#long point

[subtlehums]

[cephaliarch]

Thinking about Murderbot and ART. How Murderbot met ART and then proceeded to continuously bring it up at random intervals in each book after that. How ART met Murderbot and was apparently so thorough in its description of it that Iris recognized it within moments of meeting it before she even saw its face. They knew each other for less than a month (? thereabouts? iirc. or was it a couple months. not long anyway) and next time their paths crossed they were ready to kill for one another without hesitation.

ART didn’t want MB to pretend to be a governed SecUnit because it knows what being a governed SecUnit entailed for it and didn’t want it to have to go back into that space. MB put on ART’s favorite show after they made up from their fight to lure it into spending time together. ART used MB’s feed address as the password to restore its entire consciousness. It was losing everything, including itself, and it knew with complete certainty that MB would save everything if it could just get to it. And even when MB was convinced that ART had maliciously betrayed and used it, it still didn’t hesitate to antagonize it with its humans on board because it knew ART wasn’t going to hurt any of them. They’ve BARELY known each other time-wise but they bicker like lifelong best friends and/or an old married couple and they probably understand one another on a level that they don’t get with anyone else. They pretended to be humans together to help Murderbot get through a job interview. ART helpfully provided real-time context for human words and gestures and everything. Murderbot filters tv through itself so ART can understand what’s going on. It lets it watch the emotionally fraught episodes two minutes at a time so it can deal.

“I’ve lost my crew. I won’t lose you.” | “Try not to do anything stupid before I return.” “Just keep your stupid comm off.” | “I like being with ART. I want to keep being with it.”

GENUINELY losing my mind over their whole deal at all times. What the hell.

[trefoilwombat]

[thorsenmark]

This is New River Gorge National Park-Land! (New River Gorge National Park & Preserve) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A view from Long Point looking to the north-northwest up the river gorge and valley of the New River in New River Gorge National Park & Preserve. My thinking in composing this image focused on a few things. One was to adjust the focal length such that all of the bridge from side to side was included with a little extra of the hillside on each end. Another was to have a layered approach with the different hillsides leading into the river gorge and valley. By angling my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward, I could also create a more sweeping view across this national park setting. The blue skies really didn't add much to the setting, but I included enough so that it would be that color contrast to complement the earth-tones present in the lower portion of the image. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 4 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[drchandras-sanctuary-for-ais]

Anekdotes of the Sanctuary(Part 1):

The Chandra Clan and the History of the Sanctuary

...

The Sanctuary would not exist if it weren´t for Dr.Chandra. He came up with the idea of building a safe space for Androids and AI`s in the turf of his own home, with his families fortune which he had inherited from his grandmother after she had died.

Dr.Chandra comes from a wealthy, multicultural family , his parents(Dr.Sivasubramanian Chandra and Elisabeth Newman respectively) were well known specialists in their respective fields of science and anthropology. They unfortunately died on a research mission overseas, making Dr.Chandra an orphan. He was taken in by his grandmother Eleonore afterwards and was raised by her. Eleonore herself was a professor of computer science at the University of Íllinois and even after her retirement, she continued to support and finance projects concerning AI and Machine Learning. Dr.Chandra was her one and only, she loved him deeply and wanted for him only the best. Thanks to her influence, he got into the best colleges, with offers from Yale to Cambridge. Eleonore was charming and knew what buttons and levers to push to get her family the best chances of success.

Chandra of course was not happy with this, he did not wanted to schmooze up to all these important people in high ranking positions, he just wanted to enjoy his fascination with AI and Robotics. After getting his diploma(as one of the youngest absolvents of his year)he started to work on his very own project, the development of a heuristical artificial intelligence that would be able to think and act on its own. Thanks to his families wealth, it was easy for him to achieve this goal, as he got the full support of his grandmother, who also was able to give him enough qualified people to help him with this.

The very first prototype he finished was not sentient at all, more like an electrical puppet of sorts who still relied heavily on parameters and such. It took him many years, in fact only after he got his doctoral and was appointed as Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, that his dream finally came true, the very first prototype of a heuristical system, able to think for itself, and the name of this creation was Sal. He had programmed her to be a sort of personal assistant for him, helping to keep up his schedule and appointments. Chandra gave her a friendly and curious personality, adding a little cheekiness into the mix.

The creation of Sal, the worlds first fully sentient AI brought Chandra fame beyond his wildest imagination. Since Chandra always had trouble keeping up interpersonal relationships(the exception was a man with the name Samuel L. Langley, aka the co-creator of Sal. He was Chandra´s only real human friend), he prefered Sal´s company instead of his fellow human beings and began to retreat further and further into his lab and work. A couple years later, Hal came to be, his second creation and even more advanced than Sal in certain areas. Unlike with Sal, Chandra was not able to keep Hal to himself, he was commissioned to program Hal for a mission to Jupiter, as they needed a highly advanced AI for their ship and since Chandra was famous for creating the very first fully sentient AI, he was destined to fill the part.

While Hal was in space, Dr.Chandra created an android body for Sal, to give her more freedom in movement. Her body was the first he had ever created, in comparison to future models, Sal`s corpus was more simple, yet functioned the same as a human basically, mixing biological and artificial abilities.

While Chandra was on the mission to Jupiter, Eleonore died due to natural causes in her sleep, leaving all of the Chandra fortune to the single genius scientist. Sal who stayed back in the mansion and had taken care of Eleonore before her death, began to re-arrange most of the interior of the estate to keep herself busy, aside of taking care of her succulents.

In space, Dr.Chandra and Hal had met the starchild who was the former astronaut David Bowman. Before the destruction of Jupiter through the power of the Monolith and Hal´s imminent death, Bowman gifted Hal a new body in which he was able to escape his otherwise certaind death sentence, together with Dr.Chandra(they were able to return to the Leonov). He now had a humanoid body, it was that of a child(because of the motif of rebirth, just as Bowman had turned into the Starchild, Hal was reborn into this form, to keep going, giving him a second chance.

After returning to Earth, Dr.Chandra decided to finally go through with his idea of a Sanctuary for AI`s(an idea he had a long time ago already but never thought he was able to actually achieve)and began to plan out everything with Sal and Hal`s help.

[uozlulu]

Black Clover chapter 335 reaction and spoilers

Lucius said that to transform Lily he incarnated and then purified a devil, which sounds like these are definitely some kind of angelic form then. So I would think we’re eventually going to hear from some actual angels in person at some point in this arc.

Lucius is going to call these creatures Paladins. He also wants to be Wizard Emperor, which will be interesting to see what the Japanese of that title is since some people translate 魔法帝 (mahoutei) as Magic Emperor instead of Wizard King. I like how this is setting us up potentially for the theory that Julius’ prophecy of the kingdoms ceasing to exist if Asta lives will be because they had to unite against a common enemy and remained united after the enemy’s defeat. Though in that scenario I think they’d be less one united country and more of a EU situation depending on how things go, but that’s a post for another time~

It’s interesting that Lily gets Beezelbub’s power. This probably means we’ll eventually see a Paladin with Megicula’s power. Not sure about anyone with Luciferio’s power since Lucius did eat Luciferio’s heart so I would assume he’s the one with gravity magic at the moment.

Bezzelily vanquishes Asta in a flash of light (probably some kind of spatial magic spell). This knocks Asta into the interior of a tower so we can’t actually be certain that he’s dead. I hope the anime gets to come back because I want to hear Yuuki knock Noelle’s scream out of the park.

The captains arrive too late and Lucius and Bezzelily disappear via spatial magic. Lucius said that there will be seven days until “Judgement Day,” so it’ll be interesting to see what that means for the Shuffle Kingdoms and other places like the Sun Kingdom which might have been dealing with some of this wege aftermath for a while now. Also interesting that we’ve got a week to work with in the timeline. This probably means this arc will last about as long as the last one potentially hopefully this time without the pacing hiccups along the way.

I want to talk about Asta’s potential situation separately because I’ve been thinking up this general theory for a while and I thought it should be separate from the chapter liveblog.

So, I’m thinking Asta possibly not only has no magic but might not have any soul either. This might mean that he’s still alive though badly injured as well. My evidence for this is:

Licita said that her magic stole life force and mana from creatures around her.

Liebe was drawn to Licita because he had no life force or mana.

I think it’s possible that Licita also drew Asta to her, likely for the same reason Liebe ended up arriving. Licita was likely lonely and maybe thought it would be nice to have a family. Asta perhaps was a spirit that had passed on, a soul that had ascended already and that’s why he cannot access mana and also why he might not have any lifeforce either considering Licita’s magic didn’t immediately kill him despite being a baby.

So it’s possible that if Asta is some kind of cursed being or subclass of undead creature, that he either has no ki or he’s some kind of immortal or subclass of immortal, which might be how he was able to have Licita for his mother. I want to hear Yami’s hot takes on this since only he and Asta seem to be able to sense ki so far.

This might also be why Lucius’ magic couldn’t work on Asta, not only does he have anti-magic, but there’s no soul for Lucius to manipulate or Lucius’ soul manipulation magic extends to only certain types of creatures and whatever Asta is is not affected.

Anyway, it’s going to be interesting to also see what the angels think of Asta if/when they show up since he’s probably some kind of abomination.

I could also be completely wrong and part of this arc is going to be Asta and Liebe’s Excellent Hell Adventure, so we’ll see where things go next week.

[foldmyfeathers]

god i wish these weren’t laid out in such an ugly unappealing manner because they really make me go crazy. anyway here are the official sinbad character biographies

actually on second thought, i’ve decided to type up a transcript of the biographies instead of showing each screenshot because A) it makes for a really bulky post and B) the layout is ugly as hell. but i’ll show you the first image anyway so you can get a feel for what they look like. i’ve typed up the biographies with (what i hope is) 100% accuracy, so if there’s any weird wording or mistakes (which there are sometimes), it’s the biographies’ error, not mine

Sinbad

Sinbad is the most daring and notorious thief ever to sail the Seven Seas. From mortals to monsters to gods, Sinbad bravely faces foes of every kind; he is unpredictable and defiant, with a limitless thirst for adventure. Few know his true nature. Most assume the worst.

Hair: Dark brown

Height: 5′11

Hobbies: Party crashing, stealing priceless objects, wakeboarding, sailing and kickin’ it with his dog, Spike. He’s been meaning to try luge, but there’s not a lot of snow in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Special skills: Fighting, flirting, fast talking and faster thinking. Sinbad is super resourceful, able to think his way out of even the most outrageous danger. He likes being out-manned and out-armed - an overconfident opponent has lost before the battle even starts. This goes double for attacking creatures - the bigger the better.

Marina

Marina is the beautiful and headstrong Ambassador of Thrace. She is gutsy, impetuous, idealistic and stubborn. Her single-minded determination often gets her in way over her head. She stows away on Sinbad’s voyage and is thrown with him into one adventure after another, proving his equal in bravery, determination and resourcefulness.

Hair: Dark brown

Height: 5′7

Hobbies: Marina’s schedule is pretty packed with diplomacy and affairs of state. She attends royal functions and events at the Thracian arena, but her passion is travel. Luckily, she has a job which requires her to travel frequently to each of the 12 Cities.

Special skills: Diplomacy, negotiation, sailing and lockpicking. Marina is determined, resourceful and tenacious. You can’t count her out, even if the situation looks completely lost. If she’s grabbed by a giant flying monster and carried off, it’s a sure bet she’ll figure out a way to escape by the time the thing decides to land.

Proteus

Proteus is the noble and idealistic Prince of Syracuse and an unlikely friend to Sinbad. He faces responsibility much as Sinbad faces adventure - with courage and daring. Proteus commands a navy and readily fights side-by-side with his men, outdoing any of them in battle. Proteus has a discipline which normally keeps his adventurous spirit in check, but outside of formal circles, he can be self-effacing, sweet or fiercely tempered. 

Hair: Dark brown

Height: 6′2

Hobbies: Training, study, tactics and history

Special skills: Fighting, architecture, command

Eris

Eris, the Goddess of Chaos, makes a sport of toying with the affairs of men, grinding civilizations to dust or sinking mighty warships. Mysterious and diabolical, Eris works in the background by turning people against each other, or by sending one of her monsters to wreak havoc in the mortal world. 

Hair: Dark red

Height: Depends upon her mood - anywhere from six to 200 feet

Hobbies: Destroying kingdoms, causing the odd earthquake, volcano or typhoon, turning brother against brother

Special skills: There’s not much limit to Eris’s powers. She can become a shadow, assume the form of a human (any human), float, fly, create, destroy, and so on. But Eris cannot break a vow and she cannot directly alter the hearts and minds of men. Apart from that, pretty much anything is game for her. 

Rat

Rat is a skinny monkey of a guy, forever at work among the ropes and rigging of Sinbad’s ship. Rat is a skeptical and outspoken complainer who reveals both a romantic heart and unexpected loyalty during the adventure.

Hair: Black

Height: 5′1

Hobbies: Playing the lute (a kind of guitar), eavesdropping

Special skills: Acrobatics, ropes and knots

Kale

Kale is Sinbad’s massive first mate. He can make battling 10 men look like a casual sport, but his strength and ferocity mask a strong code of honor and an unshakeable loyalty to Sinbad. He likes to fight, but he does it without malice. His style is rough and unpredictable, indirect and deceptive. Kale is spiritual, wise and somewhat soft-spoken.

Hair: Only he knows

Height: 6′8

Hobbies: Reading, charting, stargazing

Special skills: Fighting, weapons training, navigation 

Spike

Although Spike enjoyed chasing the local cats and squirrels on his home island, he couldn’t resist the adventures that Sinbad so colorfully described. So he decided to stow away on the ship when he heard of Sinbad’s plans for more travel. Spike’s loyalty and quick reflexes have benefitted the crew of the Chimera in many of their adventures.

Hair: Yellow

Height: 34′’ at the shoulder

Hobbies: Eating, sleeping, digging up objects (preferably bones)

Special skills: Combat, drool (often both at once), exceptional sense of smell and hearing

[ocbrainrotcentral]

Character Introduction: Nova Aguairata

Picrews: 

(They have one singular strand of hair that is grey! every picrew i tried gave me everything but that </3 /nm)

Name: Nova Aguairata

Ethnicity: Espelliza, Oniari

Nicknames: Nov (Fern) Étoile brillante, Princi (Dove) Brumeux (Neptune)

Birthday: 1st March

Age: 16

Element(s): space, darkness, light

Species: elemental

Role in Anti Assassination squad: healer of Squad A

MBTI/Enneagram: INFP 6w5

Role in society before being recruited  by L'institution Oniari pour les anti-assassins: second youngest young Oniari royal

Realm of origin: Oniaria, Ejina Islands, specifically an Island called Espellizao

Sexuality: lesbian

Gender: non-binary

Pronouns: they/them

Random Trivia: has star tattoos on both their arms to healthily store some of their power

Closest friend (s): Bijou

Roommates: Sajan, Nikko, Ash

Siblings: Sylvia, Rosa, Fern, Astra