we gotta get back to torrent distribution, i just watched someone eat eight grand in bandwidth charges because they ran a direct-download piracy site with local file hosting through cloudflare. torrents were invented literally for this exact reason
i have a file or folder on my pc that i want to share with other people. let's call it gayshit.mp3
unfortunately gayshit.mp3 is 750mb and im not paying for discord nitro so i need another way to send it
i put it into qbittorrent and it makes a torrent file. this is essentially a very small file that points to gayshit.mp3 so other computers can find it. kinda like a treasure map
i send this tiny file to my friend, who loads it into qbittorrent. their computer takes a moment to find mine over the vast expanse of cyberspace and then (as long as my pc is running and the file is still where it should be), it gets copied from my hard drive to theirs
this is the cool part: if somebody else loads that tiny file, they can download it from both of us. if i'm offline but my friend is on, the third person can still get it. this also means that if two people have separate halves of the file, they can download the other half from each other. as long as some combination of people have the pieces between them, they can all have the whole thing.
crucially this does not require a server!!! you can just upload the file to a few people and as long as they keep it, it's still accessible. as long as somebody, somewhere is still connected, it's available forever. the only way it goes away is if everybody disconnects from it.
Most cop thing I've ever read. what the fuck are you talking about. The posts you're looking for might be on this website but we won't show them to you???
just so you know, if you completely ignore the search feature on the website and just type "tumblr.com/search/term" into the address bar, it bypasses all of this. broken-ass website
Y'all know those Phineas and Ferb episodes where it's randomly in an alternate canon for some reason? Like the caveman one or the wizard of oz one or the ancient China one?
One of those where everything's the same but the character's roles are reversed. Phineas and Ferb know their mom and dad are making dangerous machines, but when they try to tell Candace it all disappears. At one point, Linda remarks "oh weird, where's our neighbor, Mr Doofenshmirtz?"
Cut to Doofenshmirtz breaking into OWCA. Perry gives him a confused look. Doof puts on his lab coat. Perry gasps dramatically.
dan and swampy reveal theyâre making an episode called âphineasâ dadâ with no synopsis. everyone gets insanely hyped and discourse gets cranked up to the max until the episode comes out and itâs just 11 uninterrupted minutes of lawrence going about his day. doofenshmirtz is not seen or mentioned at all.
thinking about candace calling home from college/law school to talk to her brothers:
"so what are you guys up to today? anything bustable? i can always come home if it's like super bustable"
"phineas i need you to make a machine that will beam all of these case notes into my head" "we'll work on it tomorrow. for now, why don't you take a break? we could watch ducky momo on video chat" "...that would be nice."
"ferb i can hear your judgemental silence back there, i'd like to see you do better on the tort law quizzes!" "i wasn't made for the humanities." "it's like barely a humanity you nerd"
"there's nothing i wouldnt give right now for a slice of mom's pie. the dining hall food is taking it out of me" "give us ten minutes. ferb, do we still have the blueprints for that transporter?"
episode where doof and perry are both out sick so vanessa and stacy decide to fill in for them (as evil scientist and secret agent respectively) but theyâre clearly just doing it for the bit and using it as an excuse to flirt
"Hi. Uh, hey. So here's the thing. I understand why you did what you did. Why you had â thought you had to. The great big cosmic cost/benefit analysis, and all. And that's a terrible thing to have been put on your shoulders. Like pretty much the absolute maximum that could be asked of a person, barring â uhh, y'know. And I get that, right, like I do get it, like I might be the only other living person â well, human person â who understands the magnitude of everything you were going through to any degree at all. And because of that I really wish I could tell you that it's all, like. Cool. You know? Like whatever. And I know I should.
"But I can't. Hah. Just like last time, right? I can't do it. I can't just do the right thing.
"I wish you a good life. Happiness, peace, eight hours of sleep at night. And if the governments are watching this, if my vote counts at all, I don't think she should be punished. But I do want you to remember me.
"Not, like, in the cute way. I mean I want you to remember. Whenever you see an old man walking a dog, or a child holding hands with her mother, whenever you see the rays of the afternoon sun streaking through the clouds like the sky was the canvas of your God... I want you to hear me screaming. Whenever the thought that you did something to be proud of even approaches your heart, I want you to remember me telling you 'No,' in plain fucking English.
"I know that's, y'know, mean. But you killed me, so it's probably fair. And I know you'll do what I ask, because you are, fundamentally, a really good person, Eva Stratt."
â Dr. Captain Ryland Grace, "i_dont_forgive_you.mp4"
"Hi. Uh, hey. So here's the thing. I understand why you did what you did. Why you had â thought you had to. The great big cosmic cost/benefit analysis, and all. And that's a terrible thing to have been put on your shoulders. Like pretty much the absolute maximum that could be asked of a person, barring â uhh, y'know. And I get that, right, like I do get it, like I might be the only other living person â well, human person â who understands the magnitude of everything you were going through to any degree at all. And because of that I really wish I could tell you that it's all, like. Cool. You know? Like whatever. And I know I should.
"But I can't. Hah. Just like last time, right? I can't do it. I can't just do the right thing.
"I wish you a good life. Happiness, peace, eight hours of sleep at night. And if the governments are watching this, if my vote counts at all, I don't think she should be punished. But I do want you to remember me.
"Not, like, in the cute way. I mean I want you to remember. Whenever you see an old man walking a dog, or a child holding hands with her mother, whenever you see the rays of the afternoon sun streaking through the clouds like the sky was the canvas of your God... I want you to hear me screaming. Whenever the thought that you did something to be proud of even approaches your heart, I want you to remember me telling you 'No,' in plain fucking English.
"I know that's, y'know, mean. But you killed me, so it's probably fair. And I know you'll do what I ask, because you are, fundamentally, a really good person, Eva Stratt."
â Dr. Captain Ryland Grace, "i_dont_forgive_you.mp4"
"Hi. Uh, hey. So here's the thing. I understand why you did what you did. Why you had â thought you had to. The great big cosmic cost/benefit analysis, and all. And that's a terrible thing to have been put on your shoulders. Like pretty much the absolute maximum that could be asked of a person, barring â uhh, y'know. And I get that, right, like I do get it, like I might be the only other living person â well, human person â who understands the magnitude of everything you were going through to any degree at all. And because of that I really wish I could tell you that it's all, like. Cool. You know? Like whatever. And I know I should.
"But I can't. Hah. Just like last time, right? I can't do it. I can't just do the right thing.
"I wish you a good life. Happiness, peace, eight hours of sleep at night. And if the governments are watching this, if my vote counts at all, I don't think she should be punished. But I do want you to remember me.
"Not, like, in the cute way. I mean I want you to remember. Whenever you see an old man walking a dog, or a child holding hands with her mother, whenever you see the rays of the afternoon sun streaking through the clouds like the sky was the canvas of your God... I want you to hear me screaming. Whenever the thought that you did something to be proud of even approaches your heart, I want you to remember me telling you 'No,' in plain fucking English.
"I know that's, y'know, mean. But you killed me, so it's probably fair. And I know you'll do what I ask, because you are, fundamentally, a really good person, Eva Stratt."
â Dr. Captain Ryland Grace, "i_dont_forgive_you.mp4"
I was thinking about Project Hail Mary and I thought of this conversation that definitely happened on the way to Erid:
Grace: "It feels weird to call your planet by a name humans gave it. I know I can't pronounce the real name but can you tell me what it means?"
Rocky: "Rocky will tell Grace, but first Grace must tell Rocky meaning of 'Earth'."
Grace: "Well, uh, it sort of means 'ground'."
Rocky: "Boring!"
Grace: "Okay smart guy, what's your planet's name mean then?"
Rocky: "..."
Grace: "..."
Rocky: "..."
Rocky: "Ground."
YES THANK YOU, somebody said it! It makes so much sense. Itâs been my headcanon for awhile now that the main sect of Eridian spiritual belief revolves around the ground/minerals/their planet itself.
They couldnât have origins in Sun worship like us. Given that their atmosphere is so thick to the point they never developed eyes, hearing their sun and other celestial bodies wasnât an option until they became intelligent enough to develop the technology. Eridians had to have spent hundreds of thousands of years (if not longer) knowing only what they could sense: each other, any other life forms, and whatever was on the ground beneath them.
Considering their bodies are also only around .25% organic material, the rest of what holds them together and gives them a chance at life are the very same minerals and metals that make up the surface of Erid! Without those, survival would be impossible. Their species wouldâve never developed. I imagine that revelation in early Eridian society was extremely profound to them. Erid lends them pieces of its own body so that they can experience the universe.
Their brains and nerves are crystalline, meaning Erid itself gave them the tool they needed for sentience. Their blood is mercury, and other liquid metals I imagine arenât too dissimilar from the types of molten metals sitting at the planetâs core. Their bodies are naturally attuned to magnetic fields so that they can navigate with ease. They cannot get lost Erid because the very ground they walk on has provided for them a way to always find north.
Erid is everything to them. Its presence in their lives absolutely has to be seen as sacred. So of course its name would also mean âground!â In the literal sense, of course. But also as in grounding. Erid is the anchor to the Eridian mortal experience in every sense.
Bonus: I imagine the emotional songs of joy and pure elation when other Eridians discover that out of any human name the alien could have assigned to someone of their species upon first contact, itâs one that also means âground.â A descriptor Grace would use for the surface of his own planet. This creature from beyond the stars took one look at an Eridian and called them sacred. Called them home.
Grace and Rocky, giving a tour of the Hail Mary to fascinated Eridian scientists and diplomats.
Pointing at things and explaining what they are and how the ship works, lots of awed and appreciative noises are made.
Until one of the visiting Eridians points out a specific item. âAnd that?â
Itâs a strange, circular thing, a xenonite disk mounted upright on some sort of pivot so it can spin freely, but around the edges it has⊠spokes? Pegs? Sticking out of it, that hit against a stiff flap that would slow down the spinning.
It is also separated into sections decorated with crude etchings of a human and an Eridian.
âAh,â Grace says.
âThat,â Rocky says.
âThatâs. Um.â Grace seems somewhat embarrassed. âThatâs the sacrifice wheel.â
The Eridian visitors clearly do not know what to make of that. âWe think we misunderstood Savior Graceâs word,â they say, apparently hoping this is a vocabulary mix-up. âExplain (question, polite)?â
âDidnât misunderstand,â says Rocky, sounding very sheepish. âThat is sacrifice wheel.â
âSo. While we were on our way to Erid, we might have gotten⊠anxious about each otherâs well-being,â Grace says, which everyone is already very aware is a wild understatement. âAnd, well, you heard what happened at Tau Ceti, and after. There were a lot of unexpected dangers for the whole trip that required a lot of, at least, attempted self-sacrifice to solve. We ended up almost dying for each other several times. And we had an argument about what weâd do if another crisis like that came up. And we couldn't agree.â
âGrace argued that Grace already was unlikely to survive long-term on Erid, so he should be the one to do any potential deadly but necessary maneuvers to make sure I was able to bring taumoeba back,â Rocky says.
âWhich made sense.â
âDid not make sense! Grace already sacrificed so much for me and for Erid, wouldnât be fair to make you do it againââ Rocky cuts himself off with a huff. They have obviously had this conversation before. âSo sacrifice wheel was compromise.â
âYeah,â Grace says. He spins it to demonstrate; it whirls around in a blur and a rattle of the flap hitting the pegs, then eventually slows down, and stopsâpointing at the segment depicting a very bad but very clear image of an Eridian. âRocky made the wheel, I spin the wheel, and whoever it lands on, thatâs who gets to sacrifice themself to save the other and the other person does not get to argue. This way, we wouldnât waste time debating who does the self-sacrifice and who survives, itâs just a plain fifty-fifty chance. Or, eighteen-eighteen chance in base six. But the point is it could be either of us and we would have to accept the outcome.â
Rocky started fidgeting while Grace was explaining. When Grace finishes, proud of the equitable solution they came up with to allow them to die for each other fairly, Rocky says, âNow that we are back and we donât need sacrifice wheel anymore⊠I have confession to make. About the wheel.â
âWhat about the wheel?â
Rocky doesnât answer. Grace frowns, first confused, then suspicious, and spins the wheel again.
It lands on Rocky again.
He spins the wheel again, and again, and again, and it lands on Rocky every single time.
âRocky!â
âI weighted the wheel,â Rocky admits.
âRocky the whole point was that it was equal, that was why we even made itââ
âNever was necessary so doesnât matter anymore!â
âBut you WOULD have!â
âAnd you never noticed because you were hungry and cranky and distracted and so would have done bad job on heroic self-sacrifice anyway!â
âI would not! I would have done fine!â
(The Eridian scientists and diplomats are still here watching this btw. Slowly dawning on them that 1) these two are extremely not normal about each other 2) if Erid ever does another space mission they NEED to send a therapist aboard because this is what happens when they donât)
I just want a fic where everyone is all âwhy is Dr Grace so grumpy today? Heâs normally so sweetâ and Stratt goes to inspect him for like 5 minutes before grabbing scissors, snipping the tag out of the back of his shirt carefully enough not to leave one of those itchy lines behind, and then heâs a freaking sweetheart again for the rest of the day. Like the princess and the pea. And for some reason only her people watching abilities could figure out why.
Carl probably could have figured it out too, but he canât be glued to Graceâs side 100% of the time lol.
