#feed humanity not global warming | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mariacallous · 9 months

Text

For Sander van der Linden, misinformation is personal.

As a child in the Netherlands, the University of Cambridge social psychologist discovered that almost all of his mother’s family had been executed by the Nazis during the Second World War. He became absorbed by the question of how so many people came to support the ideas of someone like Adolf Hitler, and how they might be taught to resist such influence.

While studying psychology at graduate school in the mid-2010s, van der Linden came across the work of American researcher William McGuire. In the 1960s, stories of brainwashed prisoners-of-war during the Korean War had captured the zeitgeist, and McGuire developed a theory of how such indoctrination might be prevented. He wondered whether exposing soldiers to a weaker form of propaganda might have equipped them to fight off a full attack once they’d been captured. In the same way that army drills prepared them for combat, a pre-exposure to an attack on their beliefs could have prepared them against mind control. It would work, McGuire argued, as a cognitive immunizing agent against propaganda—a vaccine against brainwashing.

Traditional vaccines protect us by feeding us a weaker dose of pathogen, enabling our bodies’ immune defenses to take note of its appearance so we’re better equipped to fight the real thing when we encounter it. A psychological vaccine works much the same way: Give the brain a weakened hit of a misinformation-shaped virus, and the next time it encounters it in fully-fledged form, its “mental antibodies” remember it and can launch a defense.

Van der Linden wanted to build on McGuire’s theories and test the idea of psychological inoculation in the real world. His first study looked at how to combat climate change misinformation. At the time, a bogus petition was circulating on Facebook claiming there wasn’t enough scientific evidence to conclude that global warming was human-made, and boasting the signatures of 30,000 American scientists (on closer inspection, fake signatories included Geri Halliwell and the cast of M*A*S*H). Van der Linden and his team took a group of participants and warned them that there were politically motivated actors trying to deceive them—the phony petition in this case. Then they gave them a detailed takedown of the claims of the petition; they pointed out, for example, Geri Halliwell’s appearance on the list. When the participants were later exposed to the petition, van der Linden and his group found that people knew not to believe it.

The approach hinges on the idea that by the time we’ve been exposed to misinformation, it’s too late for debunking and fact-checking to have any meaningful effect, so you have to prepare people in advance—what van der Linden calls “prebunking.” An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

When he published the findings in 2016, van der Linden hadn’t anticipated that his work would be landing in the era of Donald Trump’s election, fake news, and post-truth; attention on his research from the media and governments exploded. Everyone wanted to know, how do you scale this up?

Van der Linden worked with game developers to create an online choose-your-own-adventure game called Bad News, where players can try their hand at writing and spreading misinformation. Much like a broadly protective vaccine, if you show people the tactics used to spread fake news, it fortifies their inbuilt bullshit detectors.

But social media companies were still hesitant to get on board; correcting misinformation and being the arbiters of truth is not part of their core business model. Then people in China started getting sick with a mysterious flulike illness.

The coronavirus pandemic propelled the threat of misinformation to dizzying new heights. Van der Linden began working with the British government and bodies like the World Health Organization and the United Nations to create a more streamlined version of the game specifically revolving around Covid, which they called GoViral! They created more versions, including one for the 2020 US presidential election, and another to prevent extremist recruitment in the Middle East. Slowly, Silicon Valley came around.

A collaboration with Google has resulted in a campaign on YouTube in which the platform plays clips in the ad section before the video starts, warning viewers about misinformation tropes like scapegoating and false dichotomies and drawing examples from Family Guy and Star Wars. A study with 20,000 participants found that people who viewed the ads were better able to spot manipulation tactics; the feature is now being rolled out to hundreds of millions of people in Europe.

Van der Linden understands that working with social media companies, who have historically been reluctant to censor disinformation, is a double-edged sword. But, at the same time, they’re the de facto guardians of the online flow of information, he says, “and so if we’re going to scale the solution, we need their cooperation.” (A downside is that they often work in unpredictable ways. Elon Musk fired the entire team who was working on pre-bunking at Twitter when he became CEO, for instance.)

This year, van der Linden wrote a book on his research, titled Foolproof: Why We Fall for Misinformation and How to Build Immunity. Ultimately, he hopes this isn’t a tool that stays under the thumb of third-party companies; his dream is for people to inoculate one another. It could go like this: You see a false narrative gaining traction on social media, you then warn your parents or your neighbor about it, and they’ll be pre-bunked when they encounter it. “This should be a tool that’s for the people, by the people,” van der Linden says.

441 notes · View notes

mountymase · 21 days

Text

i love you, it’s ruining my life

file one - mason mount

a/n: well, hi! i’d like to say that this isn’t my fave work but i’ve been mostly writing poetry lately and i needed to see if i still had my fanfic mojo. hope you like it nonetheless! 🤍

1.820 words

warnings: real angst, brief mention of anxiety, breakup, bit of fluff, harsh words.

It felt more like a ritual, one that you loved dearly - each morning, Lila, your pup woke you up with cheerful and endless face licks, her tail wiggling in the air, her frantic need to get under the covers with you and cuddle like you always did every morning. Your heart warmed with joy as you silently giggled, an arm tugging the two-year-old basset hound closer making her immediately calm down as a long sigh escaped from her.

There was something else about mornings like these: they brought a feeling of normality to the wild, nonetheless extraordinary routine you jumped into since your first book had been published — not your first piece of promising writing, but the one that turned into a giant success that started taking global proportions within six months, forcing you to travel around the globe on a tour to meet countless and extraordinary people.

And also to sign autographs for most of them.

They were boys and girls, mums, teenagers, middle-aged women, single women, and a bunch in long-lasting relationships. It didn’t matter, your writing reached every single one of them and, somehow, they now all had something in common: how much they loved your book.

All of it was still overwhelming to you, though. Coming from a small town where nothing fascinating used to happen, you’d spend your days writing when you weren’t with your regular group of friends from school. Getting used to the big city once you moved to graduate in journalism was difficult — you missed those peaceful days, watching the sunrise when you went for a morning jog, birds singing, and how comforting silence could be every evening. But you were also grateful for all the opportunities given and how unexpectedly great things turned out to be for you.

Moving to London had never been in your foreseeable future, although visiting England was one of your greatest dreams from a very young age when you used to spend hours listening to The Beatles and Elton John with your dad.

When you got a call from one of Netflix UK executives, telling you they’d like to turn your book into a miniseries, you choked on a large croissant bite. It took you a couple of minutes to put yourself together as the executive patiently waited, a low giggle coming from the other side of the line once you took a deep breath and asked if they were calling the right number.

So, from the afternoons of Penny Lane and Benny and The Jets, you ended up officially living in an extravagant flat located in Mayfair, fully paid for by Netflix UK, and dropped the news of your book being turned into a miniseries, officially, on a morning TV show.

If you didn’t have such an impatient dog, who was now staring at you with her best “feed me, human” glare, you would’ve stayed in bed for the rest of the day. The thought of being live in one of the biggest morning TV shows in England, sharing the screen with another famous guest made you feel immensely intimidated, and vulnerable.

But, from the very beginning, he made you feel safe.

Mason.

He was the other guest that day, invited to share more on his success playing for Chelsea FC and the charity of which he was a patron of. During the break, he noticed how you rubbed your sweaty hands against your jeans and how all your blood seemed to be concentrated in your cheeks - half of it wasn’t just the nervousness, though, it was also because of how intense his gaze was.

Mason’s voice soothed your nerves like magic once he caught your attention during those two minutes, and you were wonderfully calm telling Holly Willoughby about the serie’s pre-production, cast choices, etc.

And as expected, once it was all over, Mason asked if you’d like to go out with him for coffee.

The two of you instantly clicked, like magnets completely drawn into each other, so it was easy and fun being around him. His inner circle wasn’t entirely the nicest, but as you grew closer and became extremely close friends, Mason introduced you to his family and you finally had a mother figure to welcome you with warm embraces since yours was miles away.

You were supposed to be just friends, but the beauty of how well you got along despite each other’s imperfections felt like a glitch in a system that led to something magical. In the end, together, you and Mason discovered that true love can arise from the most unexpected and delightful surprises.

That was 2.190 days ago or, more specifically, six years.

Now, you found yourself facing the diamond ring on your finger, glistening under the moonlight.

Mason broke up with you, for good this time, because you were ruining his life. His words.

You, of all people.

You, who loved him the most.

Him, who was simply your whole world, just as much as you were his.

Still watching the engagement ring on your finger, you tried to remember when your relationship started to crumble. Perhaps, it was right after he returned home from the World Cup, even if it had been just a few months that he proposed. Things started to get difficult for him at Chelsea and he was distant, such a stupid cliche. Classic miscommunication, so finding comfort at your own work was the only thing you could do and you isolated yourself at the cottage you bought in Scotland so you could write in peace - eventually, you fell down the same old cycle of isolating, writing compulsively, and just a few months later having to leave everything behind to promote the book.

A book full of personal poems, this time.

Tears rolled down your cheeks and you sniffed when you remembered how Mason spat the words at you.

“How fucking dare you to expose us like this?” He breathed heavily, anger in his eyes like you’ve never seen before. “You never make things easier for me. It’s always all about you,”

You frowned as his words still echoed in the back of your mind - everything you’ve done was always about him, from the moment you two met on that TV show. What was supposed to be a polite talk in the beginning, ended in a heated argument fueled by miscommunication and insecurities and more harsh words from him while you just listened. According to Mason, while he was always including you in his career choices, your commitment to your own career outweighed your commitment to your relationship.

“My career will never betray me,” it was automatic, you didn’t think before saying those words, and you only noticed the damage when Mason’s eyes glistened with tears.

“I would never do that to you, but if that’s what you believe…” Mason sniffed. You watched him shake his head and focus his gaze on the wall - anything not to look at you. “I love you, Y/n. But it’s ruining my life.”

A shy lick on your hand brought you back from painful memories and you were able to smile a bit as Lila watched you with those sleepy eyes.

“It’s just the two of us now,” you mumbled, touching her nose with the tip of your index finger.

Scotland has been your permanent home for the past two weeks since the breakup. You tried to reach him, tried to call him, and even texted his family, but no one replied. Even his friends were gone and it felt like Mason and the life you shared with him were nothing but a dream. The only thing that you still had was the engagement ring, that never left your finger.

Two weeks were also making you realise that, perhaps, Mason was right. You should’ve talked to him, should’ve put him first, and asked how he’d feel instead of making how you felt about everything so public. Even if there were no names, everyone knew that most of those poems were about Mason - the good ones, but mostly, the bad ones where you romanticised all of your struggles.

There was nothing but regret and sorrow for you.

Lila’s lazy and hoarse barking woke you up. At her own speed, she went back and forth from your bedroom to the front door, scratching her nails on it as she was desperate to see who was knocking on your door at three in the damn morning. If you weren’t so sleepy, you’d care more about the marks it was leaving on the wood.

Letting out a loud yawn, you slowly opened the door to find Mason on the other side, puffy eyes and messy hair, with both hands in his pockets.

“You shouldn’t open the door without knowing who it is. Not at this time of the night,” you frowned at his whispered words, not knowing exactly what to say. “Are you going to let me in? It’s cold,”

You quickly nodded, taking a step back so he could walk in and be greeted by Lila. His giggle as the basset hound lazily wiggled her tail made you smile softly - you missed the sound of his giggle. You missed everything about Mason.

“She misses you,” and so do I, you wanted to say. Mason just nodded. “Are you here to take the ring back?”

His sigh was the only sound that filled the room for a few seconds before he let go of Lila to finally look at you. He was a mess, just as much as you.

“No”, Mason replied. A knot formed on your stomach and you suddenly felt the urge to vomit - anxiety always did that to you. “I’m here to take you back.”

You felt your heart skip a beat, but you also felt a slight anger burn your chest and bring tears to your eyes. Crossing your arms against your chest, you watched Mason carefully as he seemed to wait for an answer - he looked absolutely defeated, but he let out a sigh of relief once his eyes caught the diamond ring still on your finger.

“I thought I was responsible for ruining your life.”

Mason nodded. “But you also put it back together, Y/n.”

His words completely disarmed you - arms fell to the sides of your body, but quickly wrapped around his waist. In Mason’s arms, you silently cried. “I should’ve talked to you, Mase. I’m so sorry,” Mason’s hands traveled up and down your back, comforting you, as his lips found your forehead, then your cheeks and your nose, in soft and gentle kisses.

“I overreacted,” you shook your head, but Mason cupped your face in his hands, forcing you to look at him. “I did, but I hope you can forgive me.”

“If you can forgive me,”

“We’re both forgiven, then.”

A brief interruption, a slight malfunction

(...)

I thought we had no chance

And that's romance, let's dance.

#mason mount fanfic #mason mount x you #mason mount x reader

127 notes · View notes

chaethewriter · 1 year

Text

Opposites attract [1]

aged!Neteyam Sully x human!warrior!reader

In which the cruel ways of the RDA to save humanity come to light and a movement against the killing of Pandora begins. With young people receiving training in the resistance army to become warriors and protect the indigenous. You get put into cryosleep and sent to Pandora as one of the finest warriors. Here, you come face-to-face with the future Olo'eyktan. What if the two of you butt heads? And something forbidden blooms?

warning: english isn't my first language, based on my series 'You're dead to me' so also recycled parts for this introduction (not everything, I added different details so you better read👹), mentions of historic events.

Word count: 3,6k

previous chapter

next chapter

A century ago, the planet earth changed for the worst. More oil was extracted from beneath the ground, and the oil production was more massive than ever. The air worsened by the second to the point that humanity needed breathing masks to walk through overpopulated cities. Climate change also took its toll, as the icebergs from Antarctica completely melted as well as the permafrost and bacteria from billion years ago started spreading over the planet. The RDA took action on this and people were thankful for the fact that they took their chance to save humanity. Yet no one knew what they were actually doing behind the scenes. Humanity held their breaths waiting for all these years of great sorrow, thanks to the greed of the rich, to end. Nothing is what it seems, and the hopes of a minority was soon stripped away from them, as the secrets of the RDA came to light. Sending trained marines and scientists to this other planet in our galaxy: Pandora. A planet so far away that resembled our planet Earth. Their living circumstances natural, like the age of the hunters and collectors. No electricity, no mass production and no capitalism, just spiritual beings living in the name of their god. Yet, their peaceful lives soon came to an end, because the humans came to Pandora in greed. A planet not corrupted with technology or the rich, meant a healthy planet. A planet with lots of green. A planet where climate change doesn't play a role. A planet not destroyed. A planet able to inhabit. Coming in peace was never an option for humans, as taking something what is not theirs is their habit. Columbus and America, Europeans and Asia. Slavery. The occupations during all the world wars. They feed onto power. Pandora wasn't any different, as they planned to extrude the natives, forcefully take Pandora's sacred resources and inhabit the planet. While many humans didn't mind this, their focus laying on the fact they'll soon be saved from the dangers they caused, there was a minority in the billions of people that decided to set their foot down. The resistance, starting as a demonstrating group on the streets soon turned into a professional organization to protect Pandora of their own species. Gathering people who actively wanted to prevent Pandora into going extinct, protecting the natives from the monster one calls humanity.

You, (Y/N) (L/N), belonged to said minority. You despised your species. The way they could think they could get anything they wanted. So greedy, so narcissistic. When the news came out about the RDA, you were beyond furious. 'The past is the past. Let it go' they said when they spoke about history— slavery. Yet look at this, the past just repeats itself in different scenarios. 'The government wouldn't do that' some didn't believe it, no one could be that cruel in their eyes. Living in their fantasy world and not being realistic. The government would do it, definitely. Anything for getting their greedy hands on any form of money. Being around ignorant people isn't your cup of tea. 'It doesn't affect me', say the same people that found apologizing about slavery bullshit. The same people that didn't care about climate change and global warming. You didn't deem yourself fit, but you wanted to do something to help the innocent natives. They didn't do anything to deserve that kind of treatment, so you went against the greedy hands. You got questioned, interviewed and monitored for at least a year until you were allowed into the organization. You were beyond enthralled to know you could finally be useful.

You soon started training at the organization with a few others that got accepted for their loyalty and perseverance, but it was no usual military training. You all learned about life on Pandora, you and the others that had potential in them learned to live like the people of Pandora: the bow and arrow, spears, but also hand-to-hand combat if anything were to go wrong. The training honestly went great, you didn't regret taking this step for one bit. You felt fit and worthy, and most importantly you found people around you that had the same mindset as you about this whole ordeal. You had friends that went through this entire process with you, telling each other about their lives and how they ended up here. While they were almost like warriors following orders, every night the group would sneak away to be like teenagers again, kids having fun and playing games. For a long time, it was the same routine. Wake up, eat, and train for almost the entire day, do homework, have dinner, sneak out, and sleep. The homework might have been one of your favorite parts of this training. It was to learn the language of the people, Na'vi. It took some time to master it, as you weren't very familiar with pronounciation. "Oel nati kamy?", your voice sounded unsure as you tried to say the formal way of greeting someone in Na'vi, but you earned a slap against your forehead in return from one of your friends. "No, it's Oel Ngati Kameie, skxwang!"

Years of training together ended up being so worth it, because when all of you reached the end of your teenage years, it got announced that you were finally ready to head to Pandora. You 'graduated' as one of the finest warriors of your class. You felt so delighted to know that all of your hard work paid off in the end. The day that you would finally get shot into space and sent to Pandora to fulfill your duty, you felt the adrenaline travel through your body as you felt incredibly nervous. You were about to leave everyone you have ever known behind on planet Earth to fight for your norms and values. What will feel like only a few years to you, will be a decade for your friends and family. Saying goodbye, definitely was hard. The resistance thought that it was best to not say goodbye on the day you were to leave, but a few days before that. They reasoned it would have been harder to leave your loved ones behind and you actually second that. A lot of tears were shed, but everyone was proud of you for standing behind you thought was correct. This was only a temporary duty, as you would get sent back to earth once you fulfilled your duties, but what if you wanted to stay? In the books, you read and learned that Pandora was like something unrealistic, out of a fairy tale. What if you would want to stay instead and guard said fairy tale til your last breath? You all follow your superiors' suit to the air travel that will sent all of you to your final destination, putting your stuff where they tell you to. With no seconds left to spare, they immediately tell you to follow them to your tubes, you were getting put into cryosleep. You still couldn't believe it. They were going to put you to sleep for six years and you're gonna wake up looking the same, but temporarily living in a dream world you trained your entire teen years for. You lay down in your tube, ready to get put to sleep. The nerves were truly getting to you. "See you on the other side!", you jokingly said to lift up the mood, and your friends started joking around, telling one another goodbyes and what they should do if one of them doesn't wake up. You just lay there quietly, closing your eyes as you waited to get put to sleep.

What actually took six years didn't feel like that to you at all. One moment you closed your eyes as you were put into cryosleep and after what felt like one second passed, you got woken up from your deep slumber. The claustrophobic space you are in makes something inside of you itch. Good thing you were into cryosleep, you couldn't have survived sleeping in this tube every night for six years in a row. Once your tube was pulled out of the wall, you immediately feel yourself floating. So this is what space felt like.

"Drink and eat lots, since you will feel very weak!", a loud voice echoes through the room as one by one everyone left their cryosleep. You float through the room with a smile on your face as you hold onto handles, lockers, anything to keep your balance. An excited scream could be heard from behind you, it was your friend Siria. "You are not dead I see," she jokes as she floats towards you, her arms wide open to invite you in a hug, "this is honestly insane, I can't believe that we are actually doing this!" You wrap your arms around you as you share her excitement, "I know right? We worked so hard for this, I can't believe this is happening." You met Siria on your first day being at the resistance base. She shared her passion for nature with pride and you always admired her for this. A cough is heard behind your back and Siria looks over your shoulder to see who it was, "Kai!" she squeals as she carefully gets out of your hug, floating towards their other friend to engulf him in a hug. You watch as Siria and Kai share their excitement with each other. They really didn't age at all while being in cryosleep, such an interestingly concept it was. You float towards them, holding onto Kai's shoulder to keep your balance and not pass out, because damn they were right. You feel so tired and weak. If you weren't in space right now you probably would have fallen to the floor. Your limbs felt like cooked noodles, you really needed to eat. "The trio is back at it again to cause havoc!!" Kai ruffles your head, your hair tangling in between his fingers as he did so. The three of you were the inseparable trio. While you had a group of friends you hung out with, you three always just stuck together like glue. It may have been the fact you bonded over being reckless warriors, thriving on the thrill and action, or the fact all three of you were top students, but that doesn't matter. Siria and Kai are your partners in crime til death do you all part. The two are engaged in a deep conversation, but you didn't bother to listen or chime in. You wanted to explore, and see what you worked your entire teenagehood for. Grabbing onto the handle against the walls, you made your way towards the huge window, were also most of the crew was floating around. You had to see this for yourself, you had to believe it with your own eyes. What if you were still dreaming?

"Excuse me, Pardon me!", still not used to not having any gravity, you keep bumping into other warriors. A 'watch where you're going!' was screamed your way, but you paid no mind to it as you had more important things to do. Floating past the last person that kept you from seeing outside, your eyes immediately widen at the beauty that lay in front of you. A planet, looking exactly like earth, right in front of you. It was beautiful, the true meaning behind mother nature. You bring your hand towards your cheek to pinch yourself, was this real? Were you truly experiencing this? When you pinched yourself so hard, leaving a red mark on your skin, and you didn't wake up you knew this was real. You were knocked out of your senses pretty quickly, as everyone was told to dress up, eat and get together in the common area. Where that was? No idea, but what you knew is that you were excited as hell. You basically swam through the air towards the lockers, where your supposed gear would be. The sight was probably incredibly silly, you thought, you probably looked like a swimming frog. Yet you didn't care about the stares that were given you. The only thing on your mind was to see Pandora with your own eyes- not out of books, notes you had to read, or drawings. You left without telling Kai or Siria, but you would probably find them, considering you're going to the same destination and those two definitely weren't to miss.

You float past all the lockers with nameplates, looking for your name. You proceed to float, using the lockers to pull yourself up and speed up towards the lockers that start with your last initial. Upon floating in front of the locker that had your last name written on top of it, you slam the locker open in excitement. Clothes sealed in recycled plastic, a pair of shoes, and an oxygen mask. Fortunately, it wasn't those old aquarium-like masks. When you learned about those you thought they were ugly as hell: a head in an aquarium. Those were designed like gas masks. Was that the best way to explain them? They only covered the mouth and nose part to breathe properly, it didn't cover the entire face anymore. You flash a skeptical expression towards the clothes in your arms. They were dark colors, dark colors in a hot amazon-like forest? If it were up to you, you wouldn't have chosen a little more, bare, clothes. For the sweat to at least dry up and not soak in the clothes. "Weird choice of clothes, right?", Siria appeared next to you, out of the blue, making you flinch. You quickly managed to cover it up and compose yourself, "I'm gonna end up looking like a crab while fighting a villain, kind of embarrassing." she laughs at your reply and grabs a hold of your forearm, "come on let's go change. Kai already went to change!" And with that, your friend pulls you with her. Changing your clothes was kind of awkward. The room was a big space where all women changed next to one another. It gave PE class vibes. You felt sticky and disgusting as you changed out of the clothes you wore for six years. Wearing fresh, clean clothes is always better than nothing. The material feels nice against your skin, and very cooling. As you look in the mirror, fixing every detail to look as neat as possible. You roll your sleeves up just a tad bit and tried to loosen the corset-like clothing piece around your upper body. It doesn't look exactly like a corset, but it's one of those clothing pieces that have a corset built into it. The mask is hanging against your hip, ready to be used 24/7 once you stepped foot on Pandora. The pants were a little wide thankfully, enough space to move into.

"What is it with the corset though? Who wears a corset while fighting?"

"Maybe it's bulletproof or something?"

After this whole ordeal in the dressing room with some people whining about the clothes being too hot, while others were second guessing if the outfit was nice to fight in, you finally made your way towards this common area. There everyone was awkwardly sitting, what one could call sitting in space. Everyone was given a granola bar to snack on and a sealed bag with a sweet drink in it. You leaned against Kai, as you were too tired to use your strength to hold onto anything. Eating the bar and sipping from the overly-sweetened drink, you listened to the peptalk your superiors were giving you all. They were mainly talking about how the RDA is sending more backup and technology, so it will be very tough to defeat them. There was also something about dead marines in Avatar bodies that really got your interest. The resistance's insider got this information the moment your air travel left to Pandora. Shit really is about to go down soon, so there is no time to dwell and laze around.

What almost felt like a decade to you, actually took just a few hours before you finally landed on Pandora. During the landing all, maybe twenty of you in total, were seated as you braced for impact. It wasn't too bad, it was like a plane landing. Before the doors opened, the duffel bags you took with you were placed on your laps. You were allowed to take your most important stuffs and put it in this bag. So what did you take? Your phone and Polaroid camera. I mean, you were barely twenty and missed a lot of your childhood, a little living and enjoying Pandora's scenery couldn't be too bad? You put your mask against your face, pressing it down and securing it as you breathe in the oxygen from the earth. Red lights flash through the area you're in with the others as the secured door lowers to the Pandorean ground, revealing the beauty of mother nature. You rise from your seat as your seat belt was already unclasped. Without waiting any longer, you rushed to the outside world in a heartbeat. Watching your surroundings, it seems like you landed on the resistance base. Unlike the RDA base, which you saw during your learning process, this one was more integrated with mother nature rather than destroying it to make space. It was so organic, so natural. A team was already waiting for your arrival, all standing in a row as you lock gazes with a Na'vi. Unlike the things you were taught about Na'vi clothing, this one was wearing human clothes. This was an avatar, the ones the RDA founded. If this already got you excited, imagine what will happen if you met a Na'vi.

You all greeted them in the formal Na'vi way. The sun was burning your skin as you listened to your superiors talk, but the fresh wind blowing through the air made you feel at home. "All of you here, thank you so much for being here and help the Na'vi." One of the people spoke. You learned that she was of importance to the resistance. "Over the past six years, while all of you where in cryosleep, we have decided where all of you will settle and with whom. RDA's focus is on the forest, so that is where we will place you at. We will divide you over the different forest clans, who are aware of your arrival and help." The warriors in front of you held a file, as they all opened it up and divided you all into teams. You waited patiently with your arms behind your back. You were pretty confident about where you would be placed at. Surely it would be a clan where you would come of great use, right?

"And last, for the Omatikaya clan. The top three warriors of the class: warrior (Y/N), warrior Kai and warrior Siria. Ending on top of the class in both theories and physical, they will get placed into the clan in the most danger: the clan with RDA traitor Jake Sully. You will be taken with Norm, who is of importance to the Omatikaya clan." So Norm was his name. A pretty goofy one if you had to be honest. The avatar named Norm stood at least 10 feet tall as he looked down at all of you, literally. You just reached around his crotch area, which is kinda embarrassing because imagining running into his front. Hopefully, he likes to travel in his human body more. "Then that's settled, Oel Ngati Kameie." His hand rested against his forehead, slowly bringing it down to his chest as he watched the three of you proudly, who were standing at front confidently. You flashed him a kind smile in return, ready for whatever adventure you will come across, "Oel Ngati Kameie."

Before you knew it, you were on your way to high camp, the base of the Omatikaya clan. Since the doors of the helicopters were slid open, you could peek out of the helicopter and admire the beauty of Pandora. Your eyes lit up as you saw mother nature herself and the animals that lived within it. It was something so magical, something unbelievable. A group of birds flew past you and you looked back at them in awe. It was a species you never saw before, a species that doesn't exist on planet Earth. "Are those the hallelujah mountains?!?" Kai almost fell out of his seat at the sight, heading over to your body that was basically sitting at the edge of the helicopter. He took a seat next to you as he threw his arm around your shoulders, "they're floating, like literally!" You reached for your bag, taking your Polaroid camera out and snapping a pretty picture of the sight. The Polaroid left the bottom of the camera and you ripped it off, shaking it to make the picture appear, "this is going to be in my travel journal." You announced proudly as you stared at the way the ink slowly faded in. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this, I might throw up and pass out!" Siria leaned back as her head tolled back as well, as if accepting it all if she died right now. Norm watched the three youngsters with proud smiles on his face. He remembered being this excited himself when he first got to Pandora and saw the beauty for himself, "we are almost there kids, brace yourself. You will be staying at high camp to integrate with the Omatikaya." A squeal left Siria's lips as you could only watch the horizon,

excited for what's about to come.

A/N: hii!! Thank you sm for reading! This was an introduction type of part, so it's similar to the introduction of "You're dead to me". Do not worry, this is a Neteyam x reader so he's coming in the next part. Stay tuned and let me know what you thought. <3

comment on the TAGLIST if you want to get tagged for this series.

Taglist in the comments!!

#neteyam sully #neteyam te suli tsyeyk'itan #neteyam x reader #neteyam #neteyam x human reader #neteyam x human!reader #avatar the way of water #avatar #chaethewriter #opposites attract #avatar x you #avatar x reader

992 notes · View notes

letaot-ze-magniv · 4 months

Text

General guide to birds in Israel pt 2- cooler birds

This will be a long post. Link to part 1

White spectated bulbul/bul-bul me-mush-kaf

Usually referred to as just bulbul, this bisexual king is the roundest and my most favourite bird. IMPORTANT! BULBUL MEANS DICK! DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOUR LOVE FOR BULBULIM IN PUBLIC!

These birds are slightly larger then the house sparrow and are easily distinguished by their yellow butt. Their calls are reminiscent of frogs. They mate for life and are all bisexual and they cuddle each other. They are a menace to farmers because they are fond of fruit and tend to nibble just a little at a time. You can find them in all parts of Israel as long as there are nice trees nearby.

Eurasian blackbird/shakh-rur

These timid birds like to hide in bushes and trees. Their calls are beautiful and I love them. They are smaller then a pigeon. The males are black and the females are brown. They feed on seeds, fruits and bugs, and use their beaks to search the ground for worms. You can find them in Jerusalem and the north, they like cool weather and don’t fuck with sand.

Great tit/yar-ge-zi ma-tzui

Life isn’t easy for these tiny psychopaths, which might be the reason they developed such a temper. Their Hebrew name translates to “angry one”, and for a reason. They are very aggressive towards other birds. They also feed on the brains of bats. You can distinguish between males and females by the thickness of the black stripe on their belly- males have a thicker one than females. They are most common to the north of Jerusalem, but you can find them in some parts of the desert.

Palestine sunbird/tzu-fit bo-he-ket

No, that’s not a hummingbird, it’s the sunbird! Despite their remarkable likeness they aren’t even a little related. Sunbirds feed on nectar and are pollinators! The males have black feathers that shine in the sunlight (which is how they got their name) and the females are a muddy grey, but they’re just as lovely. You can find them in all parts of Israel, especially near lush flowery areas!

White wagtail/nakh-li-e-li la-van

First migrant bird everyone!!! (Some blackbirds migrate here but some nest during summer so shhhh) This lovely round bird starts it’s visits around October and leaves when it gets hellishly warm again. Due to global warming the wagtails visits are shortening, so appreciate them while you can. Like their name suggests, the wagtails wag their tails. A lot. You can find them near water sources during the cold-ish months of the year!

Eurasian jay- or-va-ni shkhor ki-pa

Eurasian jays can be found in other parts of the world, but I’m pretty sure the one we have in Israel is a different sub-species because the ones in Europe lack the beautiful black top that they’re named after.

The jay is a type of corvid, and in addition to being extremely social and intelligent, these birds can mimic other animals. Due to urbanisation, the jays learned to mimic car alarms, the ringing of phones and the cries of human babies. Jays are extremely fond of acorns, and burry them in the ground in preparation for harsher months. A single jay can remember between 4000 to 5000 hiding spots!

Syrian woodpecker/ na-kar su-ri

This picture is of a male woodpecker. The females have a completely black head. Woodpeckers can locate bugs that have burrowed inside trees and use their beak and long tongues to eat them, thereby helping the trees get rid of pests! Woodpeckers also love acorns, and compete with jays over them. To prevent concussions, the woodpecker’s tongue wraps around their brain, keeping it in place while they peck. You can find them in non-desert areas of Israel!

Lesser whitethroat/siv-khi to-kha-nim

Another migrant birds! These floofballs come here twice a year, once in spring and once in autum, although some whitethroats nest in the north all year long. During their migration you can find them everywhere in Israel, even in very urban areas! They get their Hebrew name, which roughly translates to miller’s shrubbery-liker, because their white chests look how a miller’s apron would look after a long hard day!

Super winged lapwing/sik-sak

The siksaks are water birds with ridiculously long legs that they use to stab their prey. They kind of look like they are wearing a tux! Their original Hebrew name was “sharoni mezuyan”, which translates to “one that lives in the Sharon and is armed with a weapon” but also “fucking sharoni”. You can find them anywhere in Israel as long as there is a near enough water source.

White breasted kingfisher/shal-dag la-van kha-ze

One of my favorite birds. The kingfisher is a magnificent bird of prey with brilliant blue feathers that always make my day. They are most common in the north and west of Israel, but they nest in smaller numbers in the south. They kingfisher’s diet consists of not only fish, but of crabs, frogs, slugs, bugs, and even the occasional rodent. Their varied diet helps them thrive even in drier areas.

#מקורי שלי #ישראבלר #ציפורים #לטאות #birds of Israel #birds #jumblr

73 notes · View notes

mindblowingscience · 5 months

Text

Countries' greenhouse gas-cutting pledges put Earth on track for warming far beyond key limits, potentially up to a catastrophic 2.9 degrees Celsius this century, the UN said Monday, warning "we are out of road". The UN Environment Programme's annual Emissions Gap report is released just ahead of crucial COP28 climate talks in Dubai and will feed into the global response to a sobering official "stocktake" of the failure to curb warming so far. With this year expected to be the hottest in human history, UNEP said "the world is witnessing a disturbing acceleration in the number, speed and scale of broken climate records". Taking into account countries' carbon-cutting plans, UNEP warned that the planet is on a path for disastrous heating of between 2.5C and 2.9C by 2100. Based just on existing policies and emissions-cutting efforts, global warming would reach 3C.

#Enviroment #Climate Change #Global Warming #Global Politics #UN Enviroment Programme #United Nations

86 notes · View notes

zestingbloodorange · 6 months

Text

I understand people immediately saying "if this was an animal people would care" out of frustration, and I know most people are not ready for this conversation and I know most people don't even want to hear this because they don't care.and i know a lot of people think this is insane to say. but if you want to talk about empathy and compassion you have to understand this, and you need look deeper.

The reality is the majority of people don't care about animals if people cared about the living they wouldn't have reached this level of cruelty. animals are tortured for things as stupid as useless as makeup and to just look at them in a zoo and for films...etc basically just for human entertainment and financial gain.If people cared about animals we wouldn't have reached this point of global warming and this amount of animals going extinct.

Animals get tortured and killed by every age group for no reason and they die out of starvation and out of thirst and avoidable and curable illnesses. we take everything from them and abandon them in so many ways literally and metaphorically.

Animals get punished for existing with us.

And everytime someone does something for animals they get told they should've done that for humans instead,everytime someone speaks up for animals they get told there's more important things to care for whilst they themselves are doing nothing for those important things or helping other humans but the thing is people that actually do things for animals also actually do things for other humans.

Most cruel people start their cruelty with animals because animals can't tell on them and then they get hungry for more and start getting cocky and this has been proven by so many studies and cases.

A lot of people have no sympathy for animals because they genuinely think an animal's life doesn't matter and only exists for them so they can do whatever they want to them and if they have a little bit of shame they would use an excuse to justify what they do/did.

Maybe ask yourself if a person doesn't have sympathy for a living being that's basically lost in this world how do you expect them to have it for other humans ?.

And a great example for people with empthy and compassion is what you're seeing right now. people in gaza are taking their time to also help animals not just themselves and each other,they actually care and feel for the living.they respect life.

And in this time a very critical time I keep seeing some people saying why are people in gaza sharing their resources with animals they should focus on themselves and making jokes under posts of Palestinians giving a dog water for example saying "why are you feeding Netanyahu" it may seem stupid but it should make you think.

If you twist my words in any way to make this post malicious even in your head that's on you.

(Note : English is not my first language and there's a lot of better explanations to this available online)

#palestine #gaza #free palestine #empathy #humans #animals #nature #humanity #capitalism #فلسطين #غزة

45 notes · View notes

canmom · 10 months

Text

a few critical comments on "The Busy Worker's Handbook to the Apocalypse"

so i read this one very doomer medium article The Busy Worker's Handbook to the Apocalypse the other day, which attempts to argue that with the amount of GHGs already in the atmosphere, collapse of human society is inevitable and imminent, in a way that the scientific establishment such as the IPCC is instutionally unable to admit. I will warn, if you're prone to anxiety, don't read it, because the article is bleak as hell and quite effective rhetoric. it opens with a largely correct overview of climate science which lends it credibility, before jumping to the worst imaginable conclusions about various feedbacks and tipping points.

and like... it got me a bit. immediately after I read it, I was left with a horrifying feeling that this is as good as it will ever get, that the end of it all was only years away, that all my hopes for what I'd do for the next few decades and what is prefigured by this or that social development were utter delusions, and all there was left to do was just try and make the best of the last few years before we all die in the big cascading-failure famine.

but... ok Bryn, hold your fucking horses, let's do some research eh?

to begin with, I found one critique video that points out a number of places where the author makes scientific errors, misunderstands his sources, or doesn't justify his conclusions. for example, the author argues that a 'blue sea event' where the polar ice melts would lead to immediate, catastrophic warming as the latent heat of fusion no longer absorbs any incoming radiation, and also that the success of measures to reduce air pollution will accelerate warming; these seem to both be straight up wrong. but that doesn't cover everything I had questions about.

for example, one scenario discussed in the 'handbook' is 'multi breadbasket failure'. the idea is that, given that most of the world's food is produced in a few specific regions, this is a scenario where two or more of the major food-producing regions suffer very low yields in the same year due to climate shit. and this isn't farfetched, there is mainstream scientific discussion of this concept. for an accessible analysis, I found this article by some major capitalist consulting company (assess bias accordingly) which gives some actual numbers, including estimates of which crops are more likely to fail as the climate changes (rice, corn and soy are in trouble, but wheat, oddly enough, could actually do better in a warmer world).

however, while the author of the guide to the apocalypse suggests that, thanks to 'just in time' supply chains, there are almost no reserves of food and everything is on ships... the mckinsey article quotes a figure of 30% 'stock-to-use ratio', meaning there is a fair chunk of food in the granaries. they seem to predict that if two 'breadbaskets' fail in the same year, causing a 15% drop in yield, that ratio would drop to about 20%. the immediate result would be food price spikes (which means a lot of people would starve) but it's not a complete 'global megafamine' collapse.

'course, the question then is what happens if it happens again a few years later? but at least theoretically the 'multi breadbasket failure' scenario could be drastically mitigated by 1. producing food in more different places so the eggs are in fewer baskets 2. storing more food when times are good (something discussed in the mckinsey article) and 3. the world broadly eating less meat (since most crops are grown to feed animals, which adds a trophic level of inefficiency), so less grain is needed to feed everyone. i don't know if that's actually gonna happen, but it's not prima facie impossible.

on the other hand, the author of the Handbook argues that a world renewable energy transition is not just infeasible but physically impossible, because it demands reserves of metal that do not exist to roll out all the wires, turbines, etc etc. I was already fairly pessimistic about whether the renewable energy transition could happen in time (since there is little evidence that the current renewable deployment is making any sort of dent in GHG emissions, which remain resolutely coupled to economic activity); I was also conscious that the amount of mining to produce all the batteries and so on would have its own devastating impacts. but the argument that it is impossible even in principle is new to me.

so is that actually true? the Handbook bases this point entirely on the work of Dr Simon Michaux of the Finnish Geological Survey, who presents the calculation in this hour-long presentation based on this report (summary). this is honestly an excellent presentation, explaining the methodology really clearly - it reminds me of SEWTHA back in the day, a book I found very formative. And actually McKay also raised the question of materials:

To create 48 kWh per day of offshore wind per person in the UK would require 60 million tons of concrete and steel – one ton per person. Annual world steel production is about 1200 million tons, which is 0.2 tons per person in the world. During the second world war, American shipyards built 2751 Liberty ships, each containing 7000 tons of steel – that’s a total of 19 million tons of steel, or 0.1 tons per American. So the building of 60 million tons of wind turbines is not off the scale of achievability; but don’t kid yourself into thinking that it’s easy. Making this many windmills is as big a feat as building the Liberty ships.

McKay's analysis was based only on the UK; the figure of 48kWh/d comes from McKay's estimate of plausible maximum wind capacity for the UK only. He also takes into account some modest reductions in energy use. So my sense was that a completely renewable energy system would be an unprecedented megaproject, but not utterly implausible.

By comparison, Michaux's analysis (which I took a bunch of notes on, I'll post in a minute) has a worldwide scope, and rather than using back of the envelope physical calculations, relies on data on existing systems which largely did not exist when McKay was alive. It is nevertheless a rough estimate, and crucially, focuses on the question of completely replacing current fossil fuel use. Where good data did not exist, like the amount of steel and concrete used in a wind turbine, it was not included in the analysis, since the purpose was to get a lower bound.

The report covers a number of different minerals, many of which existing reserves fall short and it would take thousands of years to produce enough at current production levels. Copper is the big one: he estimates some 4.5 billion tones would be needed, where only 0.88 billion tonnes of reserved are publicly known to exist, and the rate of new discoveries has tailed off to near zero. I see no error in his calculation (though I haven't checked the numbers in detail, the method is sound).

However, there is a major caveat. The vast, vast majority of this copper would go to millions of battery banks used to provide just four weeks of storage to make it through the wind production lulls in the winter. This covers about 4.2 billion tonnes; by comparison the amount of copper used for one generation everything else (wind turbines, EV batteries etc.) is a still-hefty 0.3 billion tonnes. So that raises the question of whether there's an alternative to all those batteries, mature enough to be deployed at a scale to provide 0.55PWh of energy storage (or likely, more) in a decade or two. My understanding is most other tech (flywheels etc.) is still on the 'tiny pilot plant' sort of scale.

Anyway, as far as like the future of humanity goes, I already agree with Michaux's main point that maintaining current rates of energy consumption is just not viable; the future is necessarily going to be much lower energy. (I also don't really think 'decoupling' economic activity from energy use to somehow preserve capitalism's exponential curve is really plausible.)

However, the way the author of the Handbook uses Michaux's estimates is not supported. Michaux proved that a 1:1 replacement of fossil fuel energy consumption with renewables is not possible; that necessarily implies that (since fossil fuels are just starting to run dry and becoming less viable) we have to get by on less energy. And yeah, that obviously implies substantial changes to how people live in rich countries, crushing the super-rich etc.; it's fair to say the whole system must become less complex, in ecological terms.

I do still agree it's more than understandable to be pessimistic about whether that will happen without everything collapsing first - to put it mildly, there is a lot of inertia in a system this complex! - but it's not physically impossible that humans could accomplish a renewable energy transition, contract and rationalise how we use what energy we can get, and still have everyone live relatively comfortably. (After all, life on Earth has managed to live sustainably on solar power for billions of years, indefinitely recycling carbon, nitrogen etc. between high and low energy forms and dumping all the unusable high-entropy energy into space; I stand by the belief that there is no intrinsic reason that human society, even with complex technologies like computers, could not eventually assume a similar equilibrium if we survive. Though could does not mean is likely to....)

So I'm not convinced that we're a few years away from the first domino falling in the apocalypse. The situation is very very bad, don't get me wrong, I do basically agree the current socioeconomic world system is not capable of adapting fast enough as it stands, and I do find it increasingly hard to imagine the prospect of it being overturned, so I don't think the gigadeaths future is out of the question or even unlikely. But it's at least not the imminent near-certainty this essay makes out. If it comes, it will be more drawn-out than that. We don't need to live as if we will certainly die in a year or five.

So... now back to not thinking about it and fiddling while the world burns, I guess? :/

#climate change #capitalism

62 notes · View notes

dougdimmadodo · 1 year

Photo

Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus)

Family: Right Whale Family (Balaenidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

Named for its extremely large, bow-shaped head (which can be used to smash through thin sea ice when surfacing to breathe), the Bowhead Whale can grow to be 15-18 meters (50-60ft) long, may weigh over 54,500 kg (120,000lbs) and is believed to have the potential to live for over 200 years (quite possibly the longest lifespan of any mammal.) Native to arctic and sub-arctic oceans, it feeds on plankton and other small invertebrates which it filters from the water using the comb-like baleen plates in its mouth; its extremely long baleen plates (around 4 meters/13ft in length, longer than those of any other whale) and enormous head (which makes up around 1/3rd of its total body length and features the largest mouth of any animal, opening to be around 3.7 meters/12ft high and 2.4 meters/8ft wide) make it one of the most efficient filter-feeders on earth, allowing an adult Bowhead Whale to consume around 2 tonnes of prey each day. In comparison to other whales Bowhead Whales are not particularly social and typically live alone or in small groups of 3-6 individuals, although during migration they may gather in larger numbers, and as they are not particularly aggressive towards other members of their species it is not unusual for several unassociated individuals to gather together in particularly plankton-rich areas when feeding. Bowhead Whales migrate south to relatively warm subarctic waters during the arctic winter to avoid becoming trapped beneath sea-ice that is too thick for them to break through, and while they may mate at any time of year they typically give birth while migrating back to the arctic in the spring, producing a single calf every 3-4 years after a gestation period of 13-14 months (with calves already being around 4 meters/13ft long and weighing over 900kg/2000lbs at birth.) The enormous size of this species means that it has only one natural predator (the Orca), but historically humans have hunted Bowheads extensively for their meat, bones, blubber and baleen. Commercial whaling once brought Bowhead Whales to the brink of extinction, but throughout the 1970s the practice of hunting this species was near-universally outlawed (with the only exceptions being made for two indigenous communities in Siberia and Alaska who hunt members of this species for subsistence on such a small scale that they do not have a significant negative impact on the species’ overall population.) As of the time of writing this, the IUCN believes that the numbers of several local populations of Bowhead Whales have stabilized and begun to recover from the damage done by commercial whaling, with the species’ overall global population numbers actively increasing.

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

Animal Advent Calendar - Day 23

Image Source: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/74103-Balaena-mysticetus

#December 23rd #Bowhead Whale #Whale #Whales #mammal #mammals #zoolog #biology #mammalogy #marine biology #marine animals #marine wildlife #arctic wildlife #wildlife #marine mammal #baleen whale #baleen whales #Bowhead whales

197 notes · View notes

female-malice · 5 months

Text

(archive)

For Sander Van der Linden, misinformation is personal.

Van der Linden and his team took a group of participants and warned them that there were politically motivated actors trying to deceive them—the phony petition in this case. Then they gave them a detailed takedown of the claims of the petition; they pointed out, for example, Geri Halliwell’s appearance on the list. When the participants were later exposed to the petition, van der Linden and his group found that people knew not to believe it.

–

Everyone needs to play this game.

20 notes · View notes

wanderingsorcerer · 7 months

Text

Apocalypse Updates From Unhuman Resources

GOOD JOB TEAM!!!!! 🎉🎉

The world is currently on the downturn we are on schedule for humanities annihilation.

GLOBAL WARMING

The current stage of CO2 emissions have solidified humanities demise within 20 years. Even without Demonic interference which is a solid win for our side.

BEACONS & ATROCITIES

The Beacons hold steady, and a new Atrocity will be unleashed within the coming weeks. Possibly one of the World Eater variants stashed within the oceans. Management doesn't have a concise answer as of yet, mainly due to Demons being consumed every time someone goes near the cages.

MEDIA ILLITERACY

Misinformation is at an all time high with humans believing pretty much every article on their Feed's we push. Yes even the ones about the zombie Apocalypse 1¢ burgers. Putting our energy into Anti-Media Literacy Propaganda Really Paid Off

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

The humans are divided, and so long as it stays that way we should have a Nuclear Ice Age on schedule for the coming decade. So long as the people do nothing just as they have been, we've pretty much won.

GOOD JOB TEAM YOU'VE BEEN DOING AMAZING, KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK

#unreality #demons #wizardposting #wizardcore #wizard #wizards #Occult #occultism #occult #solomonic magick #magi #magick #magic #goetia demon #demon #demonolatry #demonology

24 notes · View notes

dragonthunders01 · 7 months

Text

Spectember D11: Seed World

It has been 200 million years since mankind launched into the stars an colonized many of the worlds that were attainable on their reach, many populated by their native life, many others on their youth of development and many others that even though they reunited the right conditions for life to form, they were barren, so they filled them with their collection of fauna, many being turned to an earth like Eden world, but not many remained that way, some started to degrade fast for the long term conditions of the planet geology or position of their stars, some die out for extraordinary cosmic event and others just faded into oblivion for the circumstances of their own planetary development.

The world of Scelloc was a tropical oceanic planet splashed with dozens of small islands, many of them volcanic in nature, the settlement was populated by tropical marine fauna, mollusks, fishes, corals, arthropods, it remained like that even after their human colonizers disappeared, but just 50 million years something happened, a large cosmic event disrupted the orbit of the planets, including Scelloc, through it did not throw the planet out of the system, it left it at the edge of the habitable zone, and in a period of 10 million years this paradise was sealed into a tomb of ice, it was too fast that the majority of animals that lived depending of the warm climate perished with just a handful of established deep water forms that evolved to thrive in the dark managed to support the change, only small cnidarians and sea slugs survived the cataclysm, and for the next 140 million years they will claim up from the depths of the ocean to the roof of the giant ice caps.

The global trapped sea of Scelloc thankfully remained liquid thanks to the geological activity of the planet, the active tectonic activity underwater keeps these warm enough to host the trapped life.

Near the hydrothermal vents forms often large fields of large unique polyp towers that extend their tentacles to alongside smaller Shipworm-like derived slugs that remains sedentary feeding on the chemicals or in the polyps themselves, around them some slow feeding snail like forms gathering the material and forming rudimentary shells and even scallop like forms that abandoned their slug shape and adopted a bivalve like form with large starfish-like slow polyp that now have evolved free forms.

On the endless seabed there is a variety of filter and detritu feeders that eats the sea snow that cyclically keeps falling from the upper regions or the nutrients that accumulates in the sand, many still nudibranchs and snail like forms that are migrating to new vents, many jellyfish like polyps; upper the seabed are floating small and large nudibranchs that either developed their "cerata" as floating organs or active squid and even like forms that can extend ovr the vast abyss up to the roof of the icecaps, some even able to glimpse the light on the thinnest ice parts and even melted holes on the equator.

This world will likely unfreeze from its perpetual snowball state in the far future when its star increases its luminosity, but until then for the next hundreds of millions of years it will remain sealed within the ice.

#speculative evolution #future evolution #terraformed world #seed world #nudibranch #spectember

23 notes · View notes

thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 1 year

Note

Hi there? Your Dome!AU musings have made me super curious:

1) How is functionally-comatose Marcus useful to Aro, when there are no vampire threats to psychoanalyze? He’d probably sign up to be dismembered in the basement

2) How would Denali be reacting to a dome? I imagine they have some wildlife, but do they stick to being “vegetarian”? Is Eleazar seizing the moment to be a local god? (I’m not sure I want to know the answer, but it’s like a train wreck— I can’t look away 😅)

3) Amun and the Romanian covens: did they also seize the day and become local gods? Do they gorge themselves and run out of warm humans?

4) nomads like Garret? How are they doing…

5) Aftermath of domes dropping: how does the global human population fare? Did Volterra do the best out of all the cities/covens? Some rankings? Sorry if this is a pushy ask, I’m a nerd hoping for some statistics

Happy Freethinkers Day!! You and Vinelle deserve awards, truly 🏆🏆

The Dome over Forks. The Dome over Volterra.

Hey thanks! Look, @therealvinelle, praise for the blogs!

With that, your questions.

How is Marcus Useful?

The same way he was before, honestly. He can detect the relationship of the people to Aro. Do the humans trust the Volturi? If they don't trust them, will they tolerate them? Who are going to be the troublemakers? Is anyone planning murder or intending someone harm?

Marcus can see all these relations at a glance where Aro would have to keep tabs on over 10,000 people who do not wish to touch his hand. Marcus can do so unobtrusively without the humans ever realizing how closely they're being observed.

Marcus can also see how the guard is performing under current circumstances and if anyone is too bitter over the dismembered guards to work properly.

Once again, Marcus is shockingly vital to operations.

The Denali Under a Dome

The Denali are in Alaska, which in itself is a fairly less populated state, but particularly in the interior where they're located. They have the national park nearby, whatever cabins are there, but the biggest population center nearby is probably Anchorage.

Point being, unlike Forks even, there's not too many human neighbors at a time to be stuck under the dome with them. Probably just a handful.

Still, they have quite a bit of wildlife, but likely not nearly the hunting range they had before and not a population that's sustainable with their feeding habits.

I imagine they try to stick to the diet as long as possible and that they scour the local population for good looking men who will want protection and comfort in this trying time.

Eventually, though, with too small a population of wildlife and people to draw from, the Denali will starve.

The Egyptians and the Romanians

Amun's likely too cautious, this smells like Volturi nonsense, Aro's trying to smoke them out for reasons Amun can't fathom or else trick Amun into breaking the law.

Amun watches as the humans lose their goddamn minds, crunching the numbers and panicking as he realizes his coven may starve very quickly.

Likely he dismembers Tia and Kebi so that he and Benjamin will have more food.

The Romanians, too, are wary they're being observed and figure Aro's just tormenting them/slowly starving them. To spite him, they choose to be very careful with their resources and force the humans to give them "blood donations" and if they don't, they just eat them. The humans quickly learn to put their blood in the bucket.

Nomads

With the dome over Volterra?

Not well.

When the world figures out that the Volturi are out to lunch competition for territory begins in earnest. Nomads have to very skillfully defend their territory and Garrett... is alone and has no gift.

Garrett's not surviving that one.

If he's under a dome, he'll slowly face starvation.

Aftermath

In terms of the wellbeing of the human population + starvation, Volterra probably ends up on top. They're draconian overlords, but their priority is keeping the human population as healthy and stable as possible.

Forks does about average, with the Cullens avoiding killing when possible, and Carlisle as an on the clock, able to be awake 24 hours, highly knoweldgeble and invulnerable surgeon at their services.

Those under the Romanians and the Egyptians do okay. They have no respect for human life, but they're wary of Volterra and don't want to lose their livestock. They're going to be careful with how many they kill and with the Romanians coming up with ways to make the blood last longer to spite Aro.

Denali wouldn't have enough humans to start with to even be in the running. The nomads would be in trouble but it depends how long they're under a dome for/how large the nearby population is for them to go through.

If you want actual numbers we'd have to get into writing the fic territory and we'd need to decide on where exactly the Romanians and Egyptians are and how long the domes are up for.

#twilight #twilight meta #twilight headcanon #twilight renaissance #the volturi #the egyptians #the denali #the romanians #amun #vladimir #stefan #marcus #aro #meta #headcanon #opinion #vinelle #therealvinelle #praise

57 notes · View notes

theyungihven · 2 years

Text

Truth Or Dare ⁉️

day 3 of the @underworldnet writing event

writing prompt : haunted

pairing : hongjoong as Dracula; Human? Reader

genre : mystery, fantasy, horror

word count : 2.1k+

warnings : mentions of blood, vampires and ghosts

synopsis : You and your friends dare to spend a night at the infamous Dracula's Castle but things go astray as one by one everyone goes missing and you come across the man rumoured to be Dracula.

"You gotta do this!" You hear your friends discuss in the secret hideout, which is the abandoned laboratory where you sometimes work on illegal stuff.

This scene takes place everyday with your friends going on about the news and rumours they heard and you getting busy with the prototype.

"Bro, I don't wanna die too early. First, fucking global warming, now this shit? Nah I'm out!" shouts Claire, your friend, as she bangs the old lunch table discarded in the room. You smile at her humour which strangely manages to entertain you.

"But they offered a reward of 250 grand, if we spend a night there and return alive." You listen keenly to Kevin who explains the plan before deciding to jump into their conversation. He's obviously got a strategy if he's pitching the idea, doesn't he? He has to!

"Alive? The fuck is going on there?" yells Claire in terror which laces her body as it shows itself in her tone; shivering and shrieking.

"Rumour says, it's Dracula, who was sleeping till last month." whispers Kevin loudly as if he intended you to hear on their spill the tea session, which featured news from all over the town.

"Which shithead woke him up, for fuckssake?" huffs Claire, and pushes her chair back. You hear the screeching of the rusty metal and make a note to check their safety because you don't want anyone to break their bones falling off that thing.

"Someone from med school. They're on the missing list apparently." Kevin slurs his sentence as if he's making things up or masking up the important details. Cheeky little Bastard who's always up to something.

"And now, we're going there to feed him?" shrieks Claire, whose voice sounds like a scared five year old upon seeing a clown.

"No, obviously! To show whoever is hiding in there, that they cannot hide for long." Kevin's sentence catches your attention and you think whether to join them or wait and hear more. Of course, you choose the latter.

"So... we're going to expose them?" asks Claire excitedly as if in hopes of going on a ghost hunting mission. They are her time passing activities and the ghost files is her favourite show. "What if it's a cannibal or serial killer?"

"Can you speak positively for once, Claire?"

"Sorry."

The conversation stills and you finally decide to interrupt as you pull your chair to their table. "So, what's the plan?" You say, chewing the strawberry flavoured gum and reading the expressions on their faces.

"See who's finally decided to listen?" Kevin mocks you and you roll your eyes at his statement.

"Does the area have connectivity? Comms? Anything?" You ask him, because he certainly has some information on this if he's even mentioning the topic.

"Nope everything's dead. There's a strong magnetic field apparently..." He trails on his words, again and clicks his tongue.

"What in the stranger's things?" wonders Claire, with her mouth hanging open.

"Shut up Claire!" exclaims or shouts Kevin, sending her a stern glare and she turns her head down with a frown on her lips.

"We gotta do it the pirate way." you say, leaning back on the chair and folding your arms.

"Pirates?" asks Claire, raising her eyebrow and leaning forward with enthusiasm.

"I forgot you had pirate blood for a minute." adds Kevin and Claire acknowledges the fact with ahh.

"So, if we don't have comms, drones and walkies aren't gonna work. We gotta get flares and some type of marker to make a path for entry and exits." You say looking at the table and your friends exchange looks.

"A blueprint of the place!" exclaims Claire as if she figured out the answers to one of the world's unsolvable riddles.

"It's not your fucking aunts house!" says Kevin loudly, giving Claire the 'I'll murder you' eyes.

"Yeah he's right. But the villa is not that big to get lost." You mumble, moving forward and setting your arms on the table.

"How do you know that?" Kevin gives you the skeptic look as if you're a notorious criminal with disgusting crimes.

"It was once our family property, that was a long time tho. Some feud happened and we lost it." You confess and their faces have the funniest expression you've ever seen. Confused, surprised and wtf?

"You have a map?" yells Kevin, in your ear and you retort a meters away, squeezing your eyes close due to the pain.

"Kinda, it's a tracing, rather than a map." you say, rubbing your ear and a flicker of hope lights up on Kevin's face.

"Atleast, we have something." mumbles Claire as she shares a smile.

"At my house, at 7, we'll discuss stuff there. That's it for now."

"Listen, the Manor has two exits." You explain, spreading out the old 1d tracing of the Manor and its illustrations.

"Didn't you say it was a villa?" says Claire, setting her hands on her waist as she stares at the floor plan.

"Can we kick her out?" suggests Kevin and the idea doesn't sound bad considering her level headed ass.

"It's dangerously close to Yes, but what if I get bored? We'll need her." You trail, spreading out the second floor plan of the Manor.

"Fair. Just shut your mouth and listen. No speaking over someone." says Kevin and shushes Claire who pouts, giving him the puppy eyes.

"Okay so the first exit is at the front, obviously for the people and the second is at the back for the goods." You say with your finger tracing the main gate of the Manor and then the back gate.

"Ohhhhhh!" coos Claire, and Kevin giggles at her reaction.

"Yeah. Shut your mouth before a fly lands in there. Anyways, moving on!" You say, thinking about your next sentence and Claire slaps her hand to her mouth.

"Are we dividing up and going from two exits?" asks Kevin, and you look up at him, eyes diverting themselves from the map and landing on his face.

"Yes, you read my mind. You two will go from the front door to distract whatever is in there and I'll go with someone else from the back."

"Is this someone else, late to the meeting?"

"Hey there!" A voice says and it is followed by the garage door smashing open with a thud, "Sorry I had soccer practice." Yunho, your arch nemesis on friendly terms, says and shares an awkward smile.

"This is my enfj cousin, yunho." You introduce him and drag him by his arm to make his tall ass body stand next to yours.

"Hello, very nice to meet you." He waves at your friends with a bright smile and Claire gives him heart eyes at which you cringe.

"You both are polar opposites!" Kevin comments and you feel heating rising on your cheeks.

"We get that a lot!" You and Yunho say at the same time only to meet each other's eyes the next second and shy away.

"What did I miss?" says Yunho after clearing his throat as he glances in your direction. His golden blond hair falls over eyes and you observe the way his gaze flickers from your face and back to map.

"Whatever I said to you, last night." You say, finding something to stare at besides his brooding figure.

"Okay then, I'm saved I guess!" says Yunho as he nervously chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck.

"The next phase of the plan is when I signal you, we move to the first floor. The highest is the second floor which has a library in the attic." You say and it excites something in Yunho judging by the creepy smirk on his lips.

"Attics scare me!" whispers Claire, her voice shrieking with fear of the darkness.

"What doesn't scare you Claire?" says Kevin in a monotone as he turns his head in her direction.

"Him!" says Claire and points in Yunho direction at which you can't help but sigh.

"Flirt somewhere else, lovebirds. We got shit to do." You say, rolling your eyes then go back to thinking about what to say next.

"How are you going to communicate?" asks Yunho, giving you his starry puppy eyes and you can't help but gulp nervously. What are you even trying to do?

"Well, I have a perfect device for that." You say, distracting yourself from the tall and beautiful distraction beside you with a bright ass smile.

"Where?" says Claire as if she's looking for something and fails to find it.

"Our friendship bracelets. They work with a higher bandwidth of 7GHz." You say, pointing at the bracelet on Claire's wrist.

"7g WiFi?" exclaims Claire and you hear an audible sigh from Kevin, at which Yunho giggles and earns a glare.

"Yeah kinda like that.....i guess."

"Yunho doesn't have one, though?" Someone asks while your mind pulls you in a trance and you start to zone out.

"He does." You say, almost mumbles as you start to slip into the fever dream.

"He DOES?" and, They yell.

AT THE MANOR

"You know what to do. On the signal, disperse. It's two taps, distinct and repeating 3 times. If anything goes down, the distress signal is continuous tapping. Light the flare ONLY if its a fucking emergency, and if we need to abort the mission." You yell as low as possible while they listen to you attentively.

"Yes sir!" Everyone shouts, tightening the strap of their backpack of supplies.

"Remember to mark your way up to the second floor. People get lost there." You say and everyone exchanges confused looks. "It's a spell." You remind them and they nod their heads. "Now, go. Meet you at the library!"

According to the plan, you and Yunho go through the back gate while Claire and Kevin from the front gate. The sound of the rusted iron screeching when Kevin apparently pushes the gate echoes around the Manor and you curse under your breath.

The way up to the first floor had been easy, then after the signal from the other team gave clearance, you decided to head to the second floor alone bidding Yunho a goodbye. It had been strange for a while, walking down the eerie, empty hallway with the feeling of something watching you the whole time.

You stand in the middle of the never ending hallway, a ghostly whisper greets your ear and sends shivers down your spine. What in the fucking hell?? There's a ghostly touch on your arm, ice cold as it traces its finger down your warm skin. When you turn to face the monster, there's no one behind you. Then you feel it, a looming shadow over your shoulder but when you turn again, it's gone.

So, you walk on because standing still is more dangerous. You choose to run when you sight an pale face in the middle of the corridor grinning wildly at you which sends terror down your body and you feel your whole being shake. Your heart beats at an amazing speed as your breath shortens, adrenaline running through your body which initiates the flight mechanism because there is no way you're dealing with that demonic thing in this haunted mansion.

"I've been searching for you for so long." A voice echoes in the hallway or is it your brain playing tricks on you. Luckily you find the stairway leading to the second floor and run towards it but things take a turn when you realise, it is a trap. "I thought you were a smart girl." The sinister voice echoes in your mind again as you walk away from the door that shut itself only to bump into something hard. Turning around you come to see the very pale face you had seen in the hallway but very clearly now.

The man stands in front of you in his full glory, the navy uniform and wounds from the battle still decorating his lifeless body. "You traitor!" You feel a sharp pain in your chest and you look down to see a dagger pressed to your heart. "You'll repay for what we've shed that night, you demonic blood drinking creature."

#ateez scenarios #ateez #ateez x reader #hongjoong imagines #ateez smut #halloween 🎃#underworldnet #ateez imagines #hongjoong smut #seonghwa smut #yunho smut #san smut #san x reader #hongjoong fluff #hongjoong #hongjoong angst #kim hongjoong

131 notes · View notes