus.

The Doctor and their companions witness the first prisoners from another dimension being offered up in thanksgiving to the gods or the Malevilians: Babiyon, Abiss, Epok, Nekros, and Magog. The three run away from the massacre as they are noticed by the Malevilus and run into General Ironicus, who they take as a hostage as they escape. During their escape General Ironicus himself escapes, ordering some of his legion to pursue the group.

During their daring escape, the group are attacked by a group from the lron Legion, sent to kill them for desecrating the Temple of the Gods. The Doctor informs Morris to use the bact gun to fire back, killing the pursing legionaries. One of the heavily damaged soldiers fires back hitting Morris and damaging the craft the group was on. Morris dies shortly after they crash land, but the Doctor and Vesuvius find a sleeping army of Bestiarus - Beast Men, which were deactivated due to their destructive tendencies. The Doctor, against Vesuvius wishes, begins to make adjustments to their equipment to "smash the evil of Rome!"

The Doctor awakens the Beast Men and, with Vesuvius' help, makes his way to the Imperial Box. General Ironicus and Magog are meeting in the Imperial Box, ironically, about the capture of the Doctor. The Doctor's appearance enrages Magog, who kills General Ironicus, which leads to his burning body landing in the Circus Maximus, specifically onto the race track for "the savage chariot races." Magog then changes from her human form to her alien form, and begins to attack the Doctor.

The Beast Men begin their attack on the empire, starting the revolution. While the revolution starts Magog begins to attack the Doctor by attacking every cell in his body, making every cell feel pain. The Doctor quickly thinks and points a camera at Magog, broadcasting the encounter to the entire Galactic Roman Empire. During this broadcast the Doctor urges the citizens of the empire to rise up against the evil the runs the Galactic Roman Empire, which works inciting more rebellion. Magog, however gains the upper hand on the Doctor, exclaiming their glee at finally eating a Timelord, but after he tells her the secrets of the TARDIS. Once in the TARDIS the Doctor tricks Magog into accidentally sending herself into a spare dimension locked away within the TARDIS. Magog vows to return as she is sucked away, and the people destroy the Malevilus' spaceship, ending their rule. The people name Vesuvius as their new Caesar and the Doctor departs, into their next adventure...

How I felt about the story:

This story doesn't make any impressive changes to the story structure of typical Classic Doctor Who stories. It doesn't exactly challenge anything about how we view stories told with the Doctor, but it's not necessarily a bad thing.

Doctor Who and the Iron Legion is a fun if not a little boring in the middle. I love a good "Doctor helps overthrow an evil empire" story, but as far as this story goes it's kind of basic. A good intro for telling Who stories with the comic medium but not groundbreaking.

Dave Gibbons art is incredible. It feels like l'm looking at a 70's Who story and captures the vibe of Tom Baker's era perfectly. It's just nice to look at, even without colours (which is how I read it for this, but the first time I read it it was the coloured version.)

Should you read this?

I think if you have time to read it, and want to start getting into the Doctor Who comic strip yes. It's entirely unnecessary to however, and if you don't want to-you won't miss out on much (other than some cool art!)

Rating:

3/5

#doctor who comics #doctor who spoilers #doctor who #dave gibbons #tom baker #the fourth doctor #doctor who magazine #review #comics

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horsegirlimogentemult · 2 years

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i really appreciate that nancy just drew a line in the fuckin sand in the library with robin. sure she’s been dealing with interdimensional monsters, physically going to another dimension herself, a girl with superpowers due to a secret project, and all of that for literal years but ufos/aliens??? bigfoot??? nessie???? bullshit. made up. that magazine is a load of nonsense, obviously, who would ever believe in anything paranormal, anyway let’s get back to our research into how a demon from another world committed murders

#i love her so much #c.txt #st spoilers #st4 spoilers #nancy wheeler

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tycal12345 · 3 months

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Knowledge Work is an Abstract, Bodiless Void

The modern knowledge worker now swims in a froth of the purely abstract. Like an astronaut cut from the space station, he floats, untethered, gaping at the shrinking earth below him. He’s lost his body.

He thinks he is made of only thought — and the deluge of requests that bubble up from the void in his inbox scatter what sense of self he has like marbles across the floor. He is bodiless, unprotected, fragile.

The knowledge worker has lost sight of the process. Efficiency reigns. He’s a slave to the product — even as he is scarcely its author.

He is besieged by a barrage of electronic missives — creating, as if in a slow-motion video game, an illusory — but somehow real — sense of stress. It’s the stress of an ambiguous email; the awkward, pixelated silences punctuating a Zoom call; or the dreary commute, the feeling of neither coming nor going.

He’s deluded into the belief that the stuff of thought is the only work of value. The body, or still vaster expanses of possibility, the Knowledge Worker must ignore.

His view is only: The Infosphere. That and the cacophonous arena where workers contend with one another in a furious dance of keyboards and screens.

The world of the abstract

When I sit to do “work” — engage in the rigorous and often frustrating exercise of the mind and its tapping fingers — I am analytic, caught in the sticky morass of pure thought. Most of the time, my desk job calls me to wield thoughts as if they were “me” in the ultimate sense. When I submit a piece of “work” via email, I receive a “good job” from the void as if the “job” were me and the “good” were its quality — even though no exchange was made except the abject moving about of information.

Dading! the email software intones, as if I struck a bell with a mallet, although no music exists.

The illusion bred by knowledge work is that the mind is wholly and totally satisfactory. From kindergarten through university, the future Knowledge Worker is told: Slough off this fleshly vessel. You are mindstuff now. You are words and numbers and abstraction.

The cubicle world once satirized by Dilbert and The Office has loosened up in its structure — just enough to appear now less absurd, as dress codes have relaxed and tech CEO’s grace the covers of magazines. The monotonous hum of the worker strangled by his own tie has given way to a certain allure of the avant-garde — a kind of romance of the new and the brashness of startup culture.

Many now work from the convenience of home. But remote work done from the comfort of one’s couch — and even absurd machines like the treadmill desk — does little to settle the problem. It’s still the mind at play in its numbered matrix.

Marx's astute critique of the factory labor system emphasized the worker's alienation from the fruits of his labor. But in the realm of knowledge work, this estrangement takes on a new dimension: Detachment from the body.

Knowledge Work is the work of ghosts. In the words of philosopher Matthew B. Crawford: “What is new is the wedding of futurism to what might be called ‘virtualism’: a vision of the future in which we somehow take leave of material reality and glide about in a pure information economy.”

We once wielded tools to shape our world, and fire to nourish ourselves. Now we are left with but one weapon, a weapon that turns against us: The madness of the mind.

Dissolving of concepts and the beauty of emptiness

The modern knowledge worker’s gossamer dreams cling lightly to his mind. The unfinished novel tossed in the trash; the smeary, graphite art sketches hidden under the bed; the exotic getaways never taken, cocktails never quite imbibed, the mysterious girl at the bar never quite spoken to.

But still, he luxuriates in the paychecks, sitting comfortably in the backyard of so many summer eves, assured of his place in the world.

In those moments he’s more than thought, more than knowledge. More, even, than the muscled, sinewy ontology of his body.

When he searches deep within himself for the answer, all he finds is an emptiness, a void where his fears and self should be.

In those moments of existential clarity, he feels like he’s touching something raw and true about the nature of the self and consciousness.

Then back to the Zoom meeting: the video chat displays him — his head, anyway — in the corner. Who — or what — lives in that tiny digital mirror? On the other hand, what lives nearer than his nose, closer than close, wider and shallower — and somehow deeper — than the shimmering pond of vision itself?

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paranormalunderground · 4 months

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New Issue Alert! #ParanormalUnderground magazine’s latest issue is now online. 👻

www.paranormalunderground.net

Dive into the mysteries of Transylvania's Hoia Baciu Forest, uncover the truths behind alien abductions as revealed by the late Budd Hopkins 🛸, and explore the eerie Lone Pine Mountain Devil legend.

👽 Meet Lesley Mitchell-Clarke as she reveals insights into alien encounters and past lives. Plus, we're ranking the top 6 vampire TV shows that will have you at the edge of your seat!

Haunted house? We've got you covered with tips to figure out if your home is ghostly and what to do next. 🏠

Plus, don't miss out on a paranormal encounter involving the Anne Frank House, a spooky investigation at Madison Mansion, and theories on parallel dimensions intertwining.

Also, discover the metaphysics of time, ✨ secrets of manifestation magic, and a shaman's journey through otherworldly portals.

👉 Get your digital copy now or order print-on-demand at www.paranormalunderground.net

and http://paranormalunderground.magcloud.com/!

#HauntedHouses #AlienEncounters #VampireShows #Metaphysics #Magic #ParanormalInvestigation #Mystery #ExploreTheUnknown

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lawrencedagstine · 1 year

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SCIENCE FICTION ANTHOLOGIES: "Alien Dimensions #24..." - PREORDER NOW!

Pleased to announce that I have a brand new science fiction short story set in the cold dangerousness of space appearing later this month (comes out on Kindle March 28th to April 1st), in Neil Hogan’s Anthology-Magazine Series, Alien Dimensions. This is the SECOND time, second credit I have with Alien Dimensions. I first appeared many, many years ago in Issue #14. But that sold out quick and is…

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ammonitetestpatterns · 5 months

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along this line, DD. records was able to capture such valent intrigue in recent years among music maniacs of a globalized and generalized western/anglophone logocentric cultural tenor because it represents an intelligence of prolific acuity relayed in consistency of presentation, honesty of musical content unbound to convention or profit incentives, individuation of focalized and developed subjects, and the cultural symbology of a hovering life, that is, the modern interchange of science and mysticism active beyond its simplified role in highlighting tensions of transition unprecedented in scale of impact, manifest over the variously ironic and economically involved rehabilitation of cultural referents perhaps compounded by the spread of new religions with the postwar fall of state shinto during the american occupation and reconstruction of the japanese constitution, and the collision in popular henosis of these referents with the proliferation of exposure to foreign culture industries and their lionized products in such a way that does not subsume its puissance of voicing or its integrity to their unchallenged continuity, seen from the imagery of popeye in mountain fuji records to kozi matsura's cassette compilations or olive magazine. at a certain point the materialist analysis falters before the interstitiality of an emergentist experience of the phenomenal and noumenal bridge suspension of the mind, but vitalism also fails to suffice. this is best exemplified in the cards for yoshimatsu's tapes, where a loverboy's magazine girl fixations are sent to drum machine pattering perfection from the fading, endlessly pressed memories of the popular music of the sixties, rosily charged with the condensed affect of youth as if it were a minimalist structure flattening the feeling to its purest undiluted statement, as much as he also displays a naturalist attuning to the metastability of information, present in his clippings of desolate shores, igneous rocks that could be mistaken for alien technology in the xerox print, or visualizations of noneuclidean geometry harboring hidden metric spaces, appended with titles that draw sensitivity behind their inviting alliterative naivism. for the former, commercial romanticists is the realest title that could accompany the music! undoubtedly, this intrigue is directed in part by discogs user klumpa's acquisition of most of the catalog in a sale allegedly from archie patterson, who had tried in the eighties to expand the listener base of the tapes to the west through eurock distribution. this had enabled it to become available to others in a form exceeding the label catalog list published in eurock, which was to that point the only definitive documentation of its output in the west, and potentially anywhere. by adding each tape to the database with paratext and cover scans, another dimension of desire was unveiled for its viewers. to me, DD. records is the crown of a legitimate otaku music before the term would mean nothing, before it would be slanted to an empty fetish.

#text

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spookyoregon · 7 months

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UFO or UF-No?

Fun fact: Oregon ranks 6th in the nation for UFO sightings. While lacking in major military bases, the availability of clear skies with little to no light pollution , it is no surprise flying objects would be observed. If you are more on the new age spiritual side of things, Oregon sits between major mountains of mystery (Mount Shasta and Mount St. Helens) which may attract this aerial phenomenon. Be it aliens, time travelers, 4th dimension hoppers, or just satellites, Oregon's fascination with UFOs goes back to the beginning heyday of UFO sightings: the 1950s.

May 11, 1950, Paul and Evelyn Trent, farmers in McMinnville sighted a disc-shaped object in the sky around 7:30 PM. The Trents grabbed their camera and were able to snap two photos before the disc sped off. Allegedly, Paul's father also saw the disc. In very pragmatic fashion, the Trents did not develop the photos right away as they still had film they could use on the roll. The photos were not developed until after May 14th of the same year. June 8th the photos appeared in the Telephone-Register, the local McMinnville news paper, with the reporter alleging the photos to be genuine proof of a UFO. Life Magazine and Time both had articles about the supposed sighting.

The Trents were interviewed by the Air Force, astronomer William K. Hartmann, and multiple publications. As with all UFO photographs, people are divided on the authenticity of the photographs. The biggest point of contention with the photos were the wires crossing the first photo. Depending on who you spoke to, it either was proof positive of the photos being genuine or fabricated. You can see for yourself:

What is not contested are the Trents themselves: reported to be honest, simple farmers who never attempted to gain fame or fortune from their photographs. Their story remained consistent until their deaths, Evelyn in 1997 and Paul in 1998. It is their sincerity and honesty that appear to impress their interviewers the most.

In 1999, local restaurateurs McMenamins started holding an annual UFO Fest that continues to this day. The festival takes itself semi-seriously, hosting ufologist speakers to tell their tales; it also hosts a parade, art, and UFO Experience packages you can purchase for the two McMenamins hotels near and in McMinnville.

sources: KPTV, Wikipedia, UFO Fest

#ufo #oregon

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konmarkimageswords · 7 months

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When Aleister Crowley was living in New York, doing various magical experiments in a place on West 9th, he did what’s called the Amalantrah Working. It’s theorized this process created a deliberate channel in ephemeral cosmic influences so that extra-dimensional entities could enter our universe. In short, he likely created a portal for what we know as gray aliens to come visit us.

Eventually Crowley made contact with an entity known as Lam and drew its portrait (incidentally, “lam” is the mantra linked to the root chakra, which is associated with survival.) This was around 1917. While there are possibly ancient accounts of extra-terrestrial visitations in other parts of the world, this was one of the first-known Grays to have popped into Western consciousness, although Crowley didn’t explicitly say this.

Crowley introduced Lam for the first time in his commentary on the Voice of the Silence by Theosophy founder Madame Blavatsky. Founded or not, he basically tears that classic to shreds without ever really explaining why he started it off with his portrait of Lam.

The “Statement on Lam” which describes the procedures (and banishings) of using the image in magical workings was published in Starfire magazine Volume 1, number 3 (1989). Many practitioners of the ‘deep end of the pool’ Nightside rituals – those who sought traffic with praeter-human entities - began to utilize the Lam tool as a mode of entry into alternate dimensions or realms of consciousness. To these intrepid “Lamanauts”, the “Mask of Aiwass” unlocked a portal or gateway outside one’s terrestrial module, functioning as a means of establishing contact and key to the mysteries of our ultra-terrestrial nexus.

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brandonwayneb · 11 months

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