#blank slate

[fireandslate]

Looking for something new to read this summer? Blank Slate is a dark fantasy webserial about fire, hope, lesbians, religious oppression, and rebellion--and also includes:

post-apocalyptic fantasy kingdom

evil church (with not-so-evil theology)

sinister sellsword haunted by a kindly demon

anxious minstrel who is more clever than she lets on

cold-eyed and treacherous knight with a cool sword and perfect skin

devout and defiant nun who is lethal with a flintlock

courtly knights that wear steel armor

cryptic druids with ancient gold

infrequent but frightening bursts of otherworldly dread

and ever-present,

--an indestructible, stubborn thread of hope electric--

--reminding us that every tyrant will in time come crashing down.

Dark, sapphic, mystical, and updated every Sunday, this character-driven, long-form fantasy web serial is available to read at fireandslate.com!

[paynomindtotheinsanity]

So I started writing notes for a species swap AU *just for fun* and I ended up with...a lot lol. Guess I've gotta write it now.

It's not overly plot-heavy - it'll mostly focus on Dib and Zim's interactions. The story will be kept pretty simple, since Your Eyes Are Red is a hefty boy that still needs my attention lol. But it'll be nice to have a side project that isn't as complex/long.

I'm not sure how to organize it yet? It can't be a one-shot, so maybe it'll be a separate work with stories that are 2-3 chapters each or something.

Anywho, the AU is called Blank Slate, and the first work is called Cluster B.

Here's the summary so far:

Dib’s first mission in the Irken Field Surveillance Unit isn’t glamorous. When the assignments were announced, his peers shook their heads, patted his shoulder, and half-heartedly said “there’s always next time,” while they murmured amongst themselves that the mission was a dud. His professor lamented over the order, called it a punishment for Dib’s interest in “real science,” and tried to cheer him up - but Dib wasn’t upset. It didn’t matter if the planet he was assigned to was essentially in galactic backwater, far away from everyone else and even further from any real civilizational development. Dib’s been itching for freedom in any form, and this planet, however simple, however boring, has granted his wish.

He’s expecting many things when he arrives on Earth. He did his research (well, with what little information he could find), and he always excelled in his training. He knows how to be quiet, calm; how to blend in and observe with excruciating detail. He even joins the public school system…

Only to be outed by a human on his first day.

I'll post it next weekend <3

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

––

Ancient DNA reveals pervasive directional selection across West Eurasia - Nature

Analysis of 15,836 ancient West Eurasian genomes reveals hundreds of instances of directional selection, showing that sustained&nbsp;changes

By: Steve Stewart-Williams

Published: Apr 18, 2026

A new Nature paper by Ali Akbari, David Reich, and colleagues explores recent evolution in Europeans - that is, evolution in the last 14,000 years.

Comparing the genomes of ancient Europeans to those of modern ones, they found strong evidence that gene variants associated with intelligence were under positive selection, whereas gene variants associated with body fat, darker skin, and disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar were under negative selection.

The body-fat finding is particularly interesting; it fits with the idea that farming reduced the need to stockpile fat on the body, and thus that farming populations evolved to do less of it.

Here’s the abstract:

Ancient DNA has transformed our understanding of population history, but its potential to reveal as much about human evolutionary biology has not been realized because of limited sample sizes and the difficulty of distinguishing sustained rises in allele frequency increasing fitness—directional selection—from shifts due to migrations, population structure, or non-adaptive purifying or stabilizing selection. Here we present a method for detecting directional selection in ancient DNA time-series data that tests for consistent trends in allele frequency change over time, and apply it to 15,836 West Eurasians (10,016 with new data). Previous work has shown that classic hard sweeps driving advantageous mutations to fixation have been rare over the broad span of human evolution. By contrast, in the past ten millennia, we find that many hundreds of alleles have been affected by strong directional selection. We also document one-standard-deviation changes on the scale of modern variation in combinations of alleles that today predict complex traits. This includes decreases in predicted body fat and schizophrenia, and increases in measures of cognitive performance. These effects were measured in industrialized societies, and it remains unclear how these relate to phenotypes that were adaptive in the past. We estimate selection coefficients at 9.7 million variants, enabling study of how Darwinian forces couple to allelic effects and shape the genetic architecture of complex traits.

Ancient DNA reveals pervasive directional selection across West Eurasia - Nature

Analysis of 15,836 ancient West Eurasian genomes reveals hundreds of instances of directional selection, showing that sustained&nbsp;changes

==

People who think that Blank Slate ideology is true should be treated the same way as people who think that Noah's Ark is true.

We are still evolving.

[bionicboxes]

OC icons whipped up for artfight :)

[nerds-yearbook]

Superboy vol 4 73 was published with a cover date of April 2000. The issue served as a set up for the Young Justice: Sins of Youth event. ("The Evil Factory Part 4: Point of No Return", Superboy vol 4 73, DC Comic Event)

[yashabonagracia]

My original digital art inspired by how most of the characters of GOT and ASOIAF treated Sansa Stark. Most of the characters that interacted with Sansa did so under the assumption that she was a blank slate for them to write their wills upon or a tool to be wielded to build on their ambitions. They gave her nicknames and identities that she didn't ask for, but had to assume in order to survive. She was Cersei's Little Dove, Sandor's Little Bird, Ser Dontos' Jonquil, etc. They all viewed her in relation to the goals they had in mind towards her. All the while, right beneath their noses, she was becoming more than what they allowed of her. Porcelain, ivory, and steel.

[balloonpup]

Just Chill

How does a rubber changeling beat the heat? Same as anyone else, really…

Blank Slate by Bukkustuff

[colorsplash-au]

TWIRIGHT

members: Shiho Hinomori, Kohane Azusawa, Emu Otori, Mizuki Akiyama

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P1NK L1LLIES

members: Mafuyu Kamishiro, Saki Tenma, Ena Shinonome, Minori Tenma

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BLANK SLATE

members: Honami Otori, Kanade Tenma, Toya Tenma, Haruka Kamishiro

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GO! DREAMER! GO!

members: An Shiraishi, Airi Momoi, Akito Shinonome, Tsukasa Tenma

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TIME WILL REVEAL

members: Nene Kusanagi, Rui Kamishiro, Shizuku Hinomori, Ichika Kamishiro

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MIXED GROUPS

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