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Range Day: Competition Shooting (3/5)
2023.06.07 05:43 berdistehwerd Range Day: Competition Shooting (3/5)
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Mick about to do something incredible
Mick reference
Finn reference
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Memory transcription subject: Finn Hathcock, S&R Volunteer, Gunsmith Date [Standardized Human Time]: November 17, 2136
With the awards ceremony out of the way, and my explanation of how the long range contest works out of the way, it was time to get to practicing our shots. My weapon of choice was a Cheytac M200 Intervention, a vintage rifle from the early 2000s. One of my personal favorites in the collection, it’s a piece with a lot of absolutely fascinating history, originally used by a Marine corps covert marksman, fighting in Ukraine. This thing has personally sent rounds through a few Russian commanders, denoted by the 7 tally marks on the side of the receiver. Sounds a little weird to be using a gun that has confirmed kills marked on the side, but that conflict happened over a century ago, so the blood has long cleared off its history in my eyes.
As a warmup, I would have to calibrate my spotting scope, and re-zero the scope that I had placed on the top of my rifle. It was a ‘relic’ by today’s standards, but it’s still a great scope for the time nonetheless. Mick was watching me extract the rifle from the case, where I then assembled it like an assassin would in a cheesy action movie. Snap the barrel to the receiver, slip the bipod on for good measure, extend the stock, slip the bolt into the chamber, and we’re good to go.
“What gun is that?’ Mick questioned. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“Ah, this is just my personal long range gun, an Intervention. Used to be super popular in video games of the 2000s, but now we’ve got much better options for taking out things at range.”
“That looks a bit too big for me to shoot, you got anything for me? I saw another couple boxes in the car, one of those has to be mine, right?”
He was right, I had got him one a little more suited to his size, and something else for later.
“You’re right, I did bring something for you,” I responded. I was quite excited to see what he thought of the little gun I got for him, although this one I wouldn’t be gifting to him right away. “Go grab the smallest thing out of the car, it should be labeled for you!”
I watched as he walked over to the car, his tail wagging behind him, as it usually did when we were messing around with firearms and stuff. I'm wondering if he got paired with me on purpose, since he seems to be the only venlil I know of interested in guns and engineering, just like I am.
Mick returned with his rifle, plopped it down onto the bench we would be shooting from, and extracted his rifle. A Desert Tech SRS-A2 sniper rifle. This little thing was a compact, hard hitting bolt action bullpup from, again, the early 2000s. Did I mention that’s my favorite time period for my guns? Anyway, this would be the perfect rifle for mick, since it actually fit his slightly smaller stature perfectly. At 5 foot 6 inches, he’s a bit shorter than I am, at 6 feet even.
We got situated onto the bench, Mick handed me his rifle for calibration, so I did so, then handed it back to him. Modern boresights made it incredibly easy to zero things, as it would calculate drop for whatever settings you could input into it, meaning you just put the crosshair on where it should land and you have an accurate shot for the conditions specified. Quite incredible if you ask me, somehow it just kinda…works. I’m certainly not complaining.
I went ahead and loaded up the magazine for Mick’s rifle. Despite its small stature, the SRS was still quite powerful. I configured it with the longest barrel, and put a .338 chamber and bolt in there, the highest caliber that would fit the time frame of the competition. Modern versions of the gun could be chambered in pretty much anything you want, but I prefer to stick within proper time periods for my builds. Sure, I could slap a cutting edge auto-zeroing, thermal, solar powered, auto range finding, perfectly accurate every time guaranteed scope on top of my Lee-Enfield from 1914, but what’s the fun in that? It looks awkward, is completely historically wrong, and wouldn’t help anyone that is already a good shooter anyway.
I signed up for the vintage challenge because of that specifically, it only allows rifles and attachments from before the 2030s, the latest time period I’d be invested in. It actually had some challenges, rather than being point and shoot.
“Hey Finn you there? You zoned out a little…”
“Oh, sorry, just thinkin.”
“No worries, I just wanna shoot my gun, and you’re kinda holding it right now.”
“Ah sorry, here.”
I handed the rifle back to him, and walked on over to the spotter scope I had left nearby. This device was a standalone scope that just sat on a tripod, had a 36x zoom (a bit more than we needed but that’s fine), and an angled viewport so you just had to take a look into it without bending down quite as far.
Our target was about 200 meters away, a solid long distance shot for most, but pretty easy with the right equipment.
“OK, you ready mick? Move the throw lever to a higher magnification so you can see what you're aiming at, the red target marked 200.”
“Got it, I see it.”
“Ok, wind is… 4 MPH to the left, aim just slightly right of center, up one notch from the crosshair.”
“Ok, I'm aiming, fire?”
“When ready!” Time to see how good mick’s exact shot placement is, the goal being the exact center of the target.
Mick squeezed his trigger, I felt the blast off to my left, and I watched the .338 tracer round fly through the air. Impact a bit high and to the right. Solid characteristics of a flinched shot, compounded by the fact that I watched him flinch when he pulled the trigger.
“Bud, you flinched it a little. It’s ok if you don’t hit dead center, ya know.”
“Sorry… just feels like I've got a lot of pressure over my head for some reason.”
“Hey, don’t apologize for nothing, save it for mistakes.” I paused for a moment to let it sink in. “Can you think of why you might have flinched?”
“Probably just that I have that streak of not missing once going, and I feel like I’ll lose that.”
“Alright then, lemme help.”
I scooted over, racked another round into his gun, and told him just to slam a round into the dirt under the target. Hopefully breaking the (frankly impressive) no misses streak he had going would stop him from flinching. I then told him to try again, the wind moved a little right this time, so I told him to hold one mill to the left.
Another puff of wind, another tracer flying downrange. The projectile slammed face first into the middle of the target, only off by about a quarter of an inch. Exactly where I wanted him to hit it, not perfect but still quite good.
“Nice shot, didn’t flinch it this time I see?”
“Oh wow, I'm surprised that it worked, are you always this skilled at reading people?”
“I am when they tell me what the problem is, such as you’ve done.”
“AH. Yea that would help.”
That’s another thing I like about Mick, he’s always incredibly honest. If he’s not hiding anything he’ll just outright say what’s wrong instead of so many other people who will carry on as if nothing’s wrong despite the fact that there’s a problematic thorn stuck in their side.
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After about 30 minutes of me practicing shot calling and Mick practicing his aim on further and further targets, it was time for the competition. It consisted of a speed shot contest, hit the 300 meter target 5 times quickly, the ‘White Feather’ shot, hit a 2 inch target from 500 meters, and the ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, a half-covered man size target from 1.5 kilometers away. Thankfully for that one it doesn’t matter where you hit him, as long as you do hit him.
The familiar whistle rang out, drawing the competitors away from their firearms and towards the instructors, here to tell us how the rules worked. I had heard (and delivered) this spiel so many times I knew it by heart, so I just tuned it out until he was done rambling. Mick listened intently, according to his ears, at least. Those ears gave a good indicator of the amount of attention he was paying to any given thing, for instance, if he was focused on the shot he was about to take I noticed he would sweep them backward, like a cat about to start bouncing off the walls, or when he was focusing on someone’s conversation they would angle forward slightly.
I was pulled from that train of thought when the instructor finished his explanation of the rules, and we were allowed to return to our tables to get ready for the competition ahead. I removed the magazine, press checked the chamber, and put a flag in for good measure. Mick followed suit, and we were ready to compete. I decided we wouldn’t be waiting too long this time, since we had been here before everyone else. I was going first, mick would be my spotter (thankfully he would only have to call out the wind, since I can handle rangefinding and elevation), then we would switch out for me as the spotter and Mick as the sniper, where I would have to tell him exactly where to aim on the crosshairs.
We were called forward to our bench, where the magic would begin. I laid out a few extra magazines in front of me, I was definitely going to need them for that 1500 shot, re-calibrated the rangefinder for mick, and set up the shot timer that we would both have to use. I was now ready to go, and was just waiting for the instructor to give me the go-ahead.
The instructor noticed that we were ready to go, so he began his usual lines. “Shooter ready? Standby…”
BEEP!
I quickly flipped the safety off, racked a round into the chamber, and began lining up for the speed shots. “Mick, what's the wind like?” I requested, with urgency.
“About… 2 miles leftward?”
I aimed ever so slightly to the right of the center of my target, and released the breath I was holding. Exhale, pause, squeeze slowly but surely… fire. Impact a fraction of a second later, half an inch off the center. Rack the bolt again, new round in the chamber, repeat. Aim, exhale… fire. Impact. Rack bolt, aim center, exhale… fire, impact.
This sequence repeated 2 more times, both shots landing in a very tight group around the center of the target. Next up was the ‘White feather’ shot, hitting a tiny, 2x2 target from extreme distance.
I threw the zoom lever on the scope to the right, adjust the zero to 500, request the windage.
“What’s the wind now?” I asked again. It had been long enough where the wind may have changed direction.
“6 miles per hour, slightly right but mostly parallel to the range, seems like.”
That meant I had to hold one dot left, aim slightly lower than the target due to the wind carrying it further than I could easily zero for. I place the target into the spot in my scope, hold my breath for a moment, exhale, hold… fire.
“Impact low, centered.” Mick called out. I had overcompensated for the wind’s carrying effect, so I had hit a bit low of the 2 inch wide target. Adjust so it’s on the line, still one mil dot to the left, exhale, hold… fire. The bullet did its thing, and impacted the little red circle. A simple, yet deceptively hard shot, even if you have accurate holds and an even more accurate rifle. Funnily enough, the guy who originally made the shot this competition was trying to emulate happened to be my great (x9) grandfather. Carlos Hathcock was notorious during the Vietnam war, gaining a bounty of over 30000 dollars just on him alone. Nobody managed to claim that bounty, fortunately, but many counter-snipers tried.
On one of those occasions, a sniper caught sight of him from roughly 500 meters away, leaving a notable glint from the reflection on the front of the scope. He then took aim at the flash, and fired his rifle, where the bullet went straight through the scope into the enemy sniper’s eye. A frankly insane shot, even under ideal conditions such as we have here. Thankfully, we only have to hit about half a playing card rather than a tiny, 1 inch wide tube.
Next was the ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, apparently named after an old video game about sniping, set during the second world war. At first I couldn’t see the target, 1.5 kilometers is quite an insane distance even for some of the more skilled shooters, such as myself. I had to spot the little flag flying next to it, then find it again within the magnified scope. I threw the magnification all the way up, ticked up the zero until it hit its maximum, 1000 meters. Seems the maker of this scope never expected anyone to try and throw a round more than a kilometer down range, but here I was doing it anyway.
“Mick, wind?” I asked, a bit too impatiently.
“Here it looks like… 7 MPH going perpendicular toward the right.”
“Thank you.” I said, hoping to make up for my impatience.
I placed my aim onto the target, aimed with the lowest mil on the scope, shift left 1 and a half, hold breath, exhale, hold… Fire!
I watched the tracer take its sweet time waltzing it’s way over yonder to the target. I could also see it impact the ground about a foot too low. I had to try again. I quickly racked the bolt, putting another .408 round into the chamber.
I aimed, then I pulled the zoom lever on the scope back to the left, zooming back out so I could see the other mils that were hidden under the eye box of the scope. It was exactly what I needed.
I placed the crosshair back on the target, raised it up a few mils until I was aiming the same way I was before, then lifted my point of aim another few inches up. If the wind hadn’t changed too much, this should hit roughly the center of the target.
Hold breath, exhale, hold… fire. The tracer flew through the air again, whacking itself straight into the center of the target.
A buzzer rang from behind us signaling the end of the run. 20 seconds for the speed shots, 30 for the scope shot, and another 25 for the long range. 75 seconds is enough to get full bonus points, plus a little penalty for missing twice, means that I get a score of 13, out of 15. Not bad, not bad at all.
We had a short break, where I set Mick's rifle up, showed him how to adjust for distance, and where the bullets should roughly land when accounting for wind and drop. Mick picked up how to do it quickly, as he seemed to do with anything I showed him, I wonder if he has some sort of neurodivergence? It doesn’t matter to me if he does, I just like having a friend around.
The instructor informed us that it was time for Mick to do his run. I handed Mick the magazines, and got set up behind the spotter scope. Both of us gave the signal for the instructor to begin his timing.
“Shooter ready? Standby…”
BEEP!
I watched as Mick quickly zeroed the scope for 300 meters, placed his aim onto the target, and let his round loose. As expected, smack dab in the middle. I was now just watching through the spotter scope, seeing the rounds hit and calling out if they did or not. “Hit!”
Mick cycled the bolt, throwing the empty case to the floor next to the stand where we were set up. He managed to keep the rifle stable on the target, so he barely had to adjust before sending another round directly on target. “Hit!”
This repeated another three times, fire, “hit!”, cycle. Mick’s aim was still impeccable, although that wasn’t saying much due to it only being a 300 meter shot. Mick redirected his aim over to the 2x2 inch target that was for the ‘White Feather’ shot. I watched him click the dial for distance over another 4 notches, zeroing for 500 meters.
I glanced over to the windage monitor, it proclaimed that the wind was going at 3 MPH to the right of the range. I calculated in my head that it would mean he would have to adjust to the left about half of a mil dot, so I relayed this to him. “About half a mil left, exactly on the middle crosshair line.
Mick flicked his ears in an affirmative gesture, and I saw the rifle nudge ever so slightly to the left. His shot impacted the middle of the target on its first trip downrange, even better than I did.
“HIT!”
Next up was that ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, a simple hit at 1500 meters was all you needed. Mick swung his aim over to the target, flicked the zoom all the way in, and rotated the zeroing to 1500. Fortunately for him, his scope actually went all the way out to 2000 meters, so he didn’t have to miss, then guesstimate like I had.
I once again glanced at the wind monitor, and it was practically nothing.
0.2 MPH.
The air was perfectly still (or as still as you could reasonably hope for) so there was no better opportunity than now for him to get this perfect shot off. “Dead center of the target, the wind’s stopped!”
Out of my peripheral vision, I see Mick holding his breath like I had, then slowly pulling the trigger. The rifle did it’s thing, a hammer falling into a striker, setting off a primer, deflagrating exactly 275 grains of gunpowder, propelling a single copper coated round down the barrel at 3000 feet per second, sending it off on the most textbook shot in the history of long range shooting, the bullet spiraled through the air, nearing closer to its destination every millisecond.
The wind decided to cooperate with us today, keeping itself stock still as the round sliced through the air, on a collision course with the exact center of the man sized silhouette target that sat at the end of the range.
I saw through the spotter scope, a bullet impact its target with an unparalleled level of luckiness, flattening itself against the steel of the target.
“FUCKIN HIT! NICE SHOT MICK!” I shouted, immediately standing up with my arm poised for the greatest high five any man or venlil had ever seen.
Mick had seen the bullet impact, but wasn’t quite as excited as I was. He still got up, noticing my excitement through those side facing eyes of his, then he raised his own paw, held it back, ready to slingshot it against mine.
The ultimately satisfying sound of a good high five soon followed, our hands (and paws) slapping together right at the palms, the force resonating loud enough to actually make the active hearing protection dampen it for us. The impressiveness of the shot was not to be undersold, and we were about to learn what mick’s score was.
The instructor walked over, then told us what his results were.
86 seconds, 15 points out of a total of 15, one bonus point for time, not counted due to an already perfect score. I could barely believe it, Mick was wagging his tail, the instructor even looked a little impressed. Mick had probably won it, or at least tied for first.
An hour or 2 later, all the other competitors had taken their shots. I ended up getting tied for 3rd, with one other competitor. I decided that I would give up whatever prize I would have gotten to the other guy, since I already won once today. The podium ceremony was next up, this time Mick was at the top of it. He got a voucher for a rifle again, like the guy that won the IPSC section, but he could also trade it in for about 1000 bucks of stuff from the equipment store. He got himself a plate carrier similar to mine, a nice faux leather holster (which now contained his pistol), and another pair of tactical pants, this time in tan-gray instead of the navy blue of the ones he won.
Our next and final competition was coming up soon, some sort of mix between Olympic and skeet shooting. Why they decided to combine both of those, I had no idea. Sounds fun anyway, so I’m not gonna question it.
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Author's note: Wow, this chapter took a lot less time than the rest of them. I'm gonna take a break from writing the main story for a little while, you should expect a prologue coming next, in my inconsistent as always timeframe.
Hope you enjoyed it, i'm gonna go to bed now. (I released this during finals week at midnight, wahoo!)
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Mick about to do something incredible
Mick reference
Finn reference
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Memory transcription subject: Finn Hathcock, S&R Volunteer, Gunsmith Date [Standardized Human Time]: November 17, 2136
With the awards ceremony out of the way, and my explanation of how the long range contest works out of the way, it was time to get to practicing our shots. My weapon of choice was a Cheytac M200 Intervention, a vintage rifle from the early 2000s. One of my personal favorites in the collection, it’s a piece with a lot of absolutely fascinating history, originally used by a Marine corps covert marksman, fighting in Ukraine. This thing has personally sent rounds through a few Russian commanders, denoted by the 7 tally marks on the side of the receiver. Sounds a little weird to be using a gun that has confirmed kills marked on the side, but that conflict happened over a century ago, so the blood has long cleared off its history in my eyes.
As a warmup, I would have to calibrate my spotting scope, and re-zero the scope that I had placed on the top of my rifle. It was a ‘relic’ by today’s standards, but it’s still a great scope for the time nonetheless. Mick was watching me extract the rifle from the case, where I then assembled it like an assassin would in a cheesy action movie. Snap the barrel to the receiver, slip the bipod on for good measure, extend the stock, slip the bolt into the chamber, and we’re good to go.
“What gun is that?’ Mick questioned. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“Ah, this is just my personal long range gun, an Intervention. Used to be super popular in video games of the 2000s, but now we’ve got much better options for taking out things at range.”
“That looks a bit too big for me to shoot, you got anything for me? I saw another couple boxes in the car, one of those has to be mine, right?”
He was right, I had got him one a little more suited to his size, and something else for later.
“You’re right, I did bring something for you,” I responded. I was quite excited to see what he thought of the little gun I got for him, although this one I wouldn’t be gifting to him right away. “Go grab the smallest thing out of the car, it should be labeled for you!”
I watched as he walked over to the car, his tail wagging behind him, as it usually did when we were messing around with firearms and stuff. I'm wondering if he got paired with me on purpose, since he seems to be the only venlil I know of interested in guns and engineering, just like I am.
Mick returned with his rifle, plopped it down onto the bench we would be shooting from, and extracted his rifle. A Desert Tech SRS-A2 sniper rifle. This little thing was a compact, hard hitting bolt action bullpup from, again, the early 2000s. Did I mention that’s my favorite time period for my guns? Anyway, this would be the perfect rifle for mick, since it actually fit his slightly smaller stature perfectly. At 5 foot 6 inches, he’s a bit shorter than I am, at 6 feet even.
We got situated onto the bench, Mick handed me his rifle for calibration, so I did so, then handed it back to him. Modern boresights made it incredibly easy to zero things, as it would calculate drop for whatever settings you could input into it, meaning you just put the crosshair on where it should land and you have an accurate shot for the conditions specified. Quite incredible if you ask me, somehow it just kinda…works. I’m certainly not complaining.
I went ahead and loaded up the magazine for Mick’s rifle. Despite its small stature, the SRS was still quite powerful. I configured it with the longest barrel, and put a .338 chamber and bolt in there, the highest caliber that would fit the time frame of the competition. Modern versions of the gun could be chambered in pretty much anything you want, but I prefer to stick within proper time periods for my builds. Sure, I could slap a cutting edge auto-zeroing, thermal, solar powered, auto range finding, perfectly accurate every time guaranteed scope on top of my Lee-Enfield from 1914, but what’s the fun in that? It looks awkward, is completely historically wrong, and wouldn’t help anyone that is already a good shooter anyway.
I signed up for the vintage challenge because of that specifically, it only allows rifles and attachments from before the 2030s, the latest time period I’d be invested in. It actually had some challenges, rather than being point and shoot.
“Hey Finn you there? You zoned out a little…”
“Oh, sorry, just thinkin.”
“No worries, I just wanna shoot my gun, and you’re kinda holding it right now.”
“Ah sorry, here.”
I handed the rifle back to him, and walked on over to the spotter scope I had left nearby. This device was a standalone scope that just sat on a tripod, had a 36x zoom (a bit more than we needed but that’s fine), and an angled viewport so you just had to take a look into it without bending down quite as far.
Our target was about 200 meters away, a solid long distance shot for most, but pretty easy with the right equipment.
“OK, you ready mick? Move the throw lever to a higher magnification so you can see what you're aiming at, the red target marked 200.”
“Got it, I see it.”
“Ok, wind is… 4 MPH to the left, aim just slightly right of center, up one notch from the crosshair.”
“Ok, I'm aiming, fire?”
“When ready!” Time to see how good mick’s exact shot placement is, the goal being the exact center of the target.
Mick squeezed his trigger, I felt the blast off to my left, and I watched the .338 tracer round fly through the air. Impact a bit high and to the right. Solid characteristics of a flinched shot, compounded by the fact that I watched him flinch when he pulled the trigger.
“Bud, you flinched it a little. It’s ok if you don’t hit dead center, ya know.”
“Sorry… just feels like I've got a lot of pressure over my head for some reason.”
“Hey, don’t apologize for nothing, save it for mistakes.” I paused for a moment to let it sink in. “Can you think of why you might have flinched?”
“Probably just that I have that streak of not missing once going, and I feel like I’ll lose that.”
“Alright then, lemme help.”
I scooted over, racked another round into his gun, and told him just to slam a round into the dirt under the target. Hopefully breaking the (frankly impressive) no misses streak he had going would stop him from flinching. I then told him to try again, the wind moved a little right this time, so I told him to hold one mill to the left.
Another puff of wind, another tracer flying downrange. The projectile slammed face first into the middle of the target, only off by about a quarter of an inch. Exactly where I wanted him to hit it, not perfect but still quite good.
“Nice shot, didn’t flinch it this time I see?”
“Oh wow, I'm surprised that it worked, are you always this skilled at reading people?”
“I am when they tell me what the problem is, such as you’ve done.”
“AH. Yea that would help.”
That’s another thing I like about Mick, he’s always incredibly honest. If he’s not hiding anything he’ll just outright say what’s wrong instead of so many other people who will carry on as if nothing’s wrong despite the fact that there’s a problematic thorn stuck in their side.
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After about 30 minutes of me practicing shot calling and Mick practicing his aim on further and further targets, it was time for the competition. It consisted of a speed shot contest, hit the 300 meter target 5 times quickly, the ‘White Feather’ shot, hit a 2 inch target from 500 meters, and the ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, a half-covered man size target from 1.5 kilometers away. Thankfully for that one it doesn’t matter where you hit him, as long as you do hit him.
The familiar whistle rang out, drawing the competitors away from their firearms and towards the instructors, here to tell us how the rules worked. I had heard (and delivered) this spiel so many times I knew it by heart, so I just tuned it out until he was done rambling. Mick listened intently, according to his ears, at least. Those ears gave a good indicator of the amount of attention he was paying to any given thing, for instance, if he was focused on the shot he was about to take I noticed he would sweep them backward, like a cat about to start bouncing off the walls, or when he was focusing on someone’s conversation they would angle forward slightly.
I was pulled from that train of thought when the instructor finished his explanation of the rules, and we were allowed to return to our tables to get ready for the competition ahead. I removed the magazine, press checked the chamber, and put a flag in for good measure. Mick followed suit, and we were ready to compete. I decided we wouldn’t be waiting too long this time, since we had been here before everyone else. I was going first, mick would be my spotter (thankfully he would only have to call out the wind, since I can handle rangefinding and elevation), then we would switch out for me as the spotter and Mick as the sniper, where I would have to tell him exactly where to aim on the crosshairs.
We were called forward to our bench, where the magic would begin. I laid out a few extra magazines in front of me, I was definitely going to need them for that 1500 shot, re-calibrated the rangefinder for mick, and set up the shot timer that we would both have to use. I was now ready to go, and was just waiting for the instructor to give me the go-ahead.
The instructor noticed that we were ready to go, so he began his usual lines. “Shooter ready? Standby…”
BEEP!
I quickly flipped the safety off, racked a round into the chamber, and began lining up for the speed shots. “Mick, what's the wind like?” I requested, with urgency.
“About… 2 miles leftward?”
I aimed ever so slightly to the right of the center of my target, and released the breath I was holding. Exhale, pause, squeeze slowly but surely… fire. Impact a fraction of a second later, half an inch off the center. Rack the bolt again, new round in the chamber, repeat. Aim, exhale… fire. Impact. Rack bolt, aim center, exhale… fire, impact.
This sequence repeated 2 more times, both shots landing in a very tight group around the center of the target. Next up was the ‘White feather’ shot, hitting a tiny, 2x2 target from extreme distance.
I threw the zoom lever on the scope to the right, adjust the zero to 500, request the windage.
“What’s the wind now?” I asked again. It had been long enough where the wind may have changed direction.
“6 miles per hour, slightly right but mostly parallel to the range, seems like.”
That meant I had to hold one dot left, aim slightly lower than the target due to the wind carrying it further than I could easily zero for. I place the target into the spot in my scope, hold my breath for a moment, exhale, hold… fire.
“Impact low, centered.” Mick called out. I had overcompensated for the wind’s carrying effect, so I had hit a bit low of the 2 inch wide target. Adjust so it’s on the line, still one mil dot to the left, exhale, hold… fire. The bullet did its thing, and impacted the little red circle. A simple, yet deceptively hard shot, even if you have accurate holds and an even more accurate rifle. Funnily enough, the guy who originally made the shot this competition was trying to emulate happened to be my great (x9) grandfather. Carlos Hathcock was notorious during the Vietnam war, gaining a bounty of over 30000 dollars just on him alone. Nobody managed to claim that bounty, fortunately, but many counter-snipers tried.
On one of those occasions, a sniper caught sight of him from roughly 500 meters away, leaving a notable glint from the reflection on the front of the scope. He then took aim at the flash, and fired his rifle, where the bullet went straight through the scope into the enemy sniper’s eye. A frankly insane shot, even under ideal conditions such as we have here. Thankfully, we only have to hit about half a playing card rather than a tiny, 1 inch wide tube.
Next was the ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, apparently named after an old video game about sniping, set during the second world war. At first I couldn’t see the target, 1.5 kilometers is quite an insane distance even for some of the more skilled shooters, such as myself. I had to spot the little flag flying next to it, then find it again within the magnified scope. I threw the magnification all the way up, ticked up the zero until it hit its maximum, 1000 meters. Seems the maker of this scope never expected anyone to try and throw a round more than a kilometer down range, but here I was doing it anyway.
“Mick, wind?” I asked, a bit too impatiently.
“Here it looks like… 7 MPH going perpendicular toward the right.”
“Thank you.” I said, hoping to make up for my impatience.
I placed my aim onto the target, aimed with the lowest mil on the scope, shift left 1 and a half, hold breath, exhale, hold… Fire!
I watched the tracer take its sweet time waltzing it’s way over yonder to the target. I could also see it impact the ground about a foot too low. I had to try again. I quickly racked the bolt, putting another .408 round into the chamber.
I aimed, then I pulled the zoom lever on the scope back to the left, zooming back out so I could see the other mils that were hidden under the eye box of the scope. It was exactly what I needed.
I placed the crosshair back on the target, raised it up a few mils until I was aiming the same way I was before, then lifted my point of aim another few inches up. If the wind hadn’t changed too much, this should hit roughly the center of the target.
Hold breath, exhale, hold… fire. The tracer flew through the air again, whacking itself straight into the center of the target.
A buzzer rang from behind us signaling the end of the run. 20 seconds for the speed shots, 30 for the scope shot, and another 25 for the long range. 75 seconds is enough to get full bonus points, plus a little penalty for missing twice, means that I get a score of 13, out of 15. Not bad, not bad at all.
We had a short break, where I set Mick's rifle up, showed him how to adjust for distance, and where the bullets should roughly land when accounting for wind and drop. Mick picked up how to do it quickly, as he seemed to do with anything I showed him, I wonder if he has some sort of neurodivergence? It doesn’t matter to me if he does, I just like having a friend around.
The instructor informed us that it was time for Mick to do his run. I handed Mick the magazines, and got set up behind the spotter scope. Both of us gave the signal for the instructor to begin his timing.
“Shooter ready? Standby…”
BEEP!
I watched as Mick quickly zeroed the scope for 300 meters, placed his aim onto the target, and let his round loose. As expected, smack dab in the middle. I was now just watching through the spotter scope, seeing the rounds hit and calling out if they did or not. “Hit!”
Mick cycled the bolt, throwing the empty case to the floor next to the stand where we were set up. He managed to keep the rifle stable on the target, so he barely had to adjust before sending another round directly on target. “Hit!”
This repeated another three times, fire, “hit!”, cycle. Mick’s aim was still impeccable, although that wasn’t saying much due to it only being a 300 meter shot. Mick redirected his aim over to the 2x2 inch target that was for the ‘White Feather’ shot. I watched him click the dial for distance over another 4 notches, zeroing for 500 meters.
I glanced over to the windage monitor, it proclaimed that the wind was going at 3 MPH to the right of the range. I calculated in my head that it would mean he would have to adjust to the left about half of a mil dot, so I relayed this to him. “About half a mil left, exactly on the middle crosshair line.
Mick flicked his ears in an affirmative gesture, and I saw the rifle nudge ever so slightly to the left. His shot impacted the middle of the target on its first trip downrange, even better than I did.
“HIT!”
Next up was that ‘Sniper Elite’ shot, a simple hit at 1500 meters was all you needed. Mick swung his aim over to the target, flicked the zoom all the way in, and rotated the zeroing to 1500. Fortunately for him, his scope actually went all the way out to 2000 meters, so he didn’t have to miss, then guesstimate like I had.
I once again glanced at the wind monitor, and it was practically nothing.
0.2 MPH.
The air was perfectly still (or as still as you could reasonably hope for) so there was no better opportunity than now for him to get this perfect shot off. “Dead center of the target, the wind’s stopped!”
Out of my peripheral vision, I see Mick holding his breath like I had, then slowly pulling the trigger. The rifle did it’s thing, a hammer falling into a striker, setting off a primer, deflagrating exactly 275 grains of gunpowder, propelling a single copper coated round down the barrel at 3000 feet per second, sending it off on the most textbook shot in the history of long range shooting, the bullet spiraled through the air, nearing closer to its destination every millisecond.
The wind decided to cooperate with us today, keeping itself stock still as the round sliced through the air, on a collision course with the exact center of the man sized silhouette target that sat at the end of the range.
I saw through the spotter scope, a bullet impact its target with an unparalleled level of luckiness, flattening itself against the steel of the target.
“FUCKIN HIT! NICE SHOT MICK!” I shouted, immediately standing up with my arm poised for the greatest high five any man or venlil had ever seen.
Mick had seen the bullet impact, but wasn’t quite as excited as I was. He still got up, noticing my excitement through those side facing eyes of his, then he raised his own paw, held it back, ready to slingshot it against mine.
The ultimately satisfying sound of a good high five soon followed, our hands (and paws) slapping together right at the palms, the force resonating loud enough to actually make the active hearing protection dampen it for us. The impressiveness of the shot was not to be undersold, and we were about to learn what mick’s score was.
The instructor walked over, then told us what his results were.
86 seconds, 15 points out of a total of 15, one bonus point for time, not counted due to an already perfect score. I could barely believe it, Mick was wagging his tail, the instructor even looked a little impressed. Mick had probably won it, or at least tied for first.
An hour or 2 later, all the other competitors had taken their shots. I ended up getting tied for 3rd, with one other competitor. I decided that I would give up whatever prize I would have gotten to the other guy, since I already won once today. The podium ceremony was next up, this time Mick was at the top of it. He got a voucher for a rifle again, like the guy that won the IPSC section, but he could also trade it in for about 1000 bucks of stuff from the equipment store. He got himself a plate carrier similar to mine, a nice faux leather holster (which now contained his pistol), and another pair of tactical pants, this time in tan-gray instead of the navy blue of the ones he won.
Our next and final competition was coming up soon, some sort of mix between Olympic and skeet shooting. Why they decided to combine both of those, I had no idea. Sounds fun anyway, so I’m not gonna question it.
[First] [Previous] [Next (coming soon)]
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Author's note: Wow, this chapter took a lot less time than the rest of them. I'm gonna take a break from writing the main story for a little while, you should expect a prologue coming next, in my inconsistent as always timeframe.
Hope you enjoyed it, i'm gonna go to bed now. (I released this during finals week at midnight, wahoo!)
2023.06.07 00:31 IrreliventPerogi Gardens of the Moon - A First-Time Reader's Experience, Final Thoughts, and Observations
Epilogue
A brief, beautiful series of vignettes. We close the loop on some emotional beats, as well as receive promises/foreshadowings of further adventures.Epigraph
The opening verses of Rumor Born, and possibly my favorite piece of poetry in the whole novel. It took me until this epigraph to realize that the title itself is referring to the city of Darujhistan and it's history. That said, given the fact that the work describes the events of the novel itself, and is written by the same guy who wrote Anomandris, then either Fisher was a Seer of incredible power or else has an immensely long lifespan. Possibly both, although the fact that Fisher's birth date is unknown implies the latter. Even at the end, answers only invite further questions.The only other point of note is the reference to the "Gates of Nowhere" but I'm unsure what that might mean. The SCDAT?
The Epilogue Itself
The remaining Bridgeburners land back where they'd initially launched from at the beginning of Book 3, preparing to await their Moranth escort. Quick Ben and Whiskeyjack watch Moon's Spawn drift south, possibly to find another contest, this time against the Pannion Seer. Whiskeyjack's headaches have been lessening, possibly in response to his loosening heart, less guarded than the one he bore into Darujhistan. His cool reference to the loss of three members not being "that bad, considering" and Mallet's pained response shows the change has yet to take in full, but the Seargent has begun a slow road back to humanity. We leave the Bridgeburners with an ominous note, that Quick Ben has hatched another scheme, a big feint, one which might run over poorly with Whiskeyjack.Captain Paran watches his men below on the beach, contemplating everything it cost him to get here. His... unique nature has granted new senses, and a growing awareness of Silverfox. Whether or not the romance between Paran and Tattersail was Oppon compelled or not, the two resolve to reunite in time. Mysteriously, they communicate over vast distances, although it seems to be an unreliable process. He has buried Lorn, now finally a soldier, holding in the position once held by the very man who warned him against this path, walking a path of ruin himself. Ganoes Paran, the gods have noticed you, and their gaze is unlikely to fall from someone who survived their use — what will you make of yourself?
Kalam, Fiddler, Apsalar, and Crokus sail west for Dhavran. The former claw is amused by the two youths and their naive innocence. Crokus asks after Unta, and they speak of leaving others behind, and moving forward. Kalam holds nothing against Apsalar, she's just a girl, after all. Crokus objects to this and discards the Coin, no longer in need of luck. Circle Breaker, even here barely noticed, decides to inform the Eel one last time that the Coin Berrer has freed himself, then looks forward, anticipating a new life. Also, the monkey's a demon, which probably means something that it decided to stick around.
And so, with beautiful prose and bittersweet optimism, so ends the first tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Gardens of the Moon
An excellent start all around! We've yet to see how fitting it may be for the rest of the series, but for now, I'm hooked! So much of this rode on Erikson's ability to pull off this massively ambitious departure from the commonplace, and he managed to pull it off far better than could be expected. While I recognize his inspirations in histories and anthropology, being able to port one form of literature to another, not only across genres but the fiction/non-fiction divide, is seriously impressive. While doing so without sacrificing much of the strengths of either format; even leveraging them to complement one another, is a staggering feat. I'll be breaking things down, although these categories are listed in no particular order, into Plot, Characters, Setting, Cosmology (encompassing the more fantastical elements from magic to races), and Prose/Format.Plot
Favorite plots include the whole Jaghut Tyrant arc (for obvious reasons), Paran's Excellent adventure, and the whole Coll/Lady Simttal arc.The deep lore cuts of all the Jaghut and T'lan Imass storylines are incredible, worldbuilding on a scope that allows for geological/evolutionary implications. The powers at play boggle the imagination and feel realized despite their incomprehensibility. Not necessarily "cosmic horror" although that plays a part, but a cosmic spectacle nonetheless. Ending, of course, with an apocalyptic battle feeling like the climax of a series of epics we barely get to glimpse. Looking forward to seeing so much more of this side of the Malazverse. I will say, the T'lan Imass gathering never really occurred, but I expect that's still coming.
Paran's whole plotline, beginning with quickly snuffed youthful aspirations, to political maneuverings, to being a pawn in the interplay between many gods and ascendants, to shaking free of the powers chaining him, if not necessarily free of what has happened to him, was great to watch unfold. It was the most straightforward "quest fantasy" of the book, touching on many cool places and meeting a wide variety of characters. Paran's brute "I'm already dead anyway so I may as well attack things head on" strategy was refreshing to watch, his relationships to Topper, Tattersail, and Toc were all great and helped to show his evolving character. Connecting with the Bridgeburners and helping them sort everything going on out was cathartic. And of course, the elephant in the room, the Dragnripur episode was fascinating and haunting and I need more.
Then there was the whole Oppon-infused plan regarding Lady Simtal and particularly its climax, was fantastic. I'm a sucker for plotlines that were technically successful yet have the characters involved come away regretting it happening in the first place. The solidarity between the Phoenix Inn regulars was great, as well as untangling their connections to one another. No there's no objective reason this one stood above the other Darujhistan plotlines, but I jive with it.
Other plots, such as all the Tiste Andii background intrigue, Crokus's whole ordeal, as well as Tattersail's plotline are great as well.
Most of the Tiste Andii stuff needs to be unpacked more fully down the road, as is we have only a brief glimpse into this massive, alien world on Moon's Spawn. Caladan Brood, Kallor, the unseen Prince K'azz, and Crone all seem to have their own intrigue going on, keeping someone reigned in. As for that someone, Anomander Rake's whole deal is a whole deal, I'm enthralled to see more of this obsolete great desperately try to get his people to care about anything again. The dragons are all tangled in this as well. Yea, I did just spend a lot of words just implying things without divulging much of what it meant, but so did Erikson and I'm hooked.
So Oppon's big plan seems to just keep nudging this one unwitting kid around via hormones and coincidence to drag the genuinely important players around. This is fascinating because it seems all Oppon wanted to do was mess with the Empire. For reasons that aren't quite clear yet, the gods seem terrified of this growing coalition of power on the part of the mortals and are doing what they can to slow this down. Even more interesting, they'd likely be able to curb-stomp the mortals pretty easily if they all weren't in their own cold war with one another. Oppon did seem to be multitasking a bit with messing with Shadow, but I'm less certain why they'd have beef outside of each operating in the "screw with stuff we shouldn't" domain.
Tattersall's (or now Silverfox's) arc is of course left wide open by the end of this, but is great. The Deck of Dragons is a fantastic narrative device, as we get assurance of the god's machinations in the background without having to pull the curtain back all the way. Also, one of the lingering questions I have is who the Ascendant that messed with the reading she did with Tayscheren was. I guess Shadowthrone? The whole soul-shifting arc and rebirth sequence are haunting and more than a but disturbing, but that speaks to the alternatives she could have undergone from her stunt in body-hopping. Her relationship with romance was a bit, odd, but there's a non-trivial element of divine meddling so it's cool ig.
The plotting is currently the strongest element of M:BotF thus far. That we had like 14 different plot threads splitting off and overlapping and drawing together over the course of the narrative is insane. That many of these plot threads managed to enliven and enlighten one another, narratively, thematically, and lore-wise, only makes the whole multiplicatively stronger than the sum of its parts. Everything felt pretty natural, with the threads that did overlap often doing so secondarily, as natural consequences rather than merging together into one mega-climax. I mean, we did get one mega-climax-sequence, but that was far more due to their proximity rather than each even being doomed to become defined by one another. Events that started separately for separate reasons stayed separate, but the shared pool of locations and characters helped to cause each of these to be deeply interconnected in the lives of those characters. Speaking of which...
Characters
My relationship with the characters of this novel is a bit interesting. They serve their plots wonderfully, and nearly every one of them has several standout moments in both word and deed. Yet, on the whole, they're, fine. I guess they're... exactly the sum of their parts? Don't get me wrong, these are extremely good parts they're made of. New character archetypes, old ones played extremely well, old ones given genuinely inventive twists. These are very good characters, but possibly the weakest pillar of the novel. The dialogue is weighty and meaningful, betraying a depth to the world and the people in it. Actions are (usually) thought out, exceptions to this rule are all true to a character or under extenuating circumstances. I want to see more of all of them. It's just, there isn't much of that "x factor" a lot of great character writers bring out.I've already praised Paran, his attitude, and his motives. He's way over his head at the best of times and just has to bluff and namedrop long enough to survive to a point where he can effect genuine change. That effort changes him pretty drastically, and while he is somewhat better off for it, it is a sad thing to see the naive kid in him die off so soon.
Tattersail is interesting to me, I like her, but as a character she's on the weaker end of the cast. We do see her strong emotions and compassion explored a bit, but she takes a pretty hard left turn plot wise before that goes much of anywhere. We'll have to wait and see how Silverfox pans out.
Whiskeyjack fascinates me, we don't get too much of who he is, just all that's left of him of being ground into the dust. I can't wait to see Whiskeyjack the Old Guard thaw off more, as well as Whiskeyjack the man.
Quick Ben and Kalam probably stand as my current favorite Bridgeburners, their bromance being a highlight of the novel all while standing as fascinating characters on their own. Quick Ben has, all kinds of backstory running around, as well as secrets on top of that, but what we know of him so far is great. Kalam's just world-weary, yet he can't help but keep moving forward until he can bow out legitimately. The two of them are so much fun on top of being fascinating.
Dujek and Tayscheren, while not super present in the novel, are pretty great characters in their own right. Dujek, last of the Old Guard with any real power, just trying to do what he can for his men. And Tayscheren, not necessarily evil, but just a guy swallowed up in his own job.
Hairlock, while not making too much of a splash in the grand scheme of things, was an incredibly fun inclusion and a great initial antagonist. Just a power-mad goofy little guy who doubles as our first major look into this world's magic and cosmology.
Adjunct Lorn was one of the standout characters of the novel, a woman enslaved to her own self-justification. Torn between the scared girl trapped in the mines and the unfeeling super claw, unable to reconcile the two before the end. Her constant contradictions and tensions within her character were fascinating to watch.
And Toc, poor Toc man. A great guy who I'd loved to have seen more of, just being such an interesting character on top of being fun. I feel he's introduced some interesting concepts, from the "inner sight" superstition of Seven Cities to whomever his dad is, but the credits have rolled and my guy is still down for the count, so I'll be interested to see how these elements are brought back.
Crokus Younghand stands out in this novel as the one, lone dumbass. Stop being literally me Crokus, you're embarrassing us. His interactions with everyone are great, quickly vacillating between idealism and stubbornness, romanticism and a parody grimdark woe-is-me view of reality. Every interaction he has with a woman is golden, but not particularly a glowing performance on his end.
Magnanimous Kruppe the First is the indesputable highpoint of this esteemed tale, and I will not hear otherwise. He is of course, bestowed of many virtues, chief among so his delight in the many pleasures of this world, second among so his capacity to indulge in any virtue or pleasure at will. Cleverest of anyone we see here, able to run conversations by himself with faux humility (for what does Kruppe have a need to be humble about?) and keep the magnificent city of Darujhistan in his pocket. There is a power vacuum of sorts our dear Eel needs to fulfill, and there is plenty of the rotund mage to explore each new crevice.
Rallick Nom and Murillio are great as well, in many ways they act as foils of one another. Rallick does what he does because he sees this as his only path through life, holding onto the concept of his actions benefiting others to preserve his mortality. Murillio, on the other hand, has a moral code of sorts but will transgress it if he feels there is a way to benefit a friend sufficiently. In the end, they both wind up morally bankrupt.
Lady Simtal and Turban Orr were fun villains. Not particularly unique but pulled off extremely well.
High Alchemist Baruk seems to have a whole bunch of layers to him. We keep getting allusions to a whole bunch of relevant stories with this man, such as his ascendancy or close friendship to Rallick Nom, but we don't get to see much of it, which I feel is a shame.
Raest is an awsome force of nature villain, believably evil for the sake of it. Namely, his evil is specific which is what makes for great villains of this sort. Raest wanted control over the longterm development of his world, to fundamentally remake things after his own nature.
Anomander freaking Rake. Nuf said.
Setting
While this is our first real look into Wu(?) as a whole, I'll mostly focus on modern-day Genebakis.A great setting, with a bit of ecological and cultural diversity, although mostly hyperfocused on the city of Darujhistan. Perhaps a bit more could have been done in the set-dressing department. Genebaris received no real description, despite apparently existing in a different biome than the more southern cities. Similarly, he evidently passes through a forest, but of what kind? Touches like these could help further drive in the scope of the narrative physically in a similar manner to the temporal scope. It also is a bit disappointing because when Erikson did go the extra mile to do so, such as Kruppe's dreams or the like, two up-close descriptions of Darujhistan (besides just being big, blue, and copper from far off) were great. Actually, the lack of Darujhistan descriptions was possibly the biggest missed opportunity.
But what we do get in the City of Blue Fire is great and evocative. From the infrastructure to the politics to the culture and religion, it all stands out even among other great fantasy cities.
The Rhivi, Moranth, and Bhargast can all stand to be expanded on, but I get the sense that they'll be more than able to provide on that front once it becomes time. I'm curious to see how southern Genebakis contrasts to the northern reaches, but we'll get to that when we get to that.
Erikson's experience as an anthropologist really shines through, with the breadth, depth, and specificity of the world-building and cultures. I anticipate this element of the BotF rising to the top for me personally once we have more time to watch it unfold.
Cosmology and Magic
So my takes on these have been... rather well received, it seems. I love what tiny bit of the magic and cosmos of the world I've seen so far and look forward to understanding more!In a lot of ways, it seems magic in this world is itself undergoing an evolutionary process, with all the Elder Warrens to Warrens ascendants and gods, and mortals evidently now being potent enough to overpower the gods themselves. If we expand on this analogy, then a lot of the confusion might be due to poor terminology. E.g. define a fish. Now define a Warren. There seem to be multiple related things all lumped under the same blanket term, despite their functional difference. The magic super highways and demi-planes and isolated pockets within objects (Dragnupir and the Finnest) are all roughly related (fish) while being intrinsically different and likely further classifiable as such (trout, squid, and sharks if you will).
But aside from that residual speculation and just generally saying its cool, I don't got much to say here.
Prose and Format
The prose of GotM was pretty good! Not the best, but serviceable, engaging, and evocative with a handful of really standout passages. I cannot wait to see this take a ten-year leap in Deadhouse Gates!The formating was interesting. Many chapters were wonderfully interwoven PoV's all complimenting each other. Some could have conceivably been split into multiple quite comfortably, other blended. Makes me wonder why Erikson collected things as he did. Chapter 9 was basically 4 self-contained sequences each a chapter long, lol. ... It's because the Odessy has 24 chapters, isn't it? The book breakdown was terrifically effective, while Books 4, 5, and 6 largely blended together PoV-wise, they each still had their specific goals and arcs.
I'm a major fan of Epigraphs, and these were all great! (Despite my constant timeline and poetry scruples) A lot of my more out-there theorizing tended to be a bit more playful with the epigraphs than I think Erikson ever got, but that's more my own biases talking. I will say, if I ever get around to writing anything, I'd love to go ham on epigraph shenanigans.
All in all, this profoundly unique PoV structure (not so much unique in form as in just how broad and ambitious it is) works to elevate the whole experience. That Erikson so radically adheres to 3rd limited can get somewhat constraining at times, especially when we're not privy to info our PoV has, but overall, it works.
Final Thoughts
So, with all my nit-picking, critiques, and half-praise, did I even like this novel? No, I LOVE it. It is in many ways as advertised, a messy first step into a unique and wildly ambitious new direction, and I'm wholly invested in watching the rest of this unfold!And now for one last pass through the ancillary goodies:
Dramatis Personae
Is actually quite funny in retrospect. But first:
Sorry is mentioned as a killer in the guise of a young girl. Obvious when you're in the know but it doesn't give the answer right away.
Dancer is mentioned as the advisor (right-hand, if you will) right out of the gate, D'oh.
Toc the Elder disappeared during Laseen's purges, interesting.
Kruppe: a man of false modesty, TRUE
Coll being merely listed as a drunk, technically true.
Chert: "an unlucky bully" lol
Mammot is listed as a High Preist of D'riss, D'oh.
The Eel is listed independently of Kruppe, good cover.
K'Rul is listed as the Maker of Paths, D'oh.
And that's more or less it. (I mean, I only skimmed it before, so its not like a missed anything)
Glossary
Not too much to say here, but a few notes:Poliel, Missteres of Pestilence, and Soliel, Missteres of Healing have rather similar names, which is interesting.
The Warrens here are all listed as what their actual domains are, which is a nice aid. There don't seem to be any more than the ones named somewhere within the text, which is fine, but a couple odd notes:
Meanas is listed as the Path of Shadow and Illusion, Tattersail mentioned the two domains are connected, whereas Quick Ben (once a High Preist of Shadow) had seemed to regard the two as separate. There's a story there.
Also, Thyr, Tattersaill's Warren, is the Warren of Light, given the apparently... interesting relationship between Light and Dark, particularly Lights evident "corruption" I'd love to see the implications of all this.
The K'chain Che'maille's Elder Warren is not listed, either because it doesn't exist (once again proving them the worst Elder Race, nerds got soloed by some snow, lol) or it was simply never mentioned. Given we have seen at least one magic relic from them, likely the latter.
Also, the Azath is nowhere mentioned, which is interesting in itself.
Well, that's that! See y'all in a week or so, once I've gotten a test out of the way, with the beginning of Deadhouse Gates!
2023.06.07 00:08 crow_skeleton how to find new stoner friends?
Hiii! I’m a 24F who moved down to northern VA from upstate NY about 8 months ago. I live with my bf and our 2 cats and although he doesn’t smoke, he doesn’t mind that I do. I still haven’t made any friends since moving down here. I’ve met some people through work, but the only one who I actually became friends with and who smoked (&was also my only plug down here😭) ended up moving several states away after she and her s/o broke up. I’m a daily recreational user and I have been for years, I love to just come home from work and veg out in front of the TV or my favorite video game lately Wylde Flowers! I really enjoy going for walks and hikes but I haven’t gotten back into it much since I moved down. I’m pretty introverted and I work nights so that can make things hard too.
Have you all ever been in a situation like this? Do you have any advice on the best way to meet people with similar interests in a new area? Any advice or words of wisdom would be great, I’m really at a loss here :/
submitted by crow_skeleton to entwives [link] [comments]
Have you all ever been in a situation like this? Do you have any advice on the best way to meet people with similar interests in a new area? Any advice or words of wisdom would be great, I’m really at a loss here :/
2023.06.06 23:13 AbhiN1289 Origin of Skanda
Below I shall briefly prove that Skanda/Murugan came from non-Vedic, i.e. Dravidian practices:
As briefly touched upon before, Skanda originated amongst the class of spirits called Grahas.
These Grahas are not to be confused with the nine planets. Graha comes from the Sanskrit root “grh” meaning to “seize”. These beings cause sickness by possessing or “seizing” a person.
The Rig Veda 1.161.1 refers to a female Graha called a Grahi.
“muñcāmi tvā haviṣā jīvanāya kam ajñātayakṣmād uta rājayakṣmāt grāhir jagrāha yadi vaitad enaṃ tasyā indrāgnī pra mumuktam enam ”
“By means of the oblation I set you free to live safe from undeveloped consumption and from royal sumption; and if the seizer has already seized him, then to you, Indra , and Agni , set him free”
However as much as the Graha is found early as the Rig Veda, they are not of Indo European origin.
One of the earliest nuanced mentions of the Grahas, including Skanda, are found in the Sushruta Samhita.
“Attentively hear me describe, Sushruta, the origin, cause and medical treatment of the diseases of infancy which are due to the influences of malignant stars (Graha) or demons as well as the characteristic symptoms by which each can be accurately diagonosed. The diseases number nine in all and are called Skanda-Graha, Skandapasmara, Shakuni, Revati, Putana, Andha-Putana, Shita-Putana, Mukha-mandika and Naigamesha or Pitri-Graha. 2–3” (S.S Uttara Tantra 2.25.2-3).// Translate this by kyself later.
These Grahas are said to cause grave sickness amongst infants. The Skanda Graha for example is described as follows in the same chapter:
“Swelling of the eyes and distorted features of the face and an aversion to the breast-milk are the indications of an attack by the Skanda-graha. The body of the child emits a bloody smell and one of the eyelids becomes fixed or motionless. The child looks frightened, closes his fists (as in a fit of convulsion) and moans a little. The eyes become highly rolling and the stool becomes hard and constipated. Alternate fits of fainting and consciousness, convulsive jerks of legs and hands like those in dancing, foaming (at the mouth), yawning and the passing of stool and urine with the passage of wind are the characteristic features of an attack by the Skanda-pasmara-graha. 5–6.”
Such beliefs of malignant spirits attacking children are prevalent even today amongst the rural folk of south India. However, disease demons are universal, so the non Vedic-ness of the Grahas, must be sought out. The origin of the belief in the Grahas is inferred from the rituals prescribed to appease them. Amongst the rituals there is this interesting paragraph:
“The physician (or any other person acting on his behalf) should bathe in the night and worship the god Skanda for three successive nights in the inner quadrangle of the house of the child or at the crossing of roads with various offerings, viz., garlands of red flowers, red flags, red perfumes such as Kumkuma, edibles of various kinds and newly harvested barley grains, Shali rice. A cock should be sacrificed on the occasion (to appease his wrath) and bells should be rung (for his propitiation). The water to be used for bath (in course of worship), should be consecrated by reciting the Gayatri Mantra and the sacrificial fire should be duly lit with (three, seven or ten) libations (of clarified butter). 6.”(S.S. Uttara Tantra 2.28.6).
The first motif is the use of red coloured items. We find parallels to this in early Tamil traditions of Murugan. Indeed Murugan in modern Hindu iconography is associated with the red color. We shall get into this later.
The other aspect of the ritual is the sacrifice of the cock. This is also accompanied later by the offering of meat and blood:
“The physician (or the votary officiating for him) should worship the presiding deity of the disease in a ditch (dug out for the purpose) with the offerings of both cooked and uncooked meat, fresh blood (of a goat), milk, and edibles prepared with the Masha pulse for the ghosts, and the possessed child should be bathed at the crossing of roads by physician observing the necessary fast, etc. with the recital of the following Mantra….”(S.S. Uttara Tantra 2.29).
Returning the the offering of the cock, it is curious that this animal is mentioned. The cock is featured in the Vedic ritual of Ashvamedha, but as an animal to be released alive. Moreover, the Manusmriti prohibits the consumption of the fowl.
“The mushroom, the village-pig, garlic, the village-cock, onions and leeks,—the twice-born man eating these intentionally would become an ou tcast.—(19)”(MS 5.19).
On the positive, we have the sacrifice of the chicken in Dravidian and tribal rituals.
In the Nellore District, the goddess of diseases Kateri is popritiated for safe child delivery. At the same time, she has a great thirst for blood. As Elmore recorded, the woman“, offers a fowl to Kateri , cooks the fowl and eats it . She then puts on the koka which has been offered to Kateri, and makes various offerings, especially the blood of more fowls” (Elmore pg 50).
Similarly, Kanaka Durgamma is popritiated when there is cattle disease, and each step of her worship involves the slaughter of a fowl. It is recorded by Elmore that in the ritual a woman is possessed by the goddess and starts asking for the blood of chickens, goats, sheep, or buffalo. When a person dies, the Gulgulias, a group of people in Eastern India, pour liquor down the copse. They then kill a chicken, burn it, and through the ashes into an irrigation tank to ensure the spirit is satisfied. Most of the offerings to these goddesses and spirits, however, tend to beof goats or sheep.
The Gonds appease wrathful spirits by offering usually a goat, pig, or a chicken depending on the god they are woshiping. For Bara Deo, a spotted he-goat; for Takkur Deva, 5 chicken and a pig. When a person dies, the third day after the funeral is called Tisra. On Tisra the chief mourner kills a chicken near a stream and cooks it with rice.
The Irulas also offer a cock to appease evil spirits.
Thus the use of chicken meat in the ritual to appease the Grahas are not of Vedic origin, and likey stem from Dravidian or Austro Asiatic sources. Interestingly, modern iconography of Skanda features him with the rooster as an emblematic animal. Puranic legend states that when Skanda killed Surapadma who hid himself as a tree, the two fragments of the tree became a peacock and a rooster. Perhaps the offering of the cock to Skanda led to him having the bird as one of his emblematic animals.
“It is impossible that the god springing from Rudra and Agni, with his exalted parentage would find pleasure in such a dangerous disease even out of childish frolic-someness and it has also been asserted by eminent authorities on the physical science that some unintelligent persons have been misled into holding, through a mistake due to the identity of the names, that the author of the disease under discussion (Skanda) is no other than the invincible Skanda”.
However, while trying to deny Skanda’s nature as a Graha, it fails to dissolve any trace of his malignant origin. Previously in the chapter, it is recorded that
“ Skandapasmara, the presiding deity of the disease named after him, was created by Agni, the fire-god (Vulcan). He is as bright as fire itself and is a constant companion of the god Skanda and is also known by the name of Vishakha”
The name of Graha having Skanda in it, as well as his association with Skanda, ironically end up echoing the deities' past. Ironically, in later texts, Vishakha is an epithet of Skanda. The chapter continues saying
“On the effulgent god Skanda’s being elevated to the leadership of the armies of Heaven, the presiding deities of those diseases waited upon him and with folded palms asked him about the means of their subsistence. The god Skanda in his turn, referred them to His Holiness the god Shiva for the answer, whereupon they went to the latter in a body and made the same query”
This narrative is found in the Mahabharata Aranyaka Parva Chapter 219. After Indra struck Skanda with the vajra, a part of his body split off and became Vishakha. Also from Skanda’s fiery body, came the Grahas which are made to torment women and children. The likely explanation for this distancing is that the cultured people didn’t like how their god could be malevolent, thus they tried to make him benevolent while not completely disregarding his origins. Narratives like those in the Mahabharata were an excellent way for the brahmanas of the Mauryan and Guptan era to accomplish that goal.
According to Iravatam Mahadevan, a scholar in Indus Valley and Dravidian studies, Muruku (i.e. Murugan) in early Tamil times was a departed soul or spirit that would possess a priest (Velan) or a maiden who then would dance frantically. Murugan was thus a wrathful formless spirit. However, he is said to be red and carry a spear. Evidently, the Velan wore red clothes and carried a spear. Bloody sacrifices also were offered for Skanda. The dance that the Velan would do to appease the spirit Murugan is called Veriyattal. The Velan was summoned to solve problems or even tell how wars would unfold. In the Veddah people of Sri Lanka believe in a spirit called Kande Yakkha. And in one recollection of their myth on Valli’s origin, Kande Yakkha was the substitute for Murugan. This may be from early contact between Tamilians and the Veddahas and thus establishes the spirit origin of Murugan.
According to Mahadevan, “Muru” is a PDr root meaning “to break” but is homiphonous with “mur” meaning “Young”. Confusion may have made Murugan youth. This may have influenced the iconography of Skanda in the North. But more likely is that Skanda got his youth from Agni and this tradition influenced his southern counter part.
I depart from the traditional view that Velan derives from Tamil “Vel” meaning spear. If we are to assert a Proto Dravidian, or even Proto South Dravidian origin, for Muruguab, it must be noted that Tamil “Vel” meaning spear has only a cognate in Malayalam. That is also because Malayalam is descended from Tamil. Thus Tamil “Vel” is not an original Proto Dravidian world. However the Tamil root “vel” meaning “sacrifice” is of Proto Dravidian origin, with cognates being in Telugu as well (Tel “Velpu” = “god”; “Velvi” = “Sacrifice”). Thus the Velan could mean “sacrificer”. Then from homophones, Velan got reinterpreted to mean “Spear man”, thus prompting Murugan to carry a spear. This spear then may have made him a war god. Of course this is speculation , and further Dravidian research is needed.
The reason Skanda and Murugan would be conflated is plain obvious. The deities are both wrathful spirits needing appeasement. In fact, both Skanda and Murugan may derive their similar attributes because they originated from the same tradition, making both traditions of Skanda and Murugan figuratively siblings. Iravatam Mahadevan taxes the origin of Skanda worship to the Indus Valley. One of the Harappan script signs he identifies is a curled up skeleton. The Proto Dravidian root he assigned the sign to was “Mur” meaning “twisted” or “shriveled up”. This is homophonous to the roots meaning “break” and “youth”, and the connection to the dead makes this sign a great candidate for evidence of Murugan or general spirit appeasement during the Indus Valley period. What may have then happened was the Dravidians bought the Murugan worship to the South while the people who stayed in the North introduced their beliefs to the Vedic people. Indeed the Tamil literature attributes Skanda to the Kurunji landscape, which is the mountainous regions of Ancient Tamilikam. Indeed amongst the Niligiri tribes, like the Irula, is spirit worship the norm.
The Sangam literature knew of the Vedic practices, suggesting that Northern traditions have been established in the south. This is is possible that the developments of Skanda in the North have been introduced during the Sangam period and influenced the conception of Murugan, at least in part.
References:
DRAVIDIAN GODS IN MODERN HINDUISM A STUDY OF THE LOCAL AND VILLAGE DEITIES O F SOUTHERN INDIA by Wilber Theodore Elmore.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40450839?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents - gonds offer to spirits several animals, but mostly goats and chickens.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40453635?read-now=1#page_scan_tab_contents - shaministic stuff about Austroasiatic tribes. Includes chicken use. //
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44141129?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents Skanda and Vishaka alluded as Mahabharata reference.
Skanda:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43483765...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24049041...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20297310...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062666?...
https://rmrl.in/wp-content/uploads/20...
“Worship of Ancient Tamils Gleaned from the Tamil Literature” by Dr.P.Ganesan https://starlingdb.org/cgi-bin/respon...
\data\drav\dravet&first=161&off=&text_proto=vel&method_proto=sound_substring&ic_proto=on&text_meaning=&method_meaning=substring&ic_meaning=on&text_sdr=&method_sdr=substring&ic_sdr=on&text_tel=&method_tel=substring&ic_tel=on&text_koga=&method_koga=substring&ic_koga=on&text_gnd=&method_gnd=substring&ic_gnd=on&text_ndr=&method_ndr=substring&ic_ndr=on&text_bra=&method_bra=substring&ic_bra=on&text_notes=&method_notes=substring&ic_notes=on&text_any=&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on https://webcache.googleusercontent.co...
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/ha...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3024...
https://www.academia.edu/12681396/BEL...
The Rise of Mahāsena: The Transformation of Skanda-Karttikeya in North India from the Kuṣāṇa to Gupta Empires Book by Richard Dewey Mann https://www.academia.edu/33546233/Ori...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20486646...
Early Cult of SKanda in North India: From Demon to Divine Son http://www.shanlaxjournals.in/pdf/ASH...
http://murugan.org/research/zvelebil.htm
http://kataragama.org/valli.htm
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24652468...
https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03228.htm Mahabharata, Skanda as Agni who is Rudra
https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m09/m09044.htm Shalya Parva origin of Skanda
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29066/1/10731161.pdf
https://tulsidas-ram-books.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/7/4/21746472/devi_puran.pdf
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39183392.pdf
https://books.google.com/books?id=05LXAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=mother
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/135436/1/Asher-Greve_Westenholz_2013_Goddesses_in_Context.pdf
submitted by AbhiN1289 to Dravidiology [link] [comments]
Skanda
The origin of Skanda or Murugan, as he is known in the south, is similar to that of Ganesha. In this section, the Northern version of Skanda and his Southern counterpart Murugan will be dealt with separately. For simplicity, Skanda will refer to the Sanskritic god of the North and Murugan will be used to refer to the Dravidian version of the south.As briefly touched upon before, Skanda originated amongst the class of spirits called Grahas.
These Grahas are not to be confused with the nine planets. Graha comes from the Sanskrit root “grh” meaning to “seize”. These beings cause sickness by possessing or “seizing” a person.
The Rig Veda 1.161.1 refers to a female Graha called a Grahi.
“muñcāmi tvā haviṣā jīvanāya kam ajñātayakṣmād uta rājayakṣmāt grāhir jagrāha yadi vaitad enaṃ tasyā indrāgnī pra mumuktam enam ”
“By means of the oblation I set you free to live safe from undeveloped consumption and from royal sumption; and if the seizer has already seized him, then to you, Indra , and Agni , set him free”
However as much as the Graha is found early as the Rig Veda, they are not of Indo European origin.
One of the earliest nuanced mentions of the Grahas, including Skanda, are found in the Sushruta Samhita.
“Attentively hear me describe, Sushruta, the origin, cause and medical treatment of the diseases of infancy which are due to the influences of malignant stars (Graha) or demons as well as the characteristic symptoms by which each can be accurately diagonosed. The diseases number nine in all and are called Skanda-Graha, Skandapasmara, Shakuni, Revati, Putana, Andha-Putana, Shita-Putana, Mukha-mandika and Naigamesha or Pitri-Graha. 2–3” (S.S Uttara Tantra 2.25.2-3).// Translate this by kyself later.
These Grahas are said to cause grave sickness amongst infants. The Skanda Graha for example is described as follows in the same chapter:
“Swelling of the eyes and distorted features of the face and an aversion to the breast-milk are the indications of an attack by the Skanda-graha. The body of the child emits a bloody smell and one of the eyelids becomes fixed or motionless. The child looks frightened, closes his fists (as in a fit of convulsion) and moans a little. The eyes become highly rolling and the stool becomes hard and constipated. Alternate fits of fainting and consciousness, convulsive jerks of legs and hands like those in dancing, foaming (at the mouth), yawning and the passing of stool and urine with the passage of wind are the characteristic features of an attack by the Skanda-pasmara-graha. 5–6.”
Such beliefs of malignant spirits attacking children are prevalent even today amongst the rural folk of south India. However, disease demons are universal, so the non Vedic-ness of the Grahas, must be sought out. The origin of the belief in the Grahas is inferred from the rituals prescribed to appease them. Amongst the rituals there is this interesting paragraph:
“The physician (or any other person acting on his behalf) should bathe in the night and worship the god Skanda for three successive nights in the inner quadrangle of the house of the child or at the crossing of roads with various offerings, viz., garlands of red flowers, red flags, red perfumes such as Kumkuma, edibles of various kinds and newly harvested barley grains, Shali rice. A cock should be sacrificed on the occasion (to appease his wrath) and bells should be rung (for his propitiation). The water to be used for bath (in course of worship), should be consecrated by reciting the Gayatri Mantra and the sacrificial fire should be duly lit with (three, seven or ten) libations (of clarified butter). 6.”(S.S. Uttara Tantra 2.28.6).
The first motif is the use of red coloured items. We find parallels to this in early Tamil traditions of Murugan. Indeed Murugan in modern Hindu iconography is associated with the red color. We shall get into this later.
The other aspect of the ritual is the sacrifice of the cock. This is also accompanied later by the offering of meat and blood:
“The physician (or the votary officiating for him) should worship the presiding deity of the disease in a ditch (dug out for the purpose) with the offerings of both cooked and uncooked meat, fresh blood (of a goat), milk, and edibles prepared with the Masha pulse for the ghosts, and the possessed child should be bathed at the crossing of roads by physician observing the necessary fast, etc. with the recital of the following Mantra….”(S.S. Uttara Tantra 2.29).
Returning the the offering of the cock, it is curious that this animal is mentioned. The cock is featured in the Vedic ritual of Ashvamedha, but as an animal to be released alive. Moreover, the Manusmriti prohibits the consumption of the fowl.
“The mushroom, the village-pig, garlic, the village-cock, onions and leeks,—the twice-born man eating these intentionally would become an ou tcast.—(19)”(MS 5.19).
On the positive, we have the sacrifice of the chicken in Dravidian and tribal rituals.
In the Nellore District, the goddess of diseases Kateri is popritiated for safe child delivery. At the same time, she has a great thirst for blood. As Elmore recorded, the woman“, offers a fowl to Kateri , cooks the fowl and eats it . She then puts on the koka which has been offered to Kateri, and makes various offerings, especially the blood of more fowls” (Elmore pg 50).
Similarly, Kanaka Durgamma is popritiated when there is cattle disease, and each step of her worship involves the slaughter of a fowl. It is recorded by Elmore that in the ritual a woman is possessed by the goddess and starts asking for the blood of chickens, goats, sheep, or buffalo. When a person dies, the Gulgulias, a group of people in Eastern India, pour liquor down the copse. They then kill a chicken, burn it, and through the ashes into an irrigation tank to ensure the spirit is satisfied. Most of the offerings to these goddesses and spirits, however, tend to beof goats or sheep.
The Gonds appease wrathful spirits by offering usually a goat, pig, or a chicken depending on the god they are woshiping. For Bara Deo, a spotted he-goat; for Takkur Deva, 5 chicken and a pig. When a person dies, the third day after the funeral is called Tisra. On Tisra the chief mourner kills a chicken near a stream and cooks it with rice.
The Irulas also offer a cock to appease evil spirits.
Thus the use of chicken meat in the ritual to appease the Grahas are not of Vedic origin, and likey stem from Dravidian or Austro Asiatic sources. Interestingly, modern iconography of Skanda features him with the rooster as an emblematic animal. Puranic legend states that when Skanda killed Surapadma who hid himself as a tree, the two fragments of the tree became a peacock and a rooster. Perhaps the offering of the cock to Skanda led to him having the bird as one of his emblematic animals.
The Distancing
As some scholars point out, as the cult of Skanda grew and the as spirit started becoming a full fledged deity, people weren’t happy with the relationship with the Grahas. Coming back to the Sushruta Samhita, the 32nd chapter of the 2nd Canto of the Uttara Tantra has this to say on the subject:“It is impossible that the god springing from Rudra and Agni, with his exalted parentage would find pleasure in such a dangerous disease even out of childish frolic-someness and it has also been asserted by eminent authorities on the physical science that some unintelligent persons have been misled into holding, through a mistake due to the identity of the names, that the author of the disease under discussion (Skanda) is no other than the invincible Skanda”.
However, while trying to deny Skanda’s nature as a Graha, it fails to dissolve any trace of his malignant origin. Previously in the chapter, it is recorded that
“ Skandapasmara, the presiding deity of the disease named after him, was created by Agni, the fire-god (Vulcan). He is as bright as fire itself and is a constant companion of the god Skanda and is also known by the name of Vishakha”
The name of Graha having Skanda in it, as well as his association with Skanda, ironically end up echoing the deities' past. Ironically, in later texts, Vishakha is an epithet of Skanda. The chapter continues saying
“On the effulgent god Skanda’s being elevated to the leadership of the armies of Heaven, the presiding deities of those diseases waited upon him and with folded palms asked him about the means of their subsistence. The god Skanda in his turn, referred them to His Holiness the god Shiva for the answer, whereupon they went to the latter in a body and made the same query”
This narrative is found in the Mahabharata Aranyaka Parva Chapter 219. After Indra struck Skanda with the vajra, a part of his body split off and became Vishakha. Also from Skanda’s fiery body, came the Grahas which are made to torment women and children. The likely explanation for this distancing is that the cultured people didn’t like how their god could be malevolent, thus they tried to make him benevolent while not completely disregarding his origins. Narratives like those in the Mahabharata were an excellent way for the brahmanas of the Mauryan and Guptan era to accomplish that goal.
Origin of Murugan
Murugan is the Tamil name for Skanda. The name literally means “Youthful”, the same way “Kumara” does. Murugan has an similar origin as his northern version, as a wrathful spirit.According to Iravatam Mahadevan, a scholar in Indus Valley and Dravidian studies, Muruku (i.e. Murugan) in early Tamil times was a departed soul or spirit that would possess a priest (Velan) or a maiden who then would dance frantically. Murugan was thus a wrathful formless spirit. However, he is said to be red and carry a spear. Evidently, the Velan wore red clothes and carried a spear. Bloody sacrifices also were offered for Skanda. The dance that the Velan would do to appease the spirit Murugan is called Veriyattal. The Velan was summoned to solve problems or even tell how wars would unfold. In the Veddah people of Sri Lanka believe in a spirit called Kande Yakkha. And in one recollection of their myth on Valli’s origin, Kande Yakkha was the substitute for Murugan. This may be from early contact between Tamilians and the Veddahas and thus establishes the spirit origin of Murugan.
According to Mahadevan, “Muru” is a PDr root meaning “to break” but is homiphonous with “mur” meaning “Young”. Confusion may have made Murugan youth. This may have influenced the iconography of Skanda in the North. But more likely is that Skanda got his youth from Agni and this tradition influenced his southern counter part.
I depart from the traditional view that Velan derives from Tamil “Vel” meaning spear. If we are to assert a Proto Dravidian, or even Proto South Dravidian origin, for Muruguab, it must be noted that Tamil “Vel” meaning spear has only a cognate in Malayalam. That is also because Malayalam is descended from Tamil. Thus Tamil “Vel” is not an original Proto Dravidian world. However the Tamil root “vel” meaning “sacrifice” is of Proto Dravidian origin, with cognates being in Telugu as well (Tel “Velpu” = “god”; “Velvi” = “Sacrifice”). Thus the Velan could mean “sacrificer”. Then from homophones, Velan got reinterpreted to mean “Spear man”, thus prompting Murugan to carry a spear. This spear then may have made him a war god. Of course this is speculation , and further Dravidian research is needed.
The Influences
Most scholars agree that it is the Northern Skanda that influenced the Southern Murugan. The priority for the North is evident from the fact that Tamil traditions say that Skanda is said to have been born in the North but decided to settle in the South.The reason Skanda and Murugan would be conflated is plain obvious. The deities are both wrathful spirits needing appeasement. In fact, both Skanda and Murugan may derive their similar attributes because they originated from the same tradition, making both traditions of Skanda and Murugan figuratively siblings. Iravatam Mahadevan taxes the origin of Skanda worship to the Indus Valley. One of the Harappan script signs he identifies is a curled up skeleton. The Proto Dravidian root he assigned the sign to was “Mur” meaning “twisted” or “shriveled up”. This is homophonous to the roots meaning “break” and “youth”, and the connection to the dead makes this sign a great candidate for evidence of Murugan or general spirit appeasement during the Indus Valley period. What may have then happened was the Dravidians bought the Murugan worship to the South while the people who stayed in the North introduced their beliefs to the Vedic people. Indeed the Tamil literature attributes Skanda to the Kurunji landscape, which is the mountainous regions of Ancient Tamilikam. Indeed amongst the Niligiri tribes, like the Irula, is spirit worship the norm.
The Sangam literature knew of the Vedic practices, suggesting that Northern traditions have been established in the south. This is is possible that the developments of Skanda in the North have been introduced during the Sangam period and influenced the conception of Murugan, at least in part.
References:
DRAVIDIAN GODS IN MODERN HINDUISM A STUDY OF THE LOCAL AND VILLAGE DEITIES O F SOUTHERN INDIA by Wilber Theodore Elmore.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40450839?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents - gonds offer to spirits several animals, but mostly goats and chickens.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40453635?read-now=1#page_scan_tab_contents - shaministic stuff about Austroasiatic tribes. Includes chicken use. //
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44141129?read-now=1&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents Skanda and Vishaka alluded as Mahabharata reference.
Skanda:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43483765...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24049041...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20297310...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062666?...
https://rmrl.in/wp-content/uploads/20...
“Worship of Ancient Tamils Gleaned from the Tamil Literature” by Dr.P.Ganesan https://starlingdb.org/cgi-bin/respon...
\data\drav\dravet&first=161&off=&text_proto=vel&method_proto=sound_substring&ic_proto=on&text_meaning=&method_meaning=substring&ic_meaning=on&text_sdr=&method_sdr=substring&ic_sdr=on&text_tel=&method_tel=substring&ic_tel=on&text_koga=&method_koga=substring&ic_koga=on&text_gnd=&method_gnd=substring&ic_gnd=on&text_ndr=&method_ndr=substring&ic_ndr=on&text_bra=&method_bra=substring&ic_bra=on&text_notes=&method_notes=substring&ic_notes=on&text_any=&method_any=substring&sort=proto&ic_any=on https://webcache.googleusercontent.co...
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/ha...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3024...
https://www.academia.edu/12681396/BEL...
The Rise of Mahāsena: The Transformation of Skanda-Karttikeya in North India from the Kuṣāṇa to Gupta Empires Book by Richard Dewey Mann https://www.academia.edu/33546233/Ori...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20486646...
Early Cult of SKanda in North India: From Demon to Divine Son http://www.shanlaxjournals.in/pdf/ASH...
http://murugan.org/research/zvelebil.htm
http://kataragama.org/valli.htm
https://www.jstor.org/stable/24652468...
https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m03/m03228.htm Mahabharata, Skanda as Agni who is Rudra
https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m09/m09044.htm Shalya Parva origin of Skanda
https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29066/1/10731161.pdf
https://tulsidas-ram-books.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/7/4/21746472/devi_puran.pdf
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39183392.pdf
https://books.google.com/books?id=05LXAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=mother
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/135436/1/Asher-Greve_Westenholz_2013_Goddesses_in_Context.pdf
2023.06.06 23:09 AbhiN1289 Origin of Ganesha
Below, I am going to prove that Ganesha is originating from the non-Vedic, i.e. Dravidian beliefs:
Now it is the Ganas of Shiva, of which Ganesha leads, that offers a huge clue to his origins. The Ganas are in fact a host of spirits, and much like them, Ganesha originated as a spirit rather than a typical deity. But we shall get into that later.
“gaṇānāṃ tvā gaṇapatiṃ havāmahe kaviṃ kavīnām upamaśravastamam jyeṣṭharājam brahmaṇām brahmaṇas pata ā naḥ śṛṇvann ūtibhiḥ sīda sādanam”
“We invoke the Brahmaṇaspati, chief leader of the (heavenly) bands; a sage of sage; abounding beyond measure in (every kind of) food;best lord of prayer; hearing our invocations, come with your protections, and sit down in the chamber of sacrifice”
Similarly in Rig Veda 10. 112.9:
“ni ṣu sīda gaṇapate gaṇeṣu tvām āhur vipratamaṃ kavīnām na ṛte tvat kriyate kiṃ canāre mahām arkam maghavañ citram arca”
“Lord of the companies (of the Maruts), sit down among the companies (of the worshippers), they call you the most sage of sages; without you nothing is done in the distance; have in honour, Maghavan, our great and various adoration. of wealth, (the wishes of) your friends; make war (for us), you warrior endowed with real strength, give us a share in the undivided riches”
So it seems that we can’t try our luck with the word Ganapti at this early on. However, there is an older term for Ganesha that offers us a great amount of evidence: Vinayaka. Even today, in south India, Ganesha’s older name Vinayaka is more popular, at least in Andhra Pradesh.
“Atha ataH vinAyakAn vyAkhyAsyAmaH shAlakuNTas ca kuSmaNDarAjaputras ca uSmitas ca devayajanas ca iti etair adhigatAnAm imAni bhavanti loSTam mRdgAti”(MGS 2.14.1-4)
“Now hence we will account the Vinayakas. Shalakunta, Kushmandarajaputra, Usmita, and devayajana thus. By these, they will become of the learned. Softly he recites”
The 11th chapter of the Yajnavalkya Smriti, a person under the influence of a Vinayak will have negative symptoms, namely depression and absent mindedness. The examples get specific: a prince will have no kingdom, a girl wont find a husband, women won’t have children, a student will not learn well, a merchant may not obtain profit.
The very first verse of the 11th chapter in fact states:
“Vinayaka has been appointed for the purpose of bringing about obstacles in the performance of sacred rites, and he has been put at the head of all the hosts of Devas (Gana) by Rudra and Brahma as well as (by Visnu)”(Verse 271)
Here we see 4 Vinayaka becoming one. Later on in an enumeration of Vinayakas names, we see Kushmanda and Rajaputra. Admittedly the single name kushmandarajaputra split into two, but nonetheless there is preservation of an older tradition.
The 11th Chapter oes on explaining how to worship the deity should one be under his influence.From this, we see the formation on the familiar motifs surrounding Ganesha. In the Ritual, there is the throwing earth into 4 pots of water, and the chanting of the various names of Vinayaka. However, verse 287 has something interesting:
“ Then having taken all the following things and bowing his head on the ground let him invoke Ambika, the mother of Vinayaka : — Husk and unhusked rice as well as cooked rice mixed with sesa- mum paste, fish, raw and cooked fish, so also raw and cooked flesh. ”( YS Verse 287)
First thing to note is that Vinayaka is the son of Ambika. Ambika is the precursor to Parvati and Durga. This is interesting as at this time period we are seeing the commonly known belief that Ganesha is the son of Parvati. Keep in mind that Ambika herself is a deity of Dravidian origin (PDr amma > Skt. amba> Skt. ambika). The other interesting thing to notice is meet offerings, including that of fish and raw meat. We will get to this later.
Vinayakas spirit connection is also understood from his mention along side the Grahas (not the planets) and Kartikeya.
“Having thus worshipped Vinayaka and the Grahas according to rule^ he obtains the fruit of all actions as well as gets the highest fortune. ” (Verse 293).
Similarly,
“ He who always offers Puja of the Aditya and makes tilaka of Swami Kartikeya and MahE Ganapati, obtains all success. ” (Verse 294).
The Grahas are a disease-causing class of spirits, of which one of them is Skanda. Later on we shall see that the god Kartikeya (Skanda) originated as Grahas and other forms of spirit worship. The association of Vinayaka with the Grahas and Skanda suggests two things.
The first is that Vinayaka is a spirit or supernatural entity. His prominence made him foremost of the spirits, i.e. Ganas.
The Bhagavatam 8.12.2 establishes the spirit like nature of the Ganas, of which Vinayaka leads.
“vṛṣam āruhya giriśaḥ sarva-bhūta-gaṇair vṛtaḥ saha devyā yayau draṣṭuṁ yatrāste madhusūdanaḥ”
“Having mounted the bull, the lord of the mountain (Shiva) surrounded by all the bands of spirits (sarvabhutaganair) went along with Devi to see where Mashusudana is”
The second is that we see the origin, at least in part, of the modern Hindu belief that Skanda and Ganesha are brothers.
The other motif interestingly seen is that Vinayka is offered Modakas (verse 289). Modakas are balls of rice, and modern Hindus will mention how Ganesha is fond of them.The mention of a white cloth being used in the ritual may be the origin for modern iconographic deptions of Ganesha with a white garment.
In addition, the use of fish is a staunch prohibition in the Manusmriti
“He who eats the flesh of an animal, is called the ‘eater of its flesh’; he who eats fish is the ‘eater of all kinds of flesh’; hence one shall avoid fish” (5.15)
Admittedly, in the next verse Manu makes an exception to two kinds of fish: Rohita and Pathina.
“The ‘Pāṭhīna’ and the ‘Rohita’ are fit to be eaten when used as offerings to gods or Pitṛs; the ‘Rājīva’, the ‘Siṃhatuṇḍa’ and the ‘Saśalka,’ (one may eaṭ) on all occasions”(5.16).
However the fish are specific and are an occasion for festivities. These seem to not be used for appeasing spirits. Besides there is no specification of the fish to be offered to Vinayaka in the commentary of Vejnanevara. Besides, the mention of raw flesh is a huge indicator to the non Vedic origin of the Vinayaka worship. Verse 288 also mentions offering wine, to which the commentator explains to be of the Gaudi type, made from molasses. This wine, as it is made from molasses, is forbidden for brahmins.
Gaudi is not the same as Soma or Sura, the latter is made from grains and is not necessarily sinful for a Brahmana to drink (Manusmriti 11.90, commentary by Medhatithi and notes by Ganganath Jha).
Returning to the offering of raw meat and fish, scholar Kenneth G. Zysk in his “religious Healing in the Veda” records a nuanced set of rituals pertaining to healing and exorcism associated with the Rig and Atharva Vedas. Despite the nuanced list of rituals, not a single one of them involves meat offerings. Admittedly though, there is an instance where animal hide to make a pouch to store herbs. Beyond that, it seems that Vedic rituals pertaining to dealing with problematic spirits were vegetarian in nature. Thus, the presence of meat in the appeasement of Vinayaka suggests that the Vinayakas as a class of spirit are of non Vedic origin.
In Andhra Pradesh, scholar Wilber T. Elmore notes that when a person is sick and no remedies work, a Bhuta Vaidyudu (demon doctor) is called to do an exorcism ritual. In that ritual there are uses of muggus, blood offerings, and pot offerings with rice.
“The demon doctor makes three kinds of the sacred muggu, and after a bewildering number o f small ceremonies he makes an image of dough . He then forms nine small lamps o f dough and pours three kinds of oil into them. The lamps are lighted and placed on an offering o f food in front o f the image . A sheep is sacrificed, its blood caught in a broken pot and mixed with rice . This bloody rice is then sprinkled in the four corners of the room” (Emlore pg 53).
Later it is mentioned that:
“He then places the image of dough, one lamp, and the head of the sheep, in a pot, and the procession starts for the burying ground. Two men carry this pot and two others follow with the pot containing the bloody rice. After reaching the burying ground, they dig a hole and bury both pots with their contents, performing the usual burying ceremonies . After all is over another bloody nail is driven into the earth above the buried pots” (Elmore pg 54).
The ritual mentioned to have occurred in rural villages in Andhra Pradesh is more gruesome than the ones for the Vinayakas mentioned in the Yajnavalkya Smriti. Admittedly, this may be because the Brahamnical influence may have toned the ritual down. In any case we see an earthly folk ritual involving pots, rice, and raw meat. This is good evidence to suggest that the Vinayakas were a belief originating amongst the non Vedic cultures of India.
“Bhūtas are known to be of various colours. They are dwarfs with odd faces and may have faces of boars, rams, buffaloes and deer as well” (Natyasashtra 23.98).
In Khmer Art, Yaksas are depicted with heads of various animals including the elephant. And on the Mathuran Frieze #2335, 5 yakshas accompanying Kubera are shown with elephant heads.
So the idea of Vinayaka having any animal head need not be questioned. However, what needs to be figured out is why the elephant is chosen out of all animals. Perhaps Vinayakas, back when there were more than one, may have had heads of other animals but this is speculation.
The most obvious answer to this question is that elephants in India were, and still are, a sign of high status and immense power. A kings wealth is measured by how many elephants he had. Elephants were used for war, construction, and ceremonial purposes. Such an animal that people looked to with awe should no doubt be the prime choice of selection when depicting Vinayaka. In simple terms, the majesty of elephants made the spirit having an elephant head popular.
Other sources of influence come from other figures in Hindu-Buddhist lore. One Vinayaka mentioned in the Manavagrihya sutra was Kusmandarajaputra. The name gets broken into two: Kushmanda and Rajaputra. The Kushmandas (or Kumbhandas) are a class of spirits in Buddhist lore. They are headed by Virudaka, who wears and elephant helmet. Virduaka guards the southern direction; interestingly, later Puranas mention Ganesha as the guardian of the South.
Another name invoked when one is possessed by a Vinayaka is “Virupaksa”. Virupaksha is also the name of the western Diggaja, a group of 8 elephants said to hold up the earth in each of the 8 directions. In Buddhist lore, Virupaksha is not an elephant but said to be lord of the Nagas. While Naga is taken usually to mean snakes, it could also refer to elephants. The relation of the names of the Vinayakas to existing elephantine figures could have partly motivated the success of the elephantine Vinayaka.
Other elephant cults may have popularized the elephant headed Ganesha as well. For example, Pilusara. Pilusara was an elephant deity worshiped in the mountains of Gandhara. Hieun Tsiang writes in the 34th chapter of his Buddhist Records of the Western World
“To the south-west of the town is Mount Pi-lo-sa-lo (Pīlusāra);[42] the mountain spirit takes the form of an elephant, hence the name. In old days, when Tathāgata was alive, the spirit, called Pīlusāra (siang-kien, i.e., elephant-fixed), asked the Lord of the World and 1200 Arhats (to partake of his hospitality). On the mountain crag is a great solid rock; here it was Tathāgata received the offerings of the spirit. Afterwards Aśoka-rāja erected on this same rock a stūpa about 100 feet in height. It is now called the stūpa of the Elephant-strength (Pīlusāra). They say that in this also is about a pint measure of the relics of Tathāgata”
Later, the Indo Greeks adopted Pilusara as their own deity, identifying him with Zeus. In addition, Greek records indicate there is a a record of the tribe Hastikas which may have been an elephant worshiping tribe. The existing elephant cults may have helped propel the formation of Ganesha the way we know him today, as well as popularizing him.
ORIGIN OF GAṆEŚA by M. K. Dhavalikar 1990: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41693515...
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIFTY-SIX VINAYAKAS IN BANARAS AND THEIR ORIGINS by Isabelle Bermijn: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29335/1/10...
Rig Veda
Taitareya Aranyaka
Yajnavalkhya smrti
Hieun Tsian’s Buddhist Records of the Western World
The origin of the Ganapati Cult https://www.jstor.org/stable/1178368?...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20486646…
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1177671
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40444039
DRAVIDIAN GODS IN MODERN HINDUISM A STUDY OF THE LOCAL AND VILLAGE DEITIES O F SOUTHERN INDIA by Wilber Theodore Elmore.
submitted by AbhiN1289 to Dravidiology [link] [comments]
Ganesha
Ganesha or Vinayaka is the famous Elephant-headed deity. His role is to remove obstacles and bestow knowledge. According to legend, Parvati made a boy out of clay to guard the entrance to her house while she bathed. Shiva arrived to meet Parvati but the boy tried to stop him. Shiva out of anger used his trident to cut the boy’s head off. To pacify a grieving Parvati, Shiva obtains an elephant head and attached it to the headless copse of the boy and bestowed upon him life. Later, Shiva made Ganesha the leader of the Ganas, thus giving him the title of Ganapati.Now it is the Ganas of Shiva, of which Ganesha leads, that offers a huge clue to his origins. The Ganas are in fact a host of spirits, and much like them, Ganesha originated as a spirit rather than a typical deity. But we shall get into that later.
Ganapati
The name Ganapati is found in the Rig Veda, but no connections to the elephant headed deity is known. Rather the word means what it literally means: a leader of a troop. For example in Rig Veda 2.23.1:“gaṇānāṃ tvā gaṇapatiṃ havāmahe kaviṃ kavīnām upamaśravastamam jyeṣṭharājam brahmaṇām brahmaṇas pata ā naḥ śṛṇvann ūtibhiḥ sīda sādanam”
“We invoke the Brahmaṇaspati, chief leader of the (heavenly) bands; a sage of sage; abounding beyond measure in (every kind of) food;best lord of prayer; hearing our invocations, come with your protections, and sit down in the chamber of sacrifice”
Similarly in Rig Veda 10. 112.9:
“ni ṣu sīda gaṇapate gaṇeṣu tvām āhur vipratamaṃ kavīnām na ṛte tvat kriyate kiṃ canāre mahām arkam maghavañ citram arca”
“Lord of the companies (of the Maruts), sit down among the companies (of the worshippers), they call you the most sage of sages; without you nothing is done in the distance; have in honour, Maghavan, our great and various adoration. of wealth, (the wishes of) your friends; make war (for us), you warrior endowed with real strength, give us a share in the undivided riches”
So it seems that we can’t try our luck with the word Ganapti at this early on. However, there is an older term for Ganesha that offers us a great amount of evidence: Vinayaka. Even today, in south India, Ganesha’s older name Vinayaka is more popular, at least in Andhra Pradesh.
Vinayakas
If one looks at the older Indian literature, they will notice that Vinayaka appears in the plural, referring to a class of spirits on par with Bhutas and Pretas. The earliest text to mention them is the Manava Grihya Sutra.“Atha ataH vinAyakAn vyAkhyAsyAmaH shAlakuNTas ca kuSmaNDarAjaputras ca uSmitas ca devayajanas ca iti etair adhigatAnAm imAni bhavanti loSTam mRdgAti”(MGS 2.14.1-4)
“Now hence we will account the Vinayakas. Shalakunta, Kushmandarajaputra, Usmita, and devayajana thus. By these, they will become of the learned. Softly he recites”
The 11th chapter of the Yajnavalkya Smriti, a person under the influence of a Vinayak will have negative symptoms, namely depression and absent mindedness. The examples get specific: a prince will have no kingdom, a girl wont find a husband, women won’t have children, a student will not learn well, a merchant may not obtain profit.
The very first verse of the 11th chapter in fact states:
“Vinayaka has been appointed for the purpose of bringing about obstacles in the performance of sacred rites, and he has been put at the head of all the hosts of Devas (Gana) by Rudra and Brahma as well as (by Visnu)”(Verse 271)
Here we see 4 Vinayaka becoming one. Later on in an enumeration of Vinayakas names, we see Kushmanda and Rajaputra. Admittedly the single name kushmandarajaputra split into two, but nonetheless there is preservation of an older tradition.
The 11th Chapter oes on explaining how to worship the deity should one be under his influence.From this, we see the formation on the familiar motifs surrounding Ganesha. In the Ritual, there is the throwing earth into 4 pots of water, and the chanting of the various names of Vinayaka. However, verse 287 has something interesting:
“ Then having taken all the following things and bowing his head on the ground let him invoke Ambika, the mother of Vinayaka : — Husk and unhusked rice as well as cooked rice mixed with sesa- mum paste, fish, raw and cooked fish, so also raw and cooked flesh. ”( YS Verse 287)
First thing to note is that Vinayaka is the son of Ambika. Ambika is the precursor to Parvati and Durga. This is interesting as at this time period we are seeing the commonly known belief that Ganesha is the son of Parvati. Keep in mind that Ambika herself is a deity of Dravidian origin (PDr amma > Skt. amba> Skt. ambika). The other interesting thing to notice is meet offerings, including that of fish and raw meat. We will get to this later.
Vinayakas spirit connection is also understood from his mention along side the Grahas (not the planets) and Kartikeya.
“Having thus worshipped Vinayaka and the Grahas according to rule^ he obtains the fruit of all actions as well as gets the highest fortune. ” (Verse 293).
Similarly,
“ He who always offers Puja of the Aditya and makes tilaka of Swami Kartikeya and MahE Ganapati, obtains all success. ” (Verse 294).
The Grahas are a disease-causing class of spirits, of which one of them is Skanda. Later on we shall see that the god Kartikeya (Skanda) originated as Grahas and other forms of spirit worship. The association of Vinayaka with the Grahas and Skanda suggests two things.
The first is that Vinayaka is a spirit or supernatural entity. His prominence made him foremost of the spirits, i.e. Ganas.
The Bhagavatam 8.12.2 establishes the spirit like nature of the Ganas, of which Vinayaka leads.
“vṛṣam āruhya giriśaḥ sarva-bhūta-gaṇair vṛtaḥ saha devyā yayau draṣṭuṁ yatrāste madhusūdanaḥ”
“Having mounted the bull, the lord of the mountain (Shiva) surrounded by all the bands of spirits (sarvabhutaganair) went along with Devi to see where Mashusudana is”
The second is that we see the origin, at least in part, of the modern Hindu belief that Skanda and Ganesha are brothers.
The other motif interestingly seen is that Vinayka is offered Modakas (verse 289). Modakas are balls of rice, and modern Hindus will mention how Ganesha is fond of them.The mention of a white cloth being used in the ritual may be the origin for modern iconographic deptions of Ganesha with a white garment.
Non Vedic Origins
Besides the ritual being very earthly, the other interesting thing to note in the 293th Verse of the Yajnavalkya Smriti is the offering of Raw Meat and cooked fish. Vedic rituals do use meat, but those are offered in the fire. Here, no such thing is recorded.In addition, the use of fish is a staunch prohibition in the Manusmriti
“He who eats the flesh of an animal, is called the ‘eater of its flesh’; he who eats fish is the ‘eater of all kinds of flesh’; hence one shall avoid fish” (5.15)
Admittedly, in the next verse Manu makes an exception to two kinds of fish: Rohita and Pathina.
“The ‘Pāṭhīna’ and the ‘Rohita’ are fit to be eaten when used as offerings to gods or Pitṛs; the ‘Rājīva’, the ‘Siṃhatuṇḍa’ and the ‘Saśalka,’ (one may eaṭ) on all occasions”(5.16).
However the fish are specific and are an occasion for festivities. These seem to not be used for appeasing spirits. Besides there is no specification of the fish to be offered to Vinayaka in the commentary of Vejnanevara. Besides, the mention of raw flesh is a huge indicator to the non Vedic origin of the Vinayaka worship. Verse 288 also mentions offering wine, to which the commentator explains to be of the Gaudi type, made from molasses. This wine, as it is made from molasses, is forbidden for brahmins.
Gaudi is not the same as Soma or Sura, the latter is made from grains and is not necessarily sinful for a Brahmana to drink (Manusmriti 11.90, commentary by Medhatithi and notes by Ganganath Jha).
Returning to the offering of raw meat and fish, scholar Kenneth G. Zysk in his “religious Healing in the Veda” records a nuanced set of rituals pertaining to healing and exorcism associated with the Rig and Atharva Vedas. Despite the nuanced list of rituals, not a single one of them involves meat offerings. Admittedly though, there is an instance where animal hide to make a pouch to store herbs. Beyond that, it seems that Vedic rituals pertaining to dealing with problematic spirits were vegetarian in nature. Thus, the presence of meat in the appeasement of Vinayaka suggests that the Vinayakas as a class of spirit are of non Vedic origin.
Dravidian and Tribal Parallels
Spirit worship is a feature in Dravidian folk customs and in tribal religion. In Kerala there is the festival of Theyyam where the spirit of a goddess enters a man, making him dance frantically. Tulu Nadu has Bhuta Kola, where gods and other spirits enter priestley men who also dance frantically. The Gonds, Santhals, Mundas, and other Central Indian tribes also believe that spirits dwell everywhere and influence the lives of living beings. They can be good or bad.In Andhra Pradesh, scholar Wilber T. Elmore notes that when a person is sick and no remedies work, a Bhuta Vaidyudu (demon doctor) is called to do an exorcism ritual. In that ritual there are uses of muggus, blood offerings, and pot offerings with rice.
“The demon doctor makes three kinds of the sacred muggu, and after a bewildering number o f small ceremonies he makes an image of dough . He then forms nine small lamps o f dough and pours three kinds of oil into them. The lamps are lighted and placed on an offering o f food in front o f the image . A sheep is sacrificed, its blood caught in a broken pot and mixed with rice . This bloody rice is then sprinkled in the four corners of the room” (Emlore pg 53).
Later it is mentioned that:
“He then places the image of dough, one lamp, and the head of the sheep, in a pot, and the procession starts for the burying ground. Two men carry this pot and two others follow with the pot containing the bloody rice. After reaching the burying ground, they dig a hole and bury both pots with their contents, performing the usual burying ceremonies . After all is over another bloody nail is driven into the earth above the buried pots” (Elmore pg 54).
The ritual mentioned to have occurred in rural villages in Andhra Pradesh is more gruesome than the ones for the Vinayakas mentioned in the Yajnavalkya Smriti. Admittedly, this may be because the Brahamnical influence may have toned the ritual down. In any case we see an earthly folk ritual involving pots, rice, and raw meat. This is good evidence to suggest that the Vinayakas were a belief originating amongst the non Vedic cultures of India.
Origin of the Elephant Head
The solidification of Vinayaka having an elephant head occurred around the Gupta period; however what factors led to Ganesha having an elephant head in the first place.The interesting thing about the iconography of spirits in Ancient India was that depicting them with animal heads was not unusual. The Bharata Natyasashtra for example advises the costumes of spirits to have various animal heads.“Bhūtas are known to be of various colours. They are dwarfs with odd faces and may have faces of boars, rams, buffaloes and deer as well” (Natyasashtra 23.98).
In Khmer Art, Yaksas are depicted with heads of various animals including the elephant. And on the Mathuran Frieze #2335, 5 yakshas accompanying Kubera are shown with elephant heads.
So the idea of Vinayaka having any animal head need not be questioned. However, what needs to be figured out is why the elephant is chosen out of all animals. Perhaps Vinayakas, back when there were more than one, may have had heads of other animals but this is speculation.
The most obvious answer to this question is that elephants in India were, and still are, a sign of high status and immense power. A kings wealth is measured by how many elephants he had. Elephants were used for war, construction, and ceremonial purposes. Such an animal that people looked to with awe should no doubt be the prime choice of selection when depicting Vinayaka. In simple terms, the majesty of elephants made the spirit having an elephant head popular.
Other sources of influence come from other figures in Hindu-Buddhist lore. One Vinayaka mentioned in the Manavagrihya sutra was Kusmandarajaputra. The name gets broken into two: Kushmanda and Rajaputra. The Kushmandas (or Kumbhandas) are a class of spirits in Buddhist lore. They are headed by Virudaka, who wears and elephant helmet. Virduaka guards the southern direction; interestingly, later Puranas mention Ganesha as the guardian of the South.
Another name invoked when one is possessed by a Vinayaka is “Virupaksa”. Virupaksha is also the name of the western Diggaja, a group of 8 elephants said to hold up the earth in each of the 8 directions. In Buddhist lore, Virupaksha is not an elephant but said to be lord of the Nagas. While Naga is taken usually to mean snakes, it could also refer to elephants. The relation of the names of the Vinayakas to existing elephantine figures could have partly motivated the success of the elephantine Vinayaka.
Other elephant cults may have popularized the elephant headed Ganesha as well. For example, Pilusara. Pilusara was an elephant deity worshiped in the mountains of Gandhara. Hieun Tsiang writes in the 34th chapter of his Buddhist Records of the Western World
“To the south-west of the town is Mount Pi-lo-sa-lo (Pīlusāra);[42] the mountain spirit takes the form of an elephant, hence the name. In old days, when Tathāgata was alive, the spirit, called Pīlusāra (siang-kien, i.e., elephant-fixed), asked the Lord of the World and 1200 Arhats (to partake of his hospitality). On the mountain crag is a great solid rock; here it was Tathāgata received the offerings of the spirit. Afterwards Aśoka-rāja erected on this same rock a stūpa about 100 feet in height. It is now called the stūpa of the Elephant-strength (Pīlusāra). They say that in this also is about a pint measure of the relics of Tathāgata”
Later, the Indo Greeks adopted Pilusara as their own deity, identifying him with Zeus. In addition, Greek records indicate there is a a record of the tribe Hastikas which may have been an elephant worshiping tribe. The existing elephant cults may have helped propel the formation of Ganesha the way we know him today, as well as popularizing him.
References:
ORIGIN OF GAṆEŚA by M. K. Dhavalikar 1990: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41693515...
AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE FIFTY-SIX VINAYAKAS IN BANARAS AND THEIR ORIGINS by Isabelle Bermijn: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/29335/1/10...
Rig Veda
Taitareya Aranyaka
Yajnavalkhya smrti
Hieun Tsian’s Buddhist Records of the Western World
The origin of the Ganapati Cult https://www.jstor.org/stable/1178368?...
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20486646…
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1177671
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40444039
DRAVIDIAN GODS IN MODERN HINDUISM A STUDY OF THE LOCAL AND VILLAGE DEITIES O F SOUTHERN INDIA by Wilber Theodore Elmore.
2023.06.06 21:18 kremod Pama-nyunganrule
 | submitted by kremod to 197 [link] [comments] |
2023.06.06 19:54 FLAF18 🐳🦩🦩
 | We’ll be kicking off our Summer tour a little early this August and joining our friends Aqueous at their festival "The Great Flamingle II" just outside of Buffalo, NY! Tickets will be on-sale this Friday, June 9th - we hope to see you there! 🐳🦩 submitted by FLAF18 to tand [link] [comments] |
2023.06.06 19:03 Healthinspiration How a 35 lbs Weight Loss Can Transform Your Life
 | Weight loss success story submitted by Healthinspiration to u/Healthinspiration [link] [comments] Losing weight can be a life-changing journey. It not only improves your physical health but also boosts your confidence and overall well-being. The goal of shedding 35 lbs may seem daunting, but with the right strategies and mindset, it can be achieved. In this article, we will explore the concept of weight loss, the relationship between weight and calories, and provide practical tips to help you lose 35 lbs and experience a transformative change in your life. Understanding Weight Loss Before diving into the specifics of losing 35 lbs, let's first understand what weight loss entails. Weight loss refers to the reduction in body weight, typically as a result of burning more calories than you consume. It is influenced by various factors, including genetics, lifestyle choices, and underlying medical conditions. Maintaining a healthy weight is essential for overall well-being, as it reduces the risk of chronic diseases and promotes optimal physical and mental functioning. The Concept of Calories Calories play a crucial role in the weight loss journey. They are units of energy derived from the food and beverages we consume. Weight loss occurs when you create a calorie deficit, which means you burn more calories than you consume. The key components of the calorie equation are caloric intake and expenditure. Your caloric intake is determined by the foods and drinks you consume. It is important to make nutritious choices and avoid excessive consumption of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. On the other hand, caloric expenditure refers to the energy your body burns through various activities, including exercise, daily activities, and bodily functions. The Relationship Between Weight and Calories To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit. A calorie deficit occurs when you consume fewer calories than your body needs for daily activities and maintenance. This deficit forces your body to tap into stored fat for energy, leading to weight loss. On average, a pound of body weight is estimated to be equivalent to approximately 3,500 calories. Therefore, to lose 35 lbs, you would need to create a calorie deficit of 122,500 calories over a period of time. It is important to note that weight loss should be approached gradually and sustainably for long-term success. The 35 lbs Weight Loss Milestone Setting a realistic weight loss goal is essential to stay motivated and track progress effectively. Losing 35 lbs is a significant milestone that can have a profound impact on your health and well-being. However, it is important to remember that weight loss is not a one-size-fits-all journey. The time required to lose 35 lbs may vary depending on factors such as metabolism, starting weight, and individual circumstances. On average, a healthy rate of weight loss is considered to be 1-2 pounds per week. Based on this estimate, losing 35 lbs could take approximately 17-35 weeks, or 4-8 months. It is crucial to approach weight loss with patience and focus on sustainable lifestyle changes rather than quick fixes. Strategies for Losing 35 lbs Losing 35 lbs may seem overwhelming, but with the right strategies, it is achievable. Here are some effective approaches to help you on your weight loss journey: MUST SEEN : The Lazy Way to a Slimmer You: How to Lose Weight Without Exercising Healthy Eating Habits Adopting healthy eating habits is essential for weight loss. Focus on incorporating a variety of nutrient-dense foods into your diet, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Aim for portion control and mindful eating, paying attention to hunger and fullness cues. Consider consulting a registered dietitian for personalized guidance and meal planning. Regular Physical Activity Engaging in regular physical activity is crucial for weight loss and overall well-being. Aim for a combination of cardiovascular exercises, such as brisk walking, running, or cycling, and strength training exercises to build lean muscle mass. Find activities that you enjoy to make exercise a sustainable part of your routine. Lifestyle Changes Weight loss is not just about diet and exercise; it often requires making broader lifestyle changes. Prioritize quality sleep, manage stress levels, and reduce sedentary behaviors. Small changes, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or incorporating short activity breaks throughout the day, can add up and contribute to your weight loss goals. Seeking Professional Guidance If you are struggling to achieve your weight loss goals or have underlying health conditions, consider seeking professional guidance. A healthcare provider, registered dietitian, or certified personal trainer can provide personalized recommendations and support tailored to your needs. Staying Motivated Throughout the Journey Maintaining motivation throughout your weight loss journey is crucial for long-term success. Here are some strategies to help you stay motivated: Setting Short-Term Goals Break your weight loss journey into smaller, achievable goals. Celebrate each milestone along the way, whether it's losing 5 pounds or fitting into a smaller clothing size. These short-term goals will keep you motivated and provide a sense of accomplishment. Celebrating Milestones Reward yourself for your achievements. Treat yourself to non-food rewards, such as a spa day, a new workout outfit, or a weekend getaway. Celebrating milestones reinforces positive behaviors and helps maintain motivation. Creating a Support System Surround yourself with a supportive network of friends, family, or a weight loss support group. Share your goals and progress with them, seek their encouragement, and lean on them during challenging times. Having a support system can make your weight loss journey more enjoyable and sustainable. The Benefits of Losing 35 lbs Losing 35 lbs can have a multitude of benefits beyond just the number on the scale. Here are some advantages of achieving this weight loss milestone: Health Improvements Losing excess weight can improve various aspects of your health. It can reduce the risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. Weight loss also improves blood pressure levels, cholesterol levels, and overall cardiovascular health. Additionally, it can alleviate symptoms associated with conditions like joint pain and sleep apnea. Increased Energy Levels Carrying excess weight can leave you feeling lethargic and fatigued. By shedding 35 lbs, you can experience a significant boost in energy levels. With increased energy, you'll find it easier to engage in physical activities, accomplish daily tasks, and enjoy a more active lifestyle. Enhanced Self-Confidence Weight loss can greatly improve self-confidence and body image. As you work towards your goal of losing 35 lbs, you'll notice positive changes in your appearance, fitness, and overall well-being. This transformation can boost your self-esteem and enhance your confidence in various aspects of life. Potential Challenges and How to Overcome Them Embarking on a weight loss journey is not without its challenges. Here are some common obstacles you may encounter and strategies to overcome them: Plateaus and Weight Fluctuations It is normal to experience weight plateaus or fluctuations during your journey. These periods can be frustrating and may lead to discouragement. However, it's essential to remember that weight loss is not always linear. Stay consistent with your healthy habits, reassess your eating and exercise routine, and consider consulting a professional for guidance. Dealing with Cravings Cravings for unhealthy foods can be a stumbling block in your weight loss journey. Find healthier alternatives to satisfy your cravings, such as opting for fruit instead of sugary snacks or enjoying a square of dark chocolate instead of a candy bar. Practice mindful eating and address the underlying causes of cravings, such as emotional triggers or boredom. Overcoming Self-Doubt At times, self-doubt and negative self-talk may creep in during your weight loss journey. Remember that setbacks are a natural part of the process, and it's essential to be kind to yourself. Focus on your progress, celebrate your achievements, and surround yourself with positive influences that uplift and motivate you. Conclusion Losing 35 lbs is a significant achievement that can have a transformative impact on your life. By adopting healthy eating habits, engaging in regular physical activity, and making sustainable lifestyle changes, you can embark on a successful weight loss journey. Stay motivated, set realistic goals, and seek support when needed. Remember, weight loss is a personal journey, and every step you take towards a healthier lifestyle is a step towards a happier and more fulfilling life. MUST SEEN : The Lazy Way to a Slimmer You: How to Lose Weight Without Exercising FAQs FAQ 1: Can I lose 35 lbs without exercise? While exercise is beneficial for weight loss, it is possible to lose weight through dietary changes alone. However, incorporating physical activity into your routine offers numerous health benefits and can accelerate weight loss. FAQ 2: What are some healthy food choices for weight loss? Include plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats in your diet. Avoid processed foods, sugary snacks, and excessive consumption of high-calorie foods. FAQ 3: Should I follow a specific diet plan to lose 35 lbs? There is no one-size-fits-all diet plan for weight loss. It's important to find an eating pattern that suits your preferences, lifestyle, and health needs. Consult a registered dietitian to create a personalized meal plan based on your goals. FAQ 4: Is it possible to lose weight too quickly? Losing weight too quickly can be unhealthy and unsustainable. Aim for a gradual weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week for long-term success. |
2023.06.06 17:39 Mr_Binghamton Air Quality Alert - recommended to limit strenuous outdoor physical activity.
 | submitted by Mr_Binghamton to Binghamton [link] [comments] |
2023.06.06 16:07 JoshAsdvgi THE OLD WOMAN OF THE SPRING
 | submitted by JoshAsdvgi to Native_Stories [link] [comments] THE OLD WOMAN OF THE SPRING [CHEYENNE] This tale about the gifts of corn and buffalo to the Cheyenne is related to the legend which follows it about Arrow Boy. In the Cheyenne manner, a storyteller will say, "Let's tie another story to the end of this one," and go on from there. North, as it is spoken of at the beginning of both tales, is a nostalgic reference to the Cheyenne hunting grounds in north-central America, from which they were driven by invading tribes, probably the Ojibway. When the Cheyenne were still in the north, they camped in a large circle at whose entrance a deep, rapid spring flowed from a hillside. The spring provided the camp with water, but food was harder to find. The buffalo had disappeared, and many people went hungry. One bright day some men were playing the game of ring and javelin in the center of the camp circle. 'They used a red and black hoop and four long sticks, two red and two black, which they threw at the hoop as it rolled along. In order to win, a player had to throw his stick through the hoop while it was still moving. A large audience had already gathered when a young man came from the south side of the camp circle to join them. He wore a buffalo robe with the hair turned outward. His body was painted yellow, and a yellowpainted eagle breach-feather was fastened to his head. Soon another young man dressed exactly like the first came from the north side of the circle to watch the game. They were unacquainted, but when the two caught sight of each other they moved through the crowd to talk. "My friend," said the man from the south side, "you're imitating my dress. Why are you doing it?" The other man said, "It's you who are imitating me. Why?" In their explanations, both men told the same story. They had entered the spring that Howed out from the hillside, and there they had been instructed how to dress. By now the, crowd had stopped watching the game and gathered around to listen, and the young men told the people that they would go into the spring again and come out soon. As the crowd watched, the two approached the spring. The man from the south covered his head with his buffalo robe and entered. The other did the same. The young men splashed through the water and soon found themselves in a large cave. Near the entrance sat an old woman cooking some buffalo meat and corn in two separate earthen pots. She welcomed them: "Grandchildren, you have come. Here, sit beside me." They sat down, one on each side of her, and told her that the people were hungry and that they had come to her for food. She gave them corn from one pot and meat from the other. They ate until they had had enough, and when they were through the pots were still full. Then she told them to look toward the south, and they saw that the land in that direction was covered with buffalo. She told them to look to the west, and they sawall kinds of animals, large and small, including ponies, though they knew nothing of ponies in those days. She told them to look toward the north, and they saw corn growing everywhere. The old woman said to them, "All this that you have seen shall be yours in the future. Tonight I cause the buffalo to be restored to you. When you leave this place, the buffalo will follow, and your people will see them coming before sunset. Take this uncooked corn in your robes, and plant it every spring in low, moist ground. After it matures, you can feed upon it. "Take also this meat and corn that I have cooked," she said, and when you have returned to your people, ask them to sit down to eat in the following order: First, all males, from the youngest to the oldest, with the exception of one .orphan boy; second, all females, from the oldest to the youngest, with the exception of one orphan girl. When all are through eating, the rest of the food in the pots is to be eaten by the orphan boy and the orphan girl." The two men obeyed the old woman. When they passed out of the spring, they saw that their entire bodies were painted red, and the yellow breath-feathers on their heads had turned red. They went to their people, who ate as directed of the corn and meat. There was enough for all, and the contents of the pots remained full until they were passed to the two orphan children, who ate all the rest of the food. Toward sunset the people went to their lodges and began watching the spring closely, and in a short time they saw a buffalo leap out. The creature jumped and played and wIled, then returned to the spring. In a little while another buffalo jumped out, then another and another, and finally they came so fast that the Cheyenne were 'no longer able to count them. The buffalo continued to emerge all night, and the following day the whole country out in the distance was covered with buffalo. The buffalo scented the great camp. The next day the Cheyenne surrounded them, for though the men hunted on foot, they ran very fast. For a time the people had an abundance of buffalo meat. In the spring they moved their camp to low, swampy land, where they planted the corn they had received from the medicine stream. It grew rapidly, and every grain they planted brought forth strong stalks bearing two to four ears of corn. The people planted corn every year after this. One spring after planting corn, the Cheyenne went on a buffalo hunt. \Vhen they had enough meat to last for a long time, they returned to their fields. To their surprise, they found that the corn had been stolen by some neighboring tribe. Nothing but stalks remained-not even a kernel for seed. Though the theft had occurred about a moon before, the Cheyenne trailed the enemy's footprints for several days. They even fought with two or three tribes, but never succeeded in tracing the robbers or recovering the stolen crop. It was a long time before the Cheyenne planted any more corn. -Based on a story reported by George A. Dorsey at the turn of the century. The loss of corn described here may symbolize how the Cheyenne abandoned planting for buffalo hunting in the late half of the eighteenth century. The "wings" given the Plains tribes by the arrival of guns and horses at this time not only allowed them to move from being gatherers to being hunters (the reverse of the more common cultural evolution) but opened up the possibility of a more elaborate-and transportable......material culture-hence the term, golden age of the Plains Indians . |
2023.06.06 14:42 doctorgecko Respect Yukari Yakumo (Touhou)
"Would you like to have a near-death experience? By crossing the boundary between life and death."
Yukari Yakumo
Themes:- Necrofantasia:
- Night Falls ~ Evening Star: 7.5, 10.5, 15.5
- Yorimashi Between Dreams and Reality ~ Necro-Fantasia
Notes
- Source Index
- Perfect Memento in Strict Sense and Symposium of Post Mysticism is an in universe book written by Hidea no Akyuu. She has a tendency to exaggerate and speculate, so her claims should be taken with a grain of salt.
- Yukari herself is noted to lie quite a lot, so her own claims should also be taken with a grain of salt.
- In 15.5 Yukari makes use of the urban legend Teke Teke, but her attacks while using this urban legend are fairly in line with her normal capabilities. As it's unclear what effect the Urban legend is having, these feats will be included in this section but marked with Occult
- Yukari scales to a large number of characters, so here is every Touhou respect thread for the games
Defining Some Terms
Spell Card System: The Spell Card Rules were put in place by Reimu Hakurei in order to make duels between everyone fair, formalized, and safe. It is also the method nearly all Touhou characters will use in-character. Spell card battles have very clearly defined rules and attacks that are agreed upon before a duel with the purpose being that the most beautiful attacks win. In general Spell Cards are characters going easy on the foe, with ZUN outright stating they're not something the characters would ever use if they were serious.- Given the original rules of spell card battles and a characters being introduced to the spell card system stating it would prevent useless bloodshed, there is at least a decent amount of implication that Spell Card battles are inherently non-lethal.
- Danmaku is intentionally not efficient or effective for serious combat
- Danmaku in general can be lethal to normal humans
- Danmaku from major characters is very consistently able to break rock
Gensokyo: Genoskyo is the region Touhou takes place in, and is a small landlocked region of Japan. It is fully enclosed by the Great Hakurei Barrier (more information bellow). The clearest picture of it shows it containing a few mountains, with it also being noted Gensokyo is small enough to see almost all of it from the Hakurei shrine
- The Sages of Genoskyo (of which Yukari is a member) are the beings responsible for the creation and maintenance of Gensokyo
Boundary Manipulation
General Description: Summarized, Yukari's power allows her to manipulate the boundary between any two things.This can apply both to physical boundaries (such as between Gensokyo and the outside world), or even the boundary of concepts (such as human and youkai or night and day).- Both her profile and she herself state that she can manipulate the boundary between any and all things
- An official magazine says her power can affect anything, and that for narrative purposes she has to limit herself to the spell card rule or it wouldn't even be a game
- The manual states the danger and potency of her power is beyond imagination
- Akyuu states that her power fundamentally undermines reality. She states that it can create new existence and reject existence, is the most powerful ability held by any youkai. Additionally she states it can be applied to pictures, peoples dreams, and even stories
- Feats/Statements
- Being able to draw boundary lines along surfaces means there is nothing she can not split in two
- Her barriers can destroy large amounts of enemy danmaku and damage her foes
- Creates a large boundary around the entirety of Suika's mist form, and then suddenly makes it much smaller to force her back into her physical form.
- Suika's mist form covered all of Gensokyo
- General
- Skills
- Boundary of Intellect and Feet: Runs a straight boundary to split her foe
- Universe of Matter and Antimatter: Creates two gaps that do nothing on their own, but when they collide they create a huge distortion attack
- Spell Cards
- Border Sign "Quadruple Barrier": Creates several overlapping boundaries to produce a barrier that can strike foes
- Sign I "Quadruple Barrier": Another version of the above spell card
- Barrier "Charming Quadruple Barrier": A larger version of quadruple barrier that sucks the foe in
- Boundary "Quadruple Barrier of the Imperishable Night": Creates a larger quadruple barrier to protect herself and attack her enemy
- Border Sign "Boundary of 2D and 3D": Creates a boundary that travels along the screen edge and changes directions to follow the movements of the screen
- Barrier "Objective Barrier": Fires off four linked borders that travel along the edges of the screen
- Last Word
- [Occult] Lend Me Those Beautiful Legs!: Locks her foe in place with boundary lines and then uses a gap to split them in two before putting them back together
- Feats/Statements
- General
- Able to travel to entirely different locations by opening up gaps in space, with (according to Akyuu) it being said that this can also access pictures, dreams, and even stories
- Can open gaps in thin air
- Opens up a large gap, and is gone when it clears away
- Repositions a gap to use as a seat
- Spiriting away Kosuzu doesn't leave a single trail any other youkai can follow to locate her, not even leaving a trace of her soul behind
- Travel/Range
- Uses gaps in space as her main means of transportation, with her warping around Gensokyo, up youkai mountain, and even to and from heaven (though how direct these trips are isn't clear given how the time of day changes)
- Reimu states Yukari can travel anywhere she wants to in a flash
- Is able to freely travel past the Great Hakurei Barrier into the outside world, and pulls Rinnosuke back into Gensokyo after he's accidentally pulled into the outside world
- Off screen travels overseas and brings back a Hobgoblin, which she states are a Western creature
- Instantly sends Marisa from the Hakurei shrine to the forest of magic
- Easily travels to the netherworld (though in Gensokyo the netherworld is a location you can physically travel to
- Suddenly goes from behind Luna to in front of her
- Disappears to somewhere... literally
- Placed a gap in a doorway so that Flandre traveled from the Scarlet Devil mansion to deep underground without even realizing she had done so
- Pulls Sumireko out of the dream world (though Doremy implies this isn't something she's supposed to do normally)
- Utility
- Claims to have an undending supply of electricity, kerosene, and nitroglycerin, and fills up Rinnosuke's heater with fuel while having a conversation with him, without him even realizing she had done anything
- Covertly drops money into the shrine's donation box while having a conversation with Reimu
- Puts a hand through a gap to block a hammer and grab a gameboy
- Makes food disappear from right out from under Reimu's nose
- Summons other characters like Reimu or Chen
- Reimu implies Yukari can send just some body parts through the Great Hakurei Barrier
- Left her arm dangling through a gap while asleep, and then puts her hand through another gap to douse a candle
- Hid some of her own energy inside of a gap to revive herself after having all of her magical energy drained by Mizuchi's possession. Though she states it will soon run out and she needs to rest after. Also sticks her hands through gaps to grab cookies and wave at Reimu independently of her body
- General
- General
- Warps from one side of the screen to the other and grants Reimu the ability to do the same
- Vanishes to dodge a spell card
- Leans back into a gap while firing projectiles
- Sticks her arm into a gap to strike her foe with an umbrella from another location
- Drops into a gap and then appears in midair
- After being knocked to the ground, creates a gap below and above her to redirect back to standing up
- Opens a gap through which several pieces of wood fly out at her foe
- Spawns street signs to attack her foe
- Opens gaps through which rapid fire danmaku and lasers fire out
- Summons a monstrous arm out of her gap to grab or strike her foe
- Skills
- Rest on Stone, Rinse in Rivers: Opens up a hole that swallows up projectiles and stores them
- Rinse with Stone, Rest in Rivers: Fires off stored projectiles
- Chimera's Wings: Places a gap that she can then warp back to.
- Fantasy Maniacal Rift: Disappears into a gap and keeps moving, before coming out to strike her foe
- Flesh Dismantler: Drops down into a gap before leaping out while spinning her umbrella
- Urashima's Box, Filled With Lament: Opens a gap in the sky to drop debris on her foe
- Home is Where One Lays to Rest: Hits her foe with several pieces of wood
- [Occult] World's Most Agile Torso: Uses a gap to send her upper body forward to attack her foe while her lower body remains in place
- Spell Cards
- Evil Spirits "Yukari Yakumo's Spiriting Away": Repeatedly teleports around while firing off danmaku
- "Boundary of Humans and Youkai": Vanishes entirely and attacks the foe with danmaku patterns while not physically present
- Splitter "Thing That Splits All Into Two": Repeatedly jumps in and out of and moves through gaps while spinning her umbrella
- Fantasy Nest "Flying Noctilucae's Nest": Opens up several gaps that fire danmaku forwards, always in the direction of the foe
- Boundary "Overflowing Flotsam": Sends several pieces of wood flying at her foe
- Abandoned Line "Aimless Journey to the Abandoned Station": Opens a gap through which an abandoned train comes from, though (in gameplay at least) it takes time to open the gap
- "Unmanned Abandoned Railroad Car Bomb": Summons three train cars that fly into her foe before exploding
- The Barrier Itself
- Feats/Statements
- The Great Hakurei Barrier is a barrier of sense that surrounds all of Gensokyo, and keeps living creatures and their tools from passing through while allowing non-living things to pass through without issue. Via non-Euclidian space a person attempting to pass through the barrier will find themselves wandering endlessly, and they will find themselves back where they started upon turning around.
- Even when Reimu and Marisa traveled to the moon they never left the barrier, and they consider getting through the barrier to be harder than going to the moon
- Gensokyo is designed to be the opposite of the outside world, and things that contradict that concept cannot pass through the barrier
- Akyuu states the barrier is a barrier of common sense and keeps the outside world's common sense outside, and that it's composed of multiple smaller barriers, but that it periodically weakens every 60 years
- There is at least some difference in the seasons between Gensokyo and the outside world
- Sumireko was unable to fully penetrate the barrier from the outside
- Limits
- Feats/Statements
- Manipulation
- Yukari was one of the sages to suggest the creation of the Great Hakurei Barrier, though whether she's the actual creator is unclear. Reimu refers to her as the original creator but Yuyuko thinks the barrier is too strong for Yukari to make
- States that she has torn holes in the barrier
- Creates a powerful distortion in the barrier
- Repairs the barrier after Reimu does something to weaken it
- Whenever a human from the outside world wanders into Gensokyo, it's because of fluctuations in the barrier caused by her
- General
- Created a boundary of illusion and reality around Gensokyo, defining Gensokyo as illusionary and the outside world as real, so anything that becomes viewed as fantasy is pulled into Gensokyo, even from outside Japan. This was performed 500 years ago and still going strong.
- Yukari seems to have at least some amount of awareness of those who enter and leave Gensokyo through this method
- Living Things
- A snake wakes up in Gensokyo as soon as he transforms into a youkai, with Mamizou stating that when you turn into a youkai you wind up in Gensokyo. Said snake is potentially originally from India
- When there's a demand for Zashiki-Warashi in the outside world they start vanishing from Gensokyo, and later return when that demand fades
- New youkai created in the outside world immediately appear in Gensokyo as well, but due to not having a clear form they disappear just a quickly
- Rinnosuke notes that Gensokyo is rather multicultural, as youkai brought with them foreign cultures as they were pulled into Gensokyo
- A real life human shows up in Gensokyo after becoming a god
- Animals that become endangered or extinct (at least in Japan) are more prevalent in Gensokyo
- A completely ordinary seal winds up in Gensokyo after being forgotten while a youkai well integrated in human society could remain in the outside world
- Nonliving
- Buildings
- The Scarlet Devil Mansion is a western style mansion housing multiple powerful youkai that is assumed to have arrived in Gensokyo fairly recently, with Akyuu also noting that it seemingly wasn't designed for Japanese climates
- Another western style mansion housing the Prismriver sister also exists in Gensokyo
- Unused radio towers occasionally appear in Gensokyo
- After Miko is forgotten by the outside world, her entire mausoleum arrives in Gensokyo
- Large Scale
- Due to Kanako making it fall into fantasy the Moriya shrine and the nearby lake move to Gensokyo
- According to legend the Bamboo Forest of the Lost appeared in Gensokyo after being washed away by a tsunami
- It's thought (according to Keine) that Youkai Mountain in Gensokyo is the original mythical form Yatsugatake, before it had been torn down by a god, back when it was taller than Mt. Fuji
- Boundary of Reality and Illusion - Moon
- Erases the boundary between the real and illusionary moon, turning a reflection of the moon in the water into a portal to the moon itself that allows for instantaneous travel
- Can return to Earth by doing the same thing to a reflection of the Earth
- Leaves the portal open by shoving an umbrella into it
- The Watatsuki sisters state she can freely travel between the Earth and moon, and that she once brought a throng of youkai to the moon with her
- Implies this can only be performed when the moon is completely full, and that she was trapped on the moon when the full waned more quickly than expected
- Netherworld
- Weakened the barrier between Gensokyo and the Netherworld so Yuyuko could more easily enter Gensokyo. She is also responsible for its repair
- States that she caused the borders between Hell and the Netherworld to fade
- Both the Netherworld and Hell are massive, but it's not clear to what extent she actually merged them
- Lunar Capital
- Misc Conceptual
- States she can manipulate the boundary between Gensokyo and the outside world, the worlds of the living and the dead, human and youkai, or even day and night
- Claims she can give the immortal Mokou a near death experience by manipulating the boundary of life and death
- States she thinned the barrier between human and youkai, possibly making Reimu a youkai temporarily
- Manipulates the boundary between daylight and moonlight to cause both to happen at the same time
- Makes the moon as bright as daytime by manipulating the boundary between day and night
- Marisa speculates that Yukari manipulated the border between danmaku for play and danmaku for combat for one of her attacks
- States she can easily manipulate the boundary between spring and winter
- States she causes noctambulism (sleep walking) in humans by manipulating the boundary between asleep and awake
- Manipulates the boundary of master and slave, causing both teams using perfect possession to swap said roles
Other Abilities
Note that a number of feats here potentially involve boundary manipulation, but it's less explicitEnergy Projection
- Feats
- General
- Fires out large amounts of danmaku in various patterns
- Fires off danmaku in front of her with a swing of her fan
- Attacks with lines of energy
- Fires off several orbs trailed by lines of energy
- Creates spirals of energy around her body
- Using a bomb, unleashes a pulse of energy that knocks back her foe
- Skills
- Purple Needles of Painful Reproach: Rapid fires needles in front of her
- Bewitching Bait: Creates a bird's eye that high speed projectiles then fly through at random paths
- Spacetime Seam: Creates a pulse of energy projectiles in all directions around her, possibly by cracking space
- Spell Cards
- Standard Danmaku Pattern
- Barrier "Curse of Dreams and Reality"
- Barrier "Balance of Motion and Stillness"
- Barrier "Mesh of Light and Darkness"
- Evil Spirits "Dreamland of Straight and Curve"
- Evil Spirits "Bewitching Butterfly Living in the Zen Temple"
- Sinister Spirits "Double Black Death Butterfly"
- Barrier "Boundary of Life and Death"
- Yukari's Arcanum "Danmaku Barrier"
- Outer Force "Infinite Superspeed Flying Object"
- Border Sign "Boundary of Form and Emptiness"
- Border Sign "Boundary of Wave and Particle"
- Photon "Doppler Effect"
- Aerial Bait "Hyperactive High Speed Flying Object"
- "Yakumo's Nest"
- "Impossible Danmaku Barrier"
- "Casebook of Luck, Resilience and Perseverance"
- Combo Attack with Others
- "Perfect Possession and Dream Seal": With Reimu
- "Boundary of Spirit Medium and Divine Spirit": With Reimu
- "Secret God Barrier": With Okina
- "Shoot the Danmaku Barrier!": With Marisa
- "Unauthorized Danmaku Photography is Strictly Prohibited": With Reimu
- Paper Sign "Barrier-Enclosed Zener Card Shuriken": With Sumireko
- Misc
- Aerial Bait "Addictive Bait": Opens several locations through which high speed projectiles travel from
- Fantasy "Perpetual Motion Machine of the First Kind": Creates a perpetual motion device that automatically fires danmaku without her input
- Spirit Medium's Melancholy: Fires off danmaku that only hits one part of a perfect possession duo
- Standard Danmaku Pattern
- Last Word
- Feats/Statmenents
- Has the ability to control shikigami, which like computers will follower her commands exactly. Her primary shikigami is Ran, who herself has her own shikigami Chen
- Has shikigami possess various crows which she uses for scouting
- A crow rapidly flies over large swaths of the lunar surface in what is implied to be a short span of time. Its flight is also described as unnaturally straight, with it following the special path required to reach the Lunar Capital with computer-like accuracy
- [Limit] A crow is killed by being possessed exposed to the vacuum of space
- Has eyes all over Gensokyo... literally, with this eyes noted to be her familiars
- Skills
- "Apparotation Needle": Has Ran chase after he foes while firing off danmaku
- Eyes that View Change: Opens a gap holding an eye, which attacks the enemy when it sees a weakpoint based on specific programming
- Spell Cards
- Summoning Rand and or Chen to attack enemies
- Other
- Magic Eye "Laplace's Demon": Opens up several gaps holding eyes which attack when they see an exploitable weak point
- General
- Skills
- Bewitching Butterfly Lurking in the Zen Temple: Envelopes her umbrella in energy and spins it while slamming into her foe
- Fantasy Manji-Parasol: Gathers spiritual energy on her umbrella, then spins and fires it off as a projectile
- Full Moon Umbrella: Creates a ring of energy around herself with a swing of her umbrella
- Spell Cards
- Sees the human village despite Keine attempting to hide it by trying to make it appear that nothing had ever been there by eating its history
- Youkai can see perfectly by moonlight
- Claims to see the backside of the moon bathed with sunlight, even during a new moon
- Detects that a tree is from the outside world
- Eavesdrops on Sakuya's conversation while not physically present, and speaks to Reisen before warping to the location
- Claims to clearly see the launch of the Scarlet Devil Mansion's rocket from a ways away
- Senses Eiki's presence
- Senses the weakening of the Great Hakurei Barrier while presumably asleep
- Realizes the Shinmyoumaru in front of her isn't the normal one
- Sees the outside world beyond the Great Hakurei Barrier
- Sees the flow of energy from living things and helps Youmu to understand it
- Able to see the god that Utsuho had absorbed the power of
2023.06.06 13:39 Regular-Talk692 I am engaged in scientific activity. I describe rocks of granodiorite; Shchigrovsky massif, Voronezh anteclise, East European platform. (Stage of magmatism - Karelian)
 | Tasks: describe the mineralogy, petrography and geochemistry, identify the conditions for the formation submitted by Regular-Talk692 to u/Regular-Talk692 [link] [comments] The Shchigrovsky massif belongs to the Stoilo-Nikolaevsky intrusive complex, located in the northwestern part of the Tim-Yastrebovsky Paleoproterozoic rift structure of the VKM. The Shchigrovsky massif cuts through the rocks of the Kursk and Oskol series, in the area of contact between them. This is the only intrusion of the stall-Nikolaev complex, which has a strongly elongated shape. In the form of a narrow (2-3 km) strip, it stretches in a southeast direction for 23 km. Scheme of structural zoning of the Precambrian foundation of the VCM The area of the massif is 57 km2, the massif was studied by five boreholes - in the southern part 3041, 3046, in the central and northern parts 4080, 4090, 4093. The dip angles of the contacts are steep and amount to 75-80°. Contact changes in host rocks are manifested in skarning and marbling of carbonate rocks, hornification of terrigenous and effusive rocks. Skarning is especially characteristic of northeastern contacts. The skarns are dominated by garnet, pyroxene-garnet varieties. Schematic geological map of the Tim-Yastrebovskaya structure Granodiorites studied in boreholes 3041, 3046 are pinkish-gray and light gray in color, medium-grained, sometimes porphyritic. The texture of granodiorites is massive, the structure is hypidiomorphic-granular, porphyritic, due to the presence of large microcline grains up to 1.5 cm across. The rocks are composed of plagioclase, microcline, quartz, biotite, and hornblende up to 5%. Accessory minerals are represented by apatite, sphene, ilmenite, magnetite, sulfides, zircon, secondary minerals are epidote, carbonate, chlorite. Chlorite develops after biotite and hornblende, sericite after feldspars. Myrmectite intergrowths of microcline and plagioclase are noted https://preview.redd.it/yqsdpxsesd4b1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=064644fc107fd72a06728d3b0ee763127b9179a4 In granodiorites, plagioclase is present in an amount of 45 to 55 wt. % and is represented by euhedral and tabular grains 0.5–3.0 mm in size. In composition, it corresponds to oliogoclase and has a pronounced zoning from Ab 76-78 in the central parts to Ab 84-87 in the marginal ones. Biotite is present in the form of laths 0.1–0.8 mm in size in an amount of 10–15 wt. %. Biotite laths are pleochroic from dark brown-green to pinkish-brown and may contain inclusions of apatite, titanite, and epidote. By composition, biotite is medium-magnesian (XMg=0.518-0.572), aluminous (Al2O3 = 14.32-15.68 wt. %) with TiO2 contents = 1.38-2.73 wt. %. Microcline in the amount of 10-15 wt. % occurs both in the form of small lattice grains in the groundmass and in the form of large porphyry segregations (from 2–5 mm to 1 cm). Large grains of the microcline contain inclusions of biotite, plagioclase, and quartz. In terms of composition, it is almost pure potassium feldspar with an insignificant admixture of albite (<15%) component. Quartz forms xenomorphic, less often isometric grains (0.2-2.0 mm in size) and is present in the rock in an amount of up to 15 wt. %. https://preview.redd.it/bhw113qpvd4b1.jpg?width=655&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58f48b40d1d9d335b45f891473f08116cdd4f5ce https://preview.redd.it/3zmcjo2pvd4b1.jpg?width=596&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=54f94e7ba4f45528e0829d44b8714591302366ae https://preview.redd.it/je4qiplovd4b1.jpg?width=612&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=030324d5b8605a01573db2b5648f69a2b3074ca0 https://preview.redd.it/8dp7jfvnvd4b1.jpg?width=758&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b09b4aa2023a229aff891f360489f0907d69fa7c https://preview.redd.it/9qdo299mvd4b1.jpg?width=710&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f62e2ce5e082320ff10607b826b2d857e3f608ee https://preview.redd.it/87wxavjlvd4b1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=18386f7c7152925fcbf721234de0039b83a93d2f https://preview.redd.it/ih0d1p4lvd4b1.jpg?width=299&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=59ad65dc5fd8a270d0831b925245abd629587fc8 https://preview.redd.it/p4psr0pkvd4b1.jpg?width=682&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d83484ab15692acd5ea0ae1b25dd4a40e835b500 https://preview.redd.it/ahfh0r6kvd4b1.jpg?width=748&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=14e3cac39c55a139b82636cb755ced9350578b6b https://preview.redd.it/2vdj3fkjvd4b1.jpg?width=614&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=832551aa59dee8e91cec4aa597243871dfe81cdb https://preview.redd.it/pc6n2s1jvd4b1.jpg?width=561&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad2dc3faa23a6f623c1bb3ece5e12d5c61dc38e6 The most common accessory mineral is titanite, which forms rather large - up to 0.5 mm in size, dark brown, brown diamond-shaped grains. Granodiorites of the Shchigrovsky massif contain 64.4-69.7 wt. % SiO2 and have high values of the amount of alkalis (K2O + Na2O = 5.2-7.9, cf. 7.1 wt.%), but mainly with a predominance of sodium over potassium (K2O/Na2O = 0.72-1, 47, cf. 0.88). The values (A/CNK ≈ 1) in granodiorites are at the boundary of fields of meta- and peraluminous rocks. They have a wide range of iron content c (XFe = 0.43–0.70), elevated contents of femic oxides (MgO+Fe2O3 >5 wt %), titanium (TiO2 = 0.44–0.60 wt %) and calcium (CaO = 2.9-3.8 wt %). On the classification diagrams, the granitodiorites of the Shchigrovsky massif fall into the fields of ferruginous and magnesian rocks of the calc-alkaline series. In the diagram, the compositions of the rocks of the Shchigrovsky massif fall on the boundary between the fields of granodiorites and quartz monzonites geochemistry The composition of granodiorites of the Shchigrovsky massif on the Na2O+K2O - SiO2 classification diagram In the distribution of rare elements, low contents of Cr (6-18 ppm) and Ni (8-19 ppm), high lithophilic Sr (592-691 ppm), Ba (1300 ppm), and moderate and low highly charged Zr (150-224 ppm ), Nb (7-11 ppm), Y (7-11 ppm) with high SY = 54-96. Granodiorites are characterized by low concentrations of rare earth elements (ΣREE = 189-244 ppm) with a sharp enrichment in LREE [(La/Yb) n = 40–61] and their strong fractionation [(La/Sm)n = 5.1–6.4] . HREE are also fractionated, although less than LREE [(Gd/Yb) n = 3.8-4.6]. Eu anomaly is absent. Distribution of rare earth elements Normalized to chondrite /Distribution of small and rare elements Normalized to primitive mantle Thus, the granodiorites of the Shchigrovsky massif are distinguished by the predominance of sodium in the total amount of alkalis, the depletion of Y, and, accordingly, the higher values of the SY ratio, as well as the stronger REE fractionation. |
2023.06.05 22:19 Schism213 [For Sale] $20 MOVING SALE plus some heavy metal box sets!
All are for sale and shipping from Buffalo, NY. I plan to ship this Wednesday 6/7. Plenty of record mailers on hand. Add $5 flat shipping fee for USPS Media Mail. Buy 3+ and it ships for FREE. Some titles could be pending with another member but will be marked SOLD once PayPal is received. Please leave a comment here first so I know to answer your chats/PM's. Enjoy!
$20 records Everything listed is solid VG+ unless noted.
A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step 2019 US Virgin SOLD
Behemoth - Opvs Contra Natvram 2022 Europe Nuclear Blast
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell 2021 US Rhino SOLD
Black Sabbath - Mob Rules 2021 US Rhino SOLD
Bobby Krlic - Midsommar OST 2022 Green Zavvi Exclusive
Burzum - Det Som Engang Var 2008 Back on Black. (water damage on back of jacket)
Burzum - Filosofem 2008 Back on Black
Carcass - Surgical Steel 2021 Blue SOLD
Darkthrone - A Blaze In The Northern Sky 2009 Peaceville SOLD
Darkthrone - Old Star 2019 Peaceville
Darkthrone - Eternal Hails 2021 Peaceville
Darkthrone - Astral Fortress 2023 Peaceville
Deftones - Ohms 2020 US Gold Indie
Enslaved - Hordanes Land 2023 RSD
Gojira - Fortitude 2021 US Blue & Gold Swirl SOLD
Lamb of God - Live in Richmond 2021 US
Lamb of God - S/T 2020 US
Mad Season - Above 2013 US Hockeytalkter SOLD
Mark Korven - The Witch OST 2020 US Sony
Outkast - Stankonia US LaFace
Pantera - Live at Dynamo Open Air 2018 SOLD
Rob Zombie - Hillbilly Deluxe 2018 US Geffen SOLD
Satyricon - Nemesis Divina 2016
Spice Girls - Spice 2019 Europe Virgin White
The Sword - Apocryphon 2022 US 10th Craft SOLD
Various - Almost Famous OST 2021 US Geffen
Box sets for sale:
Type O Negative - None More Negative 2019. *** October Rust comes with LP2 (x2). There is no LP1 for that one (i.e. there is no Love You To Death).*** Strong VG box, sleeves, and media. There are some noise a some pops throughout. These records have never been wet cleaned so that could help. Priced as is: $210 shipped.
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas 25th Anniversary box set. Strong VG+ with just a very minor corner bump on one side. I've been able to go through and check out the contents. The main LP sounds fantastic. Other records never played. NO seam splits anywhere, Book in mint condition. Great looking set overall: $225 shipped.
Rogue One Expanded Soundtrack 2022 MONDO. A bit noisy in the way Mondo can be noisy. VG+ with OBI included. $60 shipped.
submitted by Schism213 to VinylCollectors [link] [comments]
$20 records Everything listed is solid VG+ unless noted.
Behemoth - Opvs Contra Natvram 2022 Europe Nuclear Blast
Bobby Krlic - Midsommar OST 2022 Green Zavvi Exclusive
Burzum - Det Som Engang Var 2008 Back on Black. (water damage on back of jacket)
Burzum - Filosofem 2008 Back on Black
Darkthrone - Old Star 2019 Peaceville
Darkthrone - Eternal Hails 2021 Peaceville
Darkthrone - Astral Fortress 2023 Peaceville
Deftones - Ohms 2020 US Gold Indie
Enslaved - Hordanes Land 2023 RSD
Lamb of God - Live in Richmond 2021 US
Lamb of God - S/T 2020 US
Mark Korven - The Witch OST 2020 US Sony
Outkast - Stankonia US LaFace
Satyricon - Nemesis Divina 2016
Spice Girls - Spice 2019 Europe Virgin White
Various - Almost Famous OST 2021 US Geffen
Box sets for sale:
Type O Negative - None More Negative 2019. *** October Rust comes with LP2 (x2). There is no LP1 for that one (i.e. there is no Love You To Death).*** Strong VG box, sleeves, and media. There are some noise a some pops throughout. These records have never been wet cleaned so that could help. Priced as is: $210 shipped.
Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas 25th Anniversary box set. Strong VG+ with just a very minor corner bump on one side. I've been able to go through and check out the contents. The main LP sounds fantastic. Other records never played. NO seam splits anywhere, Book in mint condition. Great looking set overall: $225 shipped.
Rogue One Expanded Soundtrack 2022 MONDO. A bit noisy in the way Mondo can be noisy. VG+ with OBI included. $60 shipped.
2023.06.05 19:32 OzzyLFlacoman OzzyLFlacoman #5: Hannibal (2001)
Watched June 4 2023 on Max - Started May 15 2023
Synopsis/Review
Ten years after the events of The Silence Of The Lambs, a surviving victim of Hannibal Lecter seeks revenge and uses Clarice Starling as bait.
Have you ever seen a sequel where you feel like the director didn’t really understand what made the first one amazing, and just tries to make a movie that, while certainly tied to the original, has their fingerprints all over it at the expense of making a good movie?
I rewatched The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) as a refresher so I could really dive into this one, but all it ended up doing was magnifying the flaws in the sequel. Sure, Ridley Scott has had a few fumbles here and there, but you’d figure the man responsible for Alien (1979) would be able to understand how to build tension, and how less is definitely more in a story like the one he’s trying to tell. The tension in Silence Of The Lambs never really eases up and it all comes to a beautiful climax during the hotel scene and into the iconic elevatoambulance sequence. By the time you get to Clarice Starling’s face off with Buffalo Bill, you’re out of breath and wondering where else the story could possibly go. Hannibal unfortunately squanders the tension it does manage to build up on weird cinematography choices and cheap musical stabs to tell you when you’re supposed to be scared.
Because of all of that, it feels like the cast is kind of just working with what they’ve got. Anthony Hopkins is still as sinister as ever as the titular Hannibal Lecter, and I think the choice to have him show up half an hour into the movie (twice as long as Silence) could have worked had the scenes of Julianne Moore’s Agent Clarice Starling reviewing her old case files not been so ham fisted about trying to get you to fear Hannibal. While it was pretty disappointing that Jodie Foster didn’t want to return to the role, (she apparently disliked the level of violence in a story about a disfigured victim of a cannibal serial killer seeking revenge), Julianne Moore was an excellent recasting choice. She does really well in portraying a more mature, hardened Agent Starling.
Ray Liotta did well as secondary antagonist Paul Krendler, a crooked government official under the thumb of Mason Verger, a wealthy, well connected man and all around garbage human being who was left paralyzed and disfigured after an encounter with Lecter himself. An originally uncredited Gary Oldman disappears into this role as only he can.
The only actor who I didn’t really feel was very invested in their role was Giancarlo Giannini, who plays Rinaldo Pazzi, a crooked police inspector trying to claim a cash reward on Lecter. It almost feels like he was filming a different movie than the rest of the cast, and never quite fit in until his character reached the end of his story arc.
Between awkward choices with camera effects, bad attempts at recreating Jonathan Demme’s striking style of framing and shots, and tension that never quite gets a good amount of payoff, this movie seemed to drag on forever despite only being 13 minutes longer than the first. The chemistry between Moore and Hopkins could have been it’s saving grace but it was never built up to properly, and it was transitioned to so awkwardly, I double checked to see that I hadn’t accidentally fast-forwarded the movie. It never really feels like a proper follow up to Lambs until the last 45 minutes or so, but even this impactful climax is undermined by bad attempts to copy Demme’s style and awkward choices in effects and transitions, especially in Moore’s final scene.
This is probably the most disappointed I’ve been with a sequel in quite a while. While the cast was great, and the plot was solid, too much of this movie just felt like a bad Silence knockoff, which especially sucks when you consider the director and the star studded cast involved with the movie. If you need more Lecter in your life, I’d recommend Red Dragon (2002) before Hannibal any day.
2/5
submitted by OzzyLFlacoman to 100movies365days [link] [comments]
Synopsis/Review
Ten years after the events of The Silence Of The Lambs, a surviving victim of Hannibal Lecter seeks revenge and uses Clarice Starling as bait.
Have you ever seen a sequel where you feel like the director didn’t really understand what made the first one amazing, and just tries to make a movie that, while certainly tied to the original, has their fingerprints all over it at the expense of making a good movie?
I rewatched The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) as a refresher so I could really dive into this one, but all it ended up doing was magnifying the flaws in the sequel. Sure, Ridley Scott has had a few fumbles here and there, but you’d figure the man responsible for Alien (1979) would be able to understand how to build tension, and how less is definitely more in a story like the one he’s trying to tell. The tension in Silence Of The Lambs never really eases up and it all comes to a beautiful climax during the hotel scene and into the iconic elevatoambulance sequence. By the time you get to Clarice Starling’s face off with Buffalo Bill, you’re out of breath and wondering where else the story could possibly go. Hannibal unfortunately squanders the tension it does manage to build up on weird cinematography choices and cheap musical stabs to tell you when you’re supposed to be scared.
Because of all of that, it feels like the cast is kind of just working with what they’ve got. Anthony Hopkins is still as sinister as ever as the titular Hannibal Lecter, and I think the choice to have him show up half an hour into the movie (twice as long as Silence) could have worked had the scenes of Julianne Moore’s Agent Clarice Starling reviewing her old case files not been so ham fisted about trying to get you to fear Hannibal. While it was pretty disappointing that Jodie Foster didn’t want to return to the role, (she apparently disliked the level of violence in a story about a disfigured victim of a cannibal serial killer seeking revenge), Julianne Moore was an excellent recasting choice. She does really well in portraying a more mature, hardened Agent Starling.
Ray Liotta did well as secondary antagonist Paul Krendler, a crooked government official under the thumb of Mason Verger, a wealthy, well connected man and all around garbage human being who was left paralyzed and disfigured after an encounter with Lecter himself. An originally uncredited Gary Oldman disappears into this role as only he can.
The only actor who I didn’t really feel was very invested in their role was Giancarlo Giannini, who plays Rinaldo Pazzi, a crooked police inspector trying to claim a cash reward on Lecter. It almost feels like he was filming a different movie than the rest of the cast, and never quite fit in until his character reached the end of his story arc.
Between awkward choices with camera effects, bad attempts at recreating Jonathan Demme’s striking style of framing and shots, and tension that never quite gets a good amount of payoff, this movie seemed to drag on forever despite only being 13 minutes longer than the first. The chemistry between Moore and Hopkins could have been it’s saving grace but it was never built up to properly, and it was transitioned to so awkwardly, I double checked to see that I hadn’t accidentally fast-forwarded the movie. It never really feels like a proper follow up to Lambs until the last 45 minutes or so, but even this impactful climax is undermined by bad attempts to copy Demme’s style and awkward choices in effects and transitions, especially in Moore’s final scene.
This is probably the most disappointed I’ve been with a sequel in quite a while. While the cast was great, and the plot was solid, too much of this movie just felt like a bad Silence knockoff, which especially sucks when you consider the director and the star studded cast involved with the movie. If you need more Lecter in your life, I’d recommend Red Dragon (2002) before Hannibal any day.
2/5
2023.06.05 18:35 zaworldo Steamboat half marathon - my first half, and managed to avoid catoestrophy
Race Information
- Name: Steamboat Half Marathon
- Date: 6/4/2023
- Distance: 13.1 miles
- Location: Steamboat Springs, CO
- Time: 1:42:55
Goals
| Goal | Description | Completed? |
|---|---|---|
| A | Sub 1:40 | No |
| B | Sub 1:45 | Yes |
| C | No catastrophic toe failure | Yes |
Splits
| Mile | Time |
|---|---|
| 1 | 8:01 |
| 2 | 7:54 |
| 3 | 7:47 |
| 4 | 7:40 |
| 5 | 7:51 |
| 6 | 7:47 |
| 7 | 7:43 |
| 8 | 8:06 |
| 9 | 8:21 |
| 10 | 8:00 |
| 11 | 7:09 |
| 12 | 7:44 |
| 13 | 7:50 |
| 14 | 7:41 (not accurate, didn't stop watch for a bit) |
Training
Sorry this ended up being a lot longer than I thought it’d be, but it feels good to get all these things down on paper for me.I started van lifing about a year ago, hitting the whole west coast and a lot of other south western states. I was never a runner, but I’ve lifted and rock climbed for years. Last July, I thought it’d be fun to sign up for a Spartan 5k obstacle race, since I’m pretty comfortable with the type of upper body movements, I just figured I needed to get some running experience under me. I didn’t take it super seriously, but by race time in the end of September, I could (barely) run a 5k. At some point during the race I tore a ligament in my shoulder, so that put lifting and climbing on hold for a while. After a few weeks of feeling restless I decided it would be a good time to start actually learning to run, so in November I started training more seriously, not with any program, but I would consistently run 2-3x a week. It synergized well with van lifing because it got me out on all sorts of cool trails that I wouldn’t have been able to hike before, and I discovered I actually really liked trail running, at least more than just normal street running.
In January I ran my first 10k in San Bernardino, CA, and the rush I got from the spectators and general energy of the event was electrifying, even though it was a pretty small event. That night, I looked on this subreddit for people’s favorite half marathons, even though in terms of distance and stamina I was nowhere near able to complete one at the time. An answer that kept coming up was the Steamboat half marathon, which was perfect because it was 5 months away, giving me plenty of time to bump up my mileage to the next level, and better yet, it’s where my dad lives, that I had been planning on going and seeing anyway since I’ve been away from home for a year. So I signed up, and got my ass in high gear, really taking training more seriously than I ever had, by reading up and following Hal Higdon’s HM Intermediate 2. To be honest, even then I was pretty loose with the program, because some of the hiking trails that I came across on my journeys were shorter than the run I was supposed to do that day, some were longer, and a lot were really hilly so I just kind of ran by instinct and feeling. Also, about 3 months before the race, while I was in northern Arizona/Utah, I got into mountain biking, and started really loving doing that, so instead of running 5-6x a week like I was supposed to, it was more like I was running 2-3x a week and biking 3-4x a week.
So in the month leading up to the race, I got back to Colorado to visit other family and friends, and I started doing a lot of research into Z2 training, which I’d heard of before but misunderstood the benefits as only helping prevent injuries. I ordered a chest strap HRM and my last ~3 long runs and all the short runs in between were at zone 2, which was painfully hard to stay in the first couple times. I went from doing my long runs at 8:30-9 min/mile paces to 12+ min/mile paces, and it was killing me from boredom and taking kind of forever. It didn’t help that at this point because I was back in cities visiting fam, I was doing road running and running on treadmills, both of which are terribly boring for me. But anyway I made it through, and I’m really curious how much that positively impacted my final results in the race yesterday.
The last few days leading up to the race were a bit chaotic, since my sister decided to visit my dad in Steamboat at the same time as me, which is a rare occurrence, so I was beholden to a lot of activities I might have declined otherwise. Including a 6 mile round trip hike to some hot springs the day before the race, where at the end right as we were leaving the hot springs I accidentally smashed my fucking middle toe right onto a rock, immediately causing it to bleed, bruise, and swell up. I wrapped it in some paper towels and managed to hike back down the mountain without major slowdowns, but at the back of my mind the entire time I was real scared that it was going to affect my time, or potentially keep me from racing at all. After the hike, we did a bike ride to a local river festival in Steamboat, which was about 2 miles of easyish riding. But combined with the sort of steep hike earlier, and tennis that I played with my dad the day before, my legs were really not feeling as rested as I wanted them to be. Luckily the night before the race I managed to get 7.5 hours of sleep, which was surprising since usually I’m too nervous to sleep the night before things like this.
Race
The Steamboat half starts on a local hill called Moon Hill at 6,990’ elevation, and ends in downtown Steamboat at 6,728’. So a net downhill, with some solid hills, the worst of them being around mile 9. The course takes you past some beautiful pastures, with a nice running river next to you in portions and great mountain views throughout. The area was especially green this year from all the rain.The day of the race I had a solid bowl of oatmeal with protein powder, peanut butter, and an apple. Overnight, my toe had swollen up even more and it really hurt to walk around the house barefoot, so I was getting even more worried, but as soon as I put my shoes on the pain went away, I’m not sure if it’s the padding or what but I was super relieved. I managed to go to the bathroom at my dad’s once, and then again in a porta potty at the top of the hill, which I got to via a really long (~35-40 mins) shuttle ride.
The weather was great, about 42 degrees at the start of the race, and only got slightly warmer for the rest of it. There were lots of bends and curves throughout the course so I did my best to keep good racing lines. My plan was to do negative splits for the race, so the first several miles were pretty easy, and I followed my plan of eating one caffeine gummy every 2 miles. Halfway through the race I realized I wouldn’t make my stretch goal time of 1:40, but I was right on pace to make my real goal time of 1:45. I kept trying to speed up, but every time I did it felt like I was going to burn myself out by increasing the speed too much. At mile 9, the uphill portion really got to me and was giving me a major side stitch and my calves started cramping up, which slowed me down significantly, but immediately after that hill was the longest, steepest downhill portion of the whole race, which let me catch back up to where I was and mostly calmed my heart and lungs down. The calves cramping never really went away. The last couple miles were pretty rough as we turned into the town, the smell from cars driving around got to me and was making me feel a bit sick. In the last quarter mile with the goal in sight I realized I had more in the tank, so I had what felt like an all-out sprint for that last little bit of the race, and immediately collapsed onto the floor after crossing the finish line. A nice volunteer got me a cup of water since I was too gassed to stand for a few minutes.
Post-race
Post race I got my free beer and burrito, but those were way too heavy on my stomach immediately after running, so I passed the beer on to my dad and saved the burrito for later, but I did get an amazing donut which made everything I’d done that day feel worth it. My legs are still real damn sore 24 hours later.Final thoughts: Everything I’d read leading up to the race implied that my quads would get super tired on a downhill race like this, but I didn’t feel that at all, and I’m wondering if it was because of all the mountain biking I did. I really wonder what my time would’ve been had I not hiked and biked the day before, and had a rather strenuous ‘taper’ week. Either way, I’m real stoked about my time for my first half marathon, and I’m gonna start looking up locations for the next one. I’m thinking California redwoods area.
Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.
2023.06.05 16:23 Unlikely_Lynx1246 Is Egg Good for High Blood Pressure?
Is Egg Good for High Blood Pressure?
There have been ongoing debates surrounding the effects of egg consumption on high Blood Pressure levels. We intend to enlighten our readers about this topic by examining the correlation between these two elements.
submitted by Unlikely_Lynx1246 to HighFunctioningBP [link] [comments]
There have been ongoing debates surrounding the effects of egg consumption on high Blood Pressure levels. We intend to enlighten our readers about this topic by examining the correlation between these two elements.
- Nutrient Profile: Eggs are nutrient-packed foods containing high-quality proteins that are rich in vitamins and minerals alongside beneficial compounds like choline and antioxidants.
- Cholesterol Concern: There was once concern about excessive cholesterol intake from consuming too many eggs which it was previously thought could contribute negatively to high Blood Pressure levels; However recent studies suggest otherwise for most individuals due to minimal impacts observed under laboratory conditions despite egg consumption.
- Saturated Fat: Although containing saturated fats lIke other food sources, studies show different effects varying from one source to another, with eggs having relatively smaller negative effects than found in processed meats.
- Overall Diet Context: Overall eating habits and dietary patterns are essential factors to consider when assessing egg consumption effects on high blood pressure levels. A healthy heart-friendly diet that encompasses various vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins can accommodate eggs as well.
- Individual Factors: It is worth noting that individual circumstances like genetics, lifestyle choices or health status can affect how dietary components like eggs interact with the body to impact Blood Pressure levels differently in people.
Benefits of Eggs for High Blood Pressure
Often misunderstood as being detrimental to healthy blood pressure levels demand; there's more to eggs once you get past the confusion:- Protein Powerhouse: They're packed with superior-quality protein which minimizes snack cravings aiding in weight regulation while also keeping BP under check. Next up vital sodium-rich nutrients like potassium-infused magnesium and vitamin D promote healthy BP upkeep too.
- How to Add Eggs to Your Diet
- Healthy meals mingled with great flavors are essential components of a fulfilling life. Include nutritious eggs into your diet regimen using the following creative ideas:
- Kick Start Your Morning With Eggs: A classic omelet blended with your preferred veggies along with cheese or boiled/poached eggs complemented by avocado on whole-grain toast makes for a nutritious breakfast setting you up for the day!
- Nutrient Density: They also have an impressive amount of choline. This nutrient significantly contributes towards maintaining cardiovascular health meaning it can impact BP levels positively as well.
- Low Sodium: Moreover, by opting for incorporating egg consumption into your diet plan instead of settling for processed food alternatives known for having elevated sodium levels linked with worsening highs - you'd be making a wise choice indeed!
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Lastly, although present minuscule amounts - several kinds such as omega-3 enriched type have heart-friendly omega-3 fatty acids contributing crucially towards attaining optimal BP levels.
2023.06.05 15:35 Several-Channel-199 What is it like living in Toronto?
I’m originally from NYC (Brooklyn specifically) and I live in Florida right now. Might try out a different part of Florida before I make a big jump like Toronto but I just want a city where there’s a lot to do. I have a lot of bad feelings towards New York so I wouldn’t move back there but is Toronto similar to it? I’ve been there a few times cause I have so much family upstate New York as well in Buffalo so whenever I made trips out there I’d visit Canada and it gave me the vibe of New York City but I don’t know how day to day life truly is there. When I was moving to Florida I asked a Florida reddit the same thing and they told me to stay in NY cause they didn’t want any more northerners 😂. So please give me some real advice here or don’t respond at all please! (PS: I do love New Yorks vibe so if there was a city similar I’d give it a try)
submitted by Several-Channel-199 to askTO [link] [comments]
2023.06.05 15:30 ---Tsing__Tao--- Race the Lake Marathon, My First Marathon (with a broken toe)
Race Information
- Name: Race the Lake Marathon
- Date: June 3, 2023
- Distance: 26.2 miles
- Location: Cooperstown, NY
- Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/9196070733
- Time: 5:20
Goals
| Goal | Description | Completed? |
|---|---|---|
| A | Sub 5 | No |
Splits
| Mile | Time |
|---|---|
| 1 | 10:55 |
| 2 | 10:52 |
| 3 | 10:43 |
| 4 | 10:45 |
| 5 | 10:58 |
| 6 | 10:46 |
| 7 | 10:50 |
| 8 | 11:14 |
| 9 | 10:50 |
| 10 | 10:39 |
| 11 | 11:22 |
| 12 | 11:04 |
| 13 | 10:58 |
| 14 | 11:30 |
| 15 | 12:05 |
| 16 | 10:42 |
| 17 | 12:06 |
| 18 | 12:23 |
| 19 | 4:30 |
| 20 | 11:46 |
| 21 | 11:12 |
| 22 | 11:40 |
| 23 | 12:51 |
| 24 | 12:38 |
| 25 | 11:04 |
| 26 | 12:34 |
Training
I am not a runner, I started running in barefoot shoes 8 months prior to this race while sprinkling in a few barefoot runs as well. This was something I didn’t ever in my life think I could do.Training was difficult for this, I have 3 young children who are very active with sports so finding the time to train was tricky. I was either running at 4am before the kids woke up, or running at night after the kids went to sleep. With all of my regular training, I refuse to allow my training to take time away from my children, so I treated this with no difference.
The course had a lot of elevation, 1500 feet to be exact so I knew I had to train hills. Luckily, I live in the countryside, so everywhere was hills. I incorporated them into every aspect of my runs which helped a lot. Training went well overall, I was building mileage appropriately, recovering nicely, everything was on point until I broke my little toe at Taekwondo practice. I couldn’t put shoes on for 5 days it was so badly swollen. The toe broke 5 weeks before race day. Terrible timing as that was when I was really ramping up my mileage. I decided to cut out the long runs and focus on hammering the hills. Every run hurt, but it was manageable. Sadly, I knew this left me as being under trained for the race, I knew it was going to hurt. But I had made a commitment to myself, my kids and I was raising money for the Taekwondo school, so I couldn’t let them down. The good thing was I was prepared for the hills. The bad thing, my longest ever run was a HM, and the longest run on this training block was 12 miles.
Pre-race
I was nervous, I knew I had under trained, my toe hurt but the show had to go on. 2 days prior to the race I started loading up on carbs, and eating as healthy as I could. I was stretching, doing breathing exercises and really trying to mentally prepare for what was to come. I am new to running, but not new to doing fairly extreme fitness stuff. I’ve done 1300 burpees in 2 hours, I train in Kettlebell Sport, so the mental side of this wasn’t going to be an issue. Ive smashed through pain barriers and walls hundreds of times. It was the physical side I was worried about because I knew I wasn’t prepared as well as I could have been.I slept like a baby the night before, woke up early, ate some oatmeal, drank an electrolyte drink and drove to the race. I did a little stretching, chatted to the folks running, made some jokes and tried to keep calm and relaxed, even though inside I was very nervous!
Race
Miles 1 through 13.1 went off beautifully, I kept a great pace, not too fast, nice and smooth all while watching the beautiful views of the lake. I was focused in on myself and not those around me. I actually made my 2nd fastest HM time! Everything was going great, but doubts started to creep into my mind. At this point I was in unchartered territory as far as distance goes. Id never been past this point, my mind was telling me things I didn’t want to hear, but ultimately I felt OK.Miles 13.1 through 18 continued to go quite smoothly, I was maintaining a good pace, hitting the hills hard and recovering on the downhills as I did in my training. I was stopping for 30 seconds at every aid station, stretching, hydrating etc and then continuing on nicely. The difficulty was ramping up though, the sun was right into my face and the wind followed. It felt like I was pushing against a wall in some places, especially on the uphills. At this point I decided to start taking the race by chinks. 0.25 mile chunks at a time, get through that, then move onto the next 0.25 miles. This helped me immensely.
Miles 18 through 23 I did not hit the famous wall! It got hard, but mentally I was absolutely fine, continuing to break the race into 0.25 mile chunks. Physically was becoming more of a struggle, my toe was hurting really bad. One difficult thing about this race was we ran with traffic (the right hand side of the road) so every step was essentially on my little toe. It was between this mileage where the pain was excruciating.
Miles 23 through 25 I was in the middle of the countryside, I hadn’t seen anyone for some time. I knew there was quite a few people behind me, but I didn’t see them. I hit a breaking point in my mind and I wanted to quit. The next 3 miles seemed impossible. I tried to focus myself, so I started to think about my grandmother and grandfather. They were the only people in my life who believed in me. They always told me when I was growing up that I can do anything I put my mind too. These thoughts caused me to cry a little bit, so I decided that I would crawl across that line if I had to. Mile 24 the cramps started, full body cramps, uncontrollable (Was this a wall?) so I decided to just yell at the cramps and push through, every step hurt but my mind was strong. That’s all I needed to continue.
The last mile. The cramps did not let up, but I was close to the finish line I knew I had done it, I knew I had finished something I didn’t ever believe I could do, with a broken toe as well! I was 0.4 miles from the finish line and I was struggling bad. A very kind man with a bike who was sweeping up and down the race to make sure people were OK rode alongside me and said im so close to finishing, finish strong! He then offered to run the last part with me. He got off his bike, told me to set the pace and we finished together. I will be forever grateful to him for that support, because I really needed it.
Post-race
I got my medal, got my photograph, sat down for a minute and drank some water, got up and drove an hour to pick my kids up from their grandparents’ house. Drove another hour home, took my dogs for a walk, and collapsed on the sofa exhausted haha. My boys got my massage gun out and started using it on my feet, they wanted to do everything for me (They are only 5 and 7) so that was super sweet! For dinner I ate a triple burger with extra bacon from the local restaurant, best tasting burger EVER!!. It took a long time for my heart rate to normalize but once it did I went to sleep and slept well. The next morning the left side of my body hurt like hell, im guessing I overcompensated my left side while running to subconsciously protect my broken toe? Either way I was very stiff and sore, but nothing serious. Just aches and pains from putting my body through. Toe hurts a lot and I will now let it heal completely before resuming anymore running. But I feel good!Made with a new race report generator created by herumph.
2023.06.05 10:06 MurderofCrowzy What are the common pitfalls when buying a used police Charger?
So, something that's always bummed me out living in Buffalo, NY is that the Charger didn't come in a V8 AWD configuration. Well, not unless it was a police charger.
I've been looking at a 2019 police charger and it's a lot cheaper ($10k less than my next choice) and that's of course due to the high mileage, idle hours, and probably being run like shit and not-so-greatly maintained.
I guess my question is two parts: What should I expect to be wrong with a car like this, and is it anything that can't be rectified with a couple thousand dollars? I'm okay with putting some money into this vehicle to make it "healthy" again so to speak, but if it's not going to stay considerably cheaper with purchase price + repair compared to another vehicle, well I'd rather just spend the extra money on a different car.
submitted by MurderofCrowzy to whatcarshouldIbuy [link] [comments]
I've been looking at a 2019 police charger and it's a lot cheaper ($10k less than my next choice) and that's of course due to the high mileage, idle hours, and probably being run like shit and not-so-greatly maintained.
I guess my question is two parts: What should I expect to be wrong with a car like this, and is it anything that can't be rectified with a couple thousand dollars? I'm okay with putting some money into this vehicle to make it "healthy" again so to speak, but if it's not going to stay considerably cheaper with purchase price + repair compared to another vehicle, well I'd rather just spend the extra money on a different car.
2023.06.05 09:22 Significant-Notice- Pristina notes
Imagine a third-tier Ottoman city, accidentally elevated to the status of a national capital, and you have Pristina. Furthermore, that is a pretty good thing! The town is charming, walkable, and has first-rate street and cafe life. There is one good monastery nearby and some quality Brutalist architecture. My favorite site was the National Library of Kosovo:
Here are additional views of the building, is it fair to call it one of the greatest Communist achievements of Yugoslavia? 1982.
Government debt is only about five percent of gdp. I am not sure how accurate is the data, but growth rates are not so bad. The country has about 5k per capita gdp, but about 15k PPP-adjusted, that is a large gap and maybe the truth lies somewhere in between.
Might this be the cheapest country in all of Europe? I had one good meal in a nice restaurant with nice decor for only five euros.
Tiffany served the tastiest and also most representative meal, there is no menu and they simply bring you what they have. The food is in general excellent, though not varied. Be ready for meats, sausage, cheese, tomato, kebab, green and red peppers, and bread. There is pasta too, but few other foreign offerings. I didn’t see any Asian food whatsoever, or any international fast food chains, or any Starbucks.
Throughout the town you find scattered statues, such as the obligatory Mother Teresa, and the others of very masculine heroes, often labeled explicitly as “heroes.” The quotient for sexual dimorphism is reasonably high.
It is quite safe, so more people should visit. In three days I saw zero tourists. It is not a “thrills destination,” but where else can you ponder all the historical reasons why, for so long, a “Greater Albania” has proven impossible?
Cheat sheet of neighboring countries:
Serbia: Feels imperial, “seen better days,” no longer a transport hub, looks toward Moscow.
North Macedonia: Stands a bit apart, closer to Bulgarian culture, less recent historical trauma, more right-wing and pro-U.S., keen to integrate with the West.
Albania: Tenacious, spent decades lost in the wilderness, never been able to “play its hand” on that Greater Albania thing, did it ever recover from the fall of Venetian Albania?
Few parts of the world are more interesting, or unsettling. All of these are great countries to visit.
The post Pristina notes appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
submitted by Significant-Notice- to marginal [link] [comments]
Here are additional views of the building, is it fair to call it one of the greatest Communist achievements of Yugoslavia? 1982.
Government debt is only about five percent of gdp. I am not sure how accurate is the data, but growth rates are not so bad. The country has about 5k per capita gdp, but about 15k PPP-adjusted, that is a large gap and maybe the truth lies somewhere in between.
Might this be the cheapest country in all of Europe? I had one good meal in a nice restaurant with nice decor for only five euros.
Tiffany served the tastiest and also most representative meal, there is no menu and they simply bring you what they have. The food is in general excellent, though not varied. Be ready for meats, sausage, cheese, tomato, kebab, green and red peppers, and bread. There is pasta too, but few other foreign offerings. I didn’t see any Asian food whatsoever, or any international fast food chains, or any Starbucks.
Throughout the town you find scattered statues, such as the obligatory Mother Teresa, and the others of very masculine heroes, often labeled explicitly as “heroes.” The quotient for sexual dimorphism is reasonably high.
It is quite safe, so more people should visit. In three days I saw zero tourists. It is not a “thrills destination,” but where else can you ponder all the historical reasons why, for so long, a “Greater Albania” has proven impossible?
Cheat sheet of neighboring countries:
Serbia: Feels imperial, “seen better days,” no longer a transport hub, looks toward Moscow.
North Macedonia: Stands a bit apart, closer to Bulgarian culture, less recent historical trauma, more right-wing and pro-U.S., keen to integrate with the West.
Albania: Tenacious, spent decades lost in the wilderness, never been able to “play its hand” on that Greater Albania thing, did it ever recover from the fall of Venetian Albania?
Few parts of the world are more interesting, or unsettling. All of these are great countries to visit.
The post Pristina notes appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
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2023.06.05 08:58 InternationalLaw5786 Divan Beds Headboards: The Ultimate Guide to Comfort and Style
When it comes to creating a cozy and inviting bedroom, one of the key elements to consider is the choice of a divan bed and its accompanying headboard. These essential pieces of furniture not only provide support and comfort but also add a touch of style and elegance to your bedroom decor. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the world of divan beds and headboards, exploring their benefits, various types, materials, and design options. Whether you're looking to revamp your bedroom or searching for the perfect sleeping arrangement, this article will equip you with all the knowledge you need to make an informed decision.
So, embrace the comfort and style of divan beds and headboards, and elevate your sleep experience to new heights. Visit https://bedsdivans.co.uk for more inspiration, expert advice
submitted by InternationalLaw5786 to u/InternationalLaw5786 [link] [comments]
Why Choose a Divan Bed?
Comfort and Support
A divan bed is known for its exceptional comfort and support. The sturdy base and mattress combination offer excellent stability, ensuring a restful night's sleep. The base acts as a solid foundation, providing optimum support to the mattress, resulting in enhanced comfort and reduced pressure points. With a divan bed, you can wake up refreshed and rejuvenated, ready to take on the day.Storage Solutions
One of the standout features of divan beds is their practicality. Many models come with built-in storage options, such as drawers or ottomans, maximizing the use of space in your bedroom. These clever storage solutions are perfect for keeping your belongings organized and minimizing clutter. Say goodbye to unnecessary bedroom mess and hello to a clean and tidy sleeping environment.Versatility in Design
Divan beds offer endless design possibilities, allowing you to personalize your bedroom according to your taste and style. From luxurious upholstered options to sleek and modern designs, there's a divan bed to suit every aesthetic preference. Additionally, the headboard plays a crucial role in the overall look and feel of the bed. It serves as a focal point and can transform the entire ambiance of the room. With a wide range of headboard styles, fabrics, and finishes available, you can create a bed that perfectly complements your decor.Exploring Divan Bed Types
Open Spring Divan Beds
Open spring divan beds are a popular choice due to their affordability and comfort. They consist of a system of interconnected springs, which provide even support and distribute weight evenly across the mattress. While open spring divan beds offer good value for money, they may not provide the same level of durability as other options.Pocket Spring Divan Beds
Pocket spring divan beds are a step up in terms of comfort and support. Each spring is individually housed in a fabric pocket, allowing them to move independently. This feature ensures that the mattress adapts to your body shape and provides targeted support. Pocket spring divan beds are particularly beneficial for couples, as the movement of one partner is less likely to disturb the other.Memory Foam Divan Beds
If you prioritize pressure relief and body contouring, a memory foam divan bed might be the perfect choice for you. Memory foam mattresses conform to your body's shape, providing optimal support and alleviating any pressure points. They are also excellent at isolating motion, making them ideal for light sleepers or those sharing a bed.Hybrid Divan Beds
Hybrid divan beds combine the best of both worlds by incorporating different mattress technologies. These beds often feature a combination of pocket springs and memory foam layers, offering the benefits of both support and comfort. Hybrid divan beds are a great option for individuals who desire the responsiveness of springs and the contouring effect of memory foam.Selecting the Perfect Headboard
Upholstered Headboards
suede, or linen, allowing you to choose a texture that matches your style. These headboards often feature padding, providing added comfort and a cozy feel. Upholstered headboards are versatile and can be customized to fit any bedroom decor, making them a popular choice among homeowners seeking a touch of sophistication.Wooden Headboards
For a more classic and timeless look, wooden headboards are an excellent option. They come in various types of wood, such as oak, pine, or walnut, each with its distinct grain and finish. Wooden headboards add warmth and character to a bedroom, and their durability ensures they will stand the test of time. Whether you prefer a rustic, traditional, or contemporary aesthetic, there's a wooden headboard to suit your taste.Metal Headboards
Metal headboards offer a sleek and modern aesthetic to any bedroom. With intricate designs and elegant curves, they can become a focal point and add a touch of glamour. Metal headboards are available in different finishes, including chrome, brass, or iron, allowing you to create a look that complements your overall decor theme. These headboards are not only visually appealing but also durable and easy to maintain.Divan Bed Size Considerations
When choosing a divan bed and headboard, it's important to consider the size that best suits your needs. Divan beds are available in various sizes, including single, double, king, and super king. Assess the dimensions of your bedroom and ensure there's enough space to accommodate the bed and any additional furniture comfortably. Additionally, the height and width of the headboard should be proportionate to the bed size, creating a visually balanced and harmonious look.Maintaining and Caring for Divan Beds and Headboards
To ensure the longevity and pristine condition of your divan bed and headboard, it's essential to follow proper maintenance and care practices. Here are a few tips to keep them looking their best:- Regularly vacuum or brush the headboard to remove dust and debris.
- For upholstered headboards, spot clean any stains or spills immediately using a mild detergent and water.
- Rotate the mattress periodically to even out wear and prolong its lifespan.
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions for cleaning and maintaining the divan bed base.
- Avoid placing the bed in direct sunlight to prevent fabric and wood from fading.
- Use mattress protectors and bed linen to keep the bed clean and protect it from spills or accidents.
- Check and tighten any loose screws or fittings on the headboard regularly.
Conclusion
A divan bed with a carefully chosen headboard can transform your bedroom into a sanctuary of comfort and style. The combination of a supportive base, comfortable mattress, and aesthetically pleasing headboard creates a harmonious sleep environment that promotes relaxation and rejuvenation. Whether you opt for an open spring, pocket spring, memory foam, or hybrid divan bed, each offers unique benefits to suit individual preferences. Similarly, the selection of an upholstered, wooden, or metal headboard allows you to add your personal touch to the overall design. Remember to consider the size and maintenance requirements when making your choice. With the information provided in this guide, you are well-equipped to make an informed decision and create the bedroom of your dreams.So, embrace the comfort and style of divan beds and headboards, and elevate your sleep experience to new heights. Visit https://bedsdivans.co.uk for more inspiration, expert advice
2023.06.04 23:46 External_Factor2516 Yugen Glyph
this is a prototype Yugen Glyph (hunt for my previous post lol or my medium article here ). Magic is not yet ready, this is just a prototype for capturing full concepts, I think instead of making it it's own language, it should act as a wrapper for all existing languages.
Put numbers where the text in the example is, put that numbered up version of the graph, on the front page of a document or sub-document, and then use bulleted paragraphs, or bulleted hyperlinks to parallel documents, and in each paragraph or parallel document: be as detailed or vague as is your accurate impression of the subject.
for example someone who really loves mathematics, will have a very detailed and huge document tree centered around this graph about their impression of math, and what is the opposite of math? for some folks the opposite is literal Nothingness with a capital N because math is Everything with a capital E. For others, the opposite of math is social studies, or art (people who think math and art are opposites, I mean I'd like to have a word with them, and would like to impress upon you that I think they are WRONG!! because perspective and symmetry and even the chemistry of the optics of our perceptions and neurochemistry of our impressions- all of art, is just layers... and layers... of math, but at the same time I feel why they may be misguided into that perception, because math not as a subject but as discipline is rather rigid whereas art is like Bob Ross' TV persona, it embraces mistakes as a part of the process whereas math as a discipline sternly rejects them! but math the subject and math the discipline are two different animals, math the subject is just pattern recognition and construction taken into the furthest reaches of human capacity as an elevated artform. so math the discipline is a bit like professor Snape from Terfy/Harry Potter, math the subject is a friggin kaleidoscopic rainbow of infinite imagination and possibilities, math professors create worlds with the best of em man. Like portraits of possibility written out like the rules to an otherwise inconceivable game! I love math! I hate being taught it, but I LOVE exploring it!!!! Just as much as I love a good anime or trip to the art museum or a fun creative novel or cool visual patterns on cute clothing Math Art what's the difference really, art is just math with fun inaccuracies, math with wiggle room, but they'll always be two heads attached to the same Demogorgon)
I rambled... where was I.... Yes, I may disagree with someone who thinks art and math are opposites but disagreement, truckloads of it, all of the disagreement that is physically capable of existing in the same place at once without collapsing into a blackhole, none of it will invalidate their experience and that's what this linguistic wrapper is about. It's about...
...Dreams Nightmares The Holy Spirit, Trips to the depths of Hell, good days and bad days, weird experiences that last only a fleeting instant and leave a deep impression. All of that.
Doesn't matter if you believe in it or not, because the it as it was perceived may not exist, whilst at the same time (and read this maybe a few times) the it as a perception is irrefutable.
Peoples WRONG >-( feelings are still valid man... I mean you may think drinking your own pee kept you hydrated in the desert and drinking alcohol kept you warm in the tundra, you'd be oh so very wrong (to the point of nearly killing yourself) but that comfort you felt when you thought you were surviving in the wilderness like a pro, that was real, the way misinformation was munched on by your brain like it was the good stuff, that was also very real and you, yourself are valid no matter what.
Like what is reality? that's a linguistic question more than a scientific one.
If you define it as what is felt to be real, then hey, people who remember shit vividly, even when it's factually incorrect, like how myself among many others remember the Bearenstein Bears, whom according to all outside stimuli I generally trust, were actually historically always the Bearenstain Bears, and likely because of the cartoon introduction pronouncing it with a thick accent, and me reading them when my trained mental optical character recognition skills for the english language were at a fledging capacity because I was very very VERY young, my ears hear the woman with the thick accent call them Bearenstein, my eyes were not yet trained to strongly discriminate between "a" and "e". I can safely conclude I remembered it wrong and was the victim of multimodal confusion.
However a good deal of people have come to a much cooler set of conclusions; ready?!
They believe that either A) they are from a parallel history that was destroyed by something and their souls migrated here; B) that a bunch of very skilled book ninjas replaced every book with an identically weathered copy of itself except for small changes to the print, or C) that God did like the ninjas in the previous example did, and either physically changed history but left some of us with a spiritual memory of our alternate history for whatever reason, or to the same effect God just did as the ninjas in the previous example did and used God power to rearrange the ink on every page of the books.
Hey those conclusions are wild, and sometimes when I'm feeling fanciful I do indeed like to imagine or even convince myself I am from a parallel earth where minor details about things are definitely different because I remember them "wrongly" so vividly, it would be MORE fair of a world if my memory was flawless and thus proof that I am a world wrangler of some kind. I don't believe that. that's not my reality.
But that's my point, from an evidentiary perspective trying to prove you are from a parallel universe is like trying help Sisyphus take a break, or trying to reconstruct the 'original' ship of Theseus even whilst the ship is still arguably here. it's not impossible per se, but what does it even mean man? is it even possible? does it even make sense to say outloud? ...or is it just some gnome chopsky meaninful gibberish type stuff?
mind-blown... but whilst they might not be from a alternate universe, because that would imply that evidentiarily there would be some kind of coordinate to visit where they come from... is it really wrong to say they're from an alternate reality? I'd argue no, reality is a word that linguists bitch about, because in English we use the same word and spread it over a couple of separate concepts, the physical present as the arithmetic mean of measurers' consensus has it, and then present internal personal experience. both are reality.
I mean if you stick something friggin cold on my skin, I might experience an internal reality of paradoxical heat, whilst someone peeping through a thermal imaging cam would experience a physical external measurement of me being exposed to extreme cold.
which one is "true"?
well for us, "us" the cold is true, but for me, myself, I, alone; the hot was what I felt most vividly, that's "my truth" as the south of the USA annoyingly puts it. (the idea that truth isn't singular still annoys me).
(TRUTH is singular, but I'd argue TRUTH is also beyond the perceptual capacity of mortals)
we don't converge on truth we converge on measurable contemporary consensus about our perceived external reality, which as luck would have it is practically the same as truth but slightly different. We'll never know if the universal constants we take for granted are just one click away from some cosmic teenager tweaking a couple setting on their screensaver and erasing us from existence, and since we can't measure this cosmic teenager, we don't bother about them, but hey, maybe someday they'll get bored of their current screensaver, we'll all just kind of disintegrate like when Thanos Snapped in the Marvel End Game event.
Just minding our own business and then atoms all over the world turn to jelly when exposed to sunlight or something. not likely according to what we know, but we know we can't know everything, so just be grateful it isn't our current reality and continue taking thing for what they appear to be for now I guess.
As for internal reality, that's what's driving me to write this. that's what drove you here for whatever reason. we have more direct contact with internal reality, external reality is just some consistent pattern pattern we or you or I feel internally as if we have less control over it than we do over our thoughts, so it feels external, whether or not reality warpers that can bend reality just as easily as you can choose to compose a naughty joke in your head exist, that's a matter for science fiction writers and philosophers and fringe bio-physics researchers.
And subtractively some people have more intrusive thoughts than controlled thoughts, some people have and other people don't have inner voices; some people have high resolution internal imaging software for pictures and sounds that they vividly hallucinate at will, other people have very delicate and subtle to no imagination capacity, if we can subtract from inner reality it makes sense to imagine that adding to it is not out of the question.
is control and perception of your limbs inner reality? yes, but does it have some small interference effect on this external reality we feel exposed to... (rather than as familiar with as a bodily or mental sensation) ...sometimes, not if you're percieving the movement of a severed or paralyzed limb though.
what about dreams, they can feel just as external as the waking world, but with this weird capacity to exist on a scale of externality to internality, a lucid dream, is basically what the external world would be like if your thoughts could reshape it at will. I find that depressing, so maybe my soul if you believe in that sort of thing cordoned off its godlike powers to enter a simulation (this place) willing so that it could feel the comfort of a world that is managed by relatively firm seeming laws, rather than one where my intrusive thoughts might erase things from history or change the people I love without their consent, maybe this "external"/"physical" universe is like a mental hospital for reality warpers who have intrusive thoughts, and we belong to some hive mind species from an external universe, but we're in therapy right now, to learn to tell the difference between concepts that are important to our ilk, and or to just be allowed to safely be ourselves without accidentally committing super powered crimes against our ilk unintentionally.
for most people under most circumstances in this world a thought does not immediately cause an action, our mind subconsciously proposes several possible actions and we analyze them come to a few conclusions pit those conclusions against eachother, and then let the winner lead us to the most victorious action/behavior chain, and then immediately after doing all of that subconsciously we become consciously aware of our behaviors, make up some random likely rationale for why we chose those behaviors, and then we sit back and enjoy the show as the consequences of our conscious and subconscious choices roll in, which we consciously and subconsciously react to and mull over to lead to hopefully better decisions in the future, or atleast that's my understanding of the gist of it.
now what if that whole automatic suggestion of possible actions we could take, which we you know, think of as a good thing, is actually a mental illness in some culture we don't know we belong to, and when combined with our mental reflexive power to warp reality, makes us basically their cultures version of violently reactive psychopaths, but because they can read minds they don't harbor ill will towards us, they just know we're not put together correctly, so they've made us a new type of external reality that neutralizes our bad nature and allows us to live with this incurable mental illness in a safe environment with the opportunity to seize happy lives for ourselves?
If our minds were wiped after the simulation box was activated around us, I mean it's just a scifi twist on the allegory of the cave, and the matrix did pretty much it similarly.
but what this does illustrate besides my urge to do creative writing, is that internal and external reality are separated by a fuzzy line, if there's even a line there at all.
Yet whilst on one hand the boundary is so ill defined it looks more like a continuum.
On the other hand the boundary is night and day.
I don't live in your fricken head, and if you live in mine you've been really respectful cos I haven't noticed ya.
and people get hurt because the way they think things works is proven wrong the hard way and it sends them to the hospital all the time.
Like oh, petting this bear is a smart decision... ...3 hours later, wakes up on the hospital bed feeling drowsy and with strange sensations in random parts of the body, nurse leans over face: "your lucky to be alive" says the nurse.
because guess what, weirdly it's obvious what's part of your reality and what's part of our reality, until you try to give a fuck, then it's nonobvious again.
circling back around, are people whom genuinely feel as though they are from alternate realities crazy? maybe.
Are they actually experiencing what it is like to be from an alternate reality? yes, absolutely, they know how strange it feels, to them it is real, their experience is valid, and their feelings matter!!
No I speculated about meta-realities a couple times here (realities that are outside "the matrix" as the kids say). but I haven't like vividly experienced a meta-reality, infact most people want "out" I want in deeper, I'm a gamer and a dreamer, I want more of the good stuff, and for me that's a machine of my own making within the machine we all call home, If I were Plato in the cave, and I escaped my shackles, I'd go spelunking for a deeper cave and a better fire, I wouldn't worry about what the sun was on about or how fresh feels superior to grimey cave air, I'd be ALL about my shadow puppets man, and differently colored fires, pretty much the only way that I'd be bothered to leave the cave, would be to get supplies to pimp out my cave. That's just my perception of myself, and it's valid.
You wanna leave, well, don't kill yourself illegally, but when you die of natural causes, for find a legally sanctioned way to off yourself under the supervision of the law and behind a lot of red tape to ensure that you are just clinically depressed and trying to fix temporary problems with permanent solutions... ...like, leave, you're not my hostage. I care. I want you to be happy. but my cave's not for everybody and I respect if you've had enough of this ride man. #love by the way please really don't kill yourself without asking your local family and municipalities for permission, suicide is like vigilante justice mixed with self harm, it might seem cool if you're emotionally stunted in some way, but Pheonix Jones ("the only real life superhero" look him up.) allegedly (and I use that word mostly to avoid being sued) allegedly turned out to be a drug dealer, that's how he got money for his cool hero cave and his bullet proof armor and stun sticks and fancy form fitting outfit and probably a lot of the stuff that made him seem cool... drug dealer... "I'm gonna save people can't swim" he says, jumping into the pool, without knowing how to swim.
Beating up people for the minor crime of being drunken assholes, meanwhile secretly a hardcore drug dealer.
Don't idolize the people who beat people up for fame, idolize the people who give food to homeless people and money to shelter programs.
Likewise don't idolize suicide, your valuable, and I know you don't know anymore about the afterlife than I do, nobody has measured it thus far so your playing bingo and Russian roulette at the same time when you die, is Shiva the master of all things? Is Santa clause? AM I GONNA BECOME AN ELF WHEN I DIE!? Who the fuck knows, it's a bad idea to fuck around and find out. So step back from that ledge my friend. maybe we're all just shopping mall mannequins who dream of being alive and each time we die we wake up paralyzed and faceless and powerless trapped in our own bodies and ignored by everyone save those whom want to vandalize us and dress us up in clothes we're not allowed to pick for ourselves, and maybe we're even telepathically subjected to the thoughts of every soul in the mall from the others like us to the selfish shoppers to the rats in the ventilation shafts, and then these moments of fleeting life our the most precious things to our existence until our plastic bodies gradually get buried beneath the earth or overgrown of abandoned malls and country dumps and thousands of years later we enter the geological cycle and are crushed and melted by the powers of the earth into unrecognizable forms and our minds will be set back to the carefree lives of amorphous inorganic formless chemical floating across the universe as we once were before some chemist in a lab trapped us into the form of a plastic press fit human sculpture... ...you don't know man... you may only get to live like us in your dreams and who knows what schedule a mannequin dreams on... most people think you're inanimate and you only get to feel the pleasures and pains of life for yourself when you have blessed dreams like these. So don't throw this dream way.
If you are in a dark place, and want to kill yourself to fix it, I find that to be a kind of paradoxical optimism. you really think that it'll be better on the outside? when has anyone ever said, "man I am so glad I have to go to work and stop playing my favorite videogame." NEVER (unless they meant in hindsight because they met their future romantic partner during an otherwise normal work day, but aside from uncommon exceptions nobody says that!) life is a game, you're stuck on a hard part right now, don't press the quit button, because the haters are invading, and the world needs more good people like you alive in it, so that other good people can live comfortable lives, and possible share that happiness with you down the road once they find out what a cool person you are!!
Now that I've gotten the "who knows what's out" the "are they really crazy" and the "please don't commit suicide willy nilly" out of the way, let's get back to wrapping things up, this is a quasi-conlang, it's like a framework that any written language can squeeze into to augment itself.
It's a graph that you can put pictures numbers petroglyphs or ideograms on, whatever is your speed.
If you write really small you can fit all of the information on the graph and then just use A FRIGGIN MAGNIFYING GLASS (or microscope honestly) to read back what you wrote to yourself, alternatively you can make citations that lead elsewhere wherehaps there is more writing space :-)
then you fill out the glyph with your maximum literary capacity, take a break, comeback, read everything again and internalize it and mentally partition it to each aspect of the Yugen Glyph, then you stand back and look at the Yugen Glyph one last time fully appreciating it by picturing all of the aspects of this particular version of the glyph, in simultaneity and symmetric juxtaposition. this isn't just the concept in some idealized platonic form, this is much much cooler than that; it's your inner world's platonic atomic unit of that concept, albeit, you're now able to reflect and express full perception that your past self had...
....and sadly as a state cannot fully observe itself without changing and thus getting caught in one of those nasty infinite polymorphic loops, the moment you fill this graph out in whatever languages of your choice... (I'm gonna mix english with my emoglyphs with this graph/wrapper because english is my native language and my emoglyphs depict other important aspects of the inner reality in great detail) ...is the moment you confront this concept in its truest form as you are currently capable of perceiving it. Some things like to change the moment you observe them. You may go, "oh wait I can add more details now..." or "oh wait, it suddenly feels different to me now that I've gotten a good look at the way I'm looking at it". and that's okay, this sort of pulls the concept out of your body.
I forgot whether it was Sophie's world (a book I read a long time ago) or an actual philosopher who gave this example, but basically rivers are always flowing, their only constant is change, humans are much the same way. When a person is standing in a river they are in sync with the river they are closely acquainted with this river, they are one with the flow and the flow has become one with them. Then when that same person steps out of the river to go dry off and get a snack, they are obviously no longer one, but when that person eventually comes back to that river, even if they stand in the same map coordinate as before, them and the river have to get reacquainted, as they have fallen out of sync, it's a new river, there are new grains of sand under this person's feet, and this person isn't quiet as young as the last person, even if they are technically "the same person" according to the memory and experiences of this new person.
These concepts are like people standing in the river of your mind, and my Yugen Glyph is like some mystical force that can eject them from you, so that you can get reacquainted with them in your own right, or distribute them to other rivers to help you propagate and introduce some concepts native to you into the public zeitgeist.
Some of these concepts are like people who have entered you by force and then become one with your flow, others are like the local wildlife that has been a part of your flow in a flowing away eversince your flow first formed, either way the intent of these Yugen Glyphs is to empower you to control the ecosystem of your flow and the flows around you better, because everything is connected and power of concepts is itself a powerful concept.
The YugenGlyph filled with placeholder text that you might need to zoom in on super closely to read in some parts... lol XD.
The Blank conceptogram for you to save and print out and draw on. If you ask me nicely, I'll make a printer friendly version, but you have to beg and make me feel like royalty XD JK lol, nah, if any body is interested in printer friendly just ask I'll simplify the design add some patterns to compensate for the lack of color (black and white no gray) and then I'll be like \"K, here, you can play with it now.\" :-)
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the end that's it you made it
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postamble: remember this is a prototype I may adopt more than one thing as my "Yugen Glyphs" before I settle on a final design.
This is MK1 of an unknown incoming number of Yugen glyphs, please offer creative stirrings to me.
I'm not really open to criticism at the moment as I'm, just doing this to get steam out and hence don't care for advice on how to do it right, it's an energy sponge project, it's here to capture my excess energy and channel it into something non-destructive and it is doing its job very well I can attest to that. if it bothers you that I don't care, no one is making you hang out with me, just leave, stop torturing yourself it encourages my evil side to laugh at you. (rightfully so since you coming here to complain would be self inflicted psychic slapstick comedy in a way)
submitted by External_Factor2516 to u/External_Factor2516 [link] [comments]
Put numbers where the text in the example is, put that numbered up version of the graph, on the front page of a document or sub-document, and then use bulleted paragraphs, or bulleted hyperlinks to parallel documents, and in each paragraph or parallel document: be as detailed or vague as is your accurate impression of the subject.
for example someone who really loves mathematics, will have a very detailed and huge document tree centered around this graph about their impression of math, and what is the opposite of math? for some folks the opposite is literal Nothingness with a capital N because math is Everything with a capital E. For others, the opposite of math is social studies, or art (people who think math and art are opposites, I mean I'd like to have a word with them, and would like to impress upon you that I think they are WRONG!! because perspective and symmetry and even the chemistry of the optics of our perceptions and neurochemistry of our impressions- all of art, is just layers... and layers... of math, but at the same time I feel why they may be misguided into that perception, because math not as a subject but as discipline is rather rigid whereas art is like Bob Ross' TV persona, it embraces mistakes as a part of the process whereas math as a discipline sternly rejects them! but math the subject and math the discipline are two different animals, math the subject is just pattern recognition and construction taken into the furthest reaches of human capacity as an elevated artform. so math the discipline is a bit like professor Snape from Terfy/Harry Potter, math the subject is a friggin kaleidoscopic rainbow of infinite imagination and possibilities, math professors create worlds with the best of em man. Like portraits of possibility written out like the rules to an otherwise inconceivable game! I love math! I hate being taught it, but I LOVE exploring it!!!! Just as much as I love a good anime or trip to the art museum or a fun creative novel or cool visual patterns on cute clothing Math Art what's the difference really, art is just math with fun inaccuracies, math with wiggle room, but they'll always be two heads attached to the same Demogorgon)
I rambled... where was I.... Yes, I may disagree with someone who thinks art and math are opposites but disagreement, truckloads of it, all of the disagreement that is physically capable of existing in the same place at once without collapsing into a blackhole, none of it will invalidate their experience and that's what this linguistic wrapper is about. It's about...
...Dreams Nightmares The Holy Spirit, Trips to the depths of Hell, good days and bad days, weird experiences that last only a fleeting instant and leave a deep impression. All of that.
Doesn't matter if you believe in it or not, because the it as it was perceived may not exist, whilst at the same time (and read this maybe a few times) the it as a perception is irrefutable.
Peoples WRONG >-( feelings are still valid man... I mean you may think drinking your own pee kept you hydrated in the desert and drinking alcohol kept you warm in the tundra, you'd be oh so very wrong (to the point of nearly killing yourself) but that comfort you felt when you thought you were surviving in the wilderness like a pro, that was real, the way misinformation was munched on by your brain like it was the good stuff, that was also very real and you, yourself are valid no matter what.
Like what is reality? that's a linguistic question more than a scientific one.
If you define it as what is felt to be real, then hey, people who remember shit vividly, even when it's factually incorrect, like how myself among many others remember the Bearenstein Bears, whom according to all outside stimuli I generally trust, were actually historically always the Bearenstain Bears, and likely because of the cartoon introduction pronouncing it with a thick accent, and me reading them when my trained mental optical character recognition skills for the english language were at a fledging capacity because I was very very VERY young, my ears hear the woman with the thick accent call them Bearenstein, my eyes were not yet trained to strongly discriminate between "a" and "e". I can safely conclude I remembered it wrong and was the victim of multimodal confusion.
However a good deal of people have come to a much cooler set of conclusions; ready?!
They believe that either A) they are from a parallel history that was destroyed by something and their souls migrated here; B) that a bunch of very skilled book ninjas replaced every book with an identically weathered copy of itself except for small changes to the print, or C) that God did like the ninjas in the previous example did, and either physically changed history but left some of us with a spiritual memory of our alternate history for whatever reason, or to the same effect God just did as the ninjas in the previous example did and used God power to rearrange the ink on every page of the books.
Hey those conclusions are wild, and sometimes when I'm feeling fanciful I do indeed like to imagine or even convince myself I am from a parallel earth where minor details about things are definitely different because I remember them "wrongly" so vividly, it would be MORE fair of a world if my memory was flawless and thus proof that I am a world wrangler of some kind. I don't believe that. that's not my reality.
But that's my point, from an evidentiary perspective trying to prove you are from a parallel universe is like trying help Sisyphus take a break, or trying to reconstruct the 'original' ship of Theseus even whilst the ship is still arguably here. it's not impossible per se, but what does it even mean man? is it even possible? does it even make sense to say outloud? ...or is it just some gnome chopsky meaninful gibberish type stuff?
mind-blown... but whilst they might not be from a alternate universe, because that would imply that evidentiarily there would be some kind of coordinate to visit where they come from... is it really wrong to say they're from an alternate reality? I'd argue no, reality is a word that linguists bitch about, because in English we use the same word and spread it over a couple of separate concepts, the physical present as the arithmetic mean of measurers' consensus has it, and then present internal personal experience. both are reality.
I mean if you stick something friggin cold on my skin, I might experience an internal reality of paradoxical heat, whilst someone peeping through a thermal imaging cam would experience a physical external measurement of me being exposed to extreme cold.
which one is "true"?
well for us, "us" the cold is true, but for me, myself, I, alone; the hot was what I felt most vividly, that's "my truth" as the south of the USA annoyingly puts it. (the idea that truth isn't singular still annoys me).
(TRUTH is singular, but I'd argue TRUTH is also beyond the perceptual capacity of mortals)
we don't converge on truth we converge on measurable contemporary consensus about our perceived external reality, which as luck would have it is practically the same as truth but slightly different. We'll never know if the universal constants we take for granted are just one click away from some cosmic teenager tweaking a couple setting on their screensaver and erasing us from existence, and since we can't measure this cosmic teenager, we don't bother about them, but hey, maybe someday they'll get bored of their current screensaver, we'll all just kind of disintegrate like when Thanos Snapped in the Marvel End Game event.
Just minding our own business and then atoms all over the world turn to jelly when exposed to sunlight or something. not likely according to what we know, but we know we can't know everything, so just be grateful it isn't our current reality and continue taking thing for what they appear to be for now I guess.
As for internal reality, that's what's driving me to write this. that's what drove you here for whatever reason. we have more direct contact with internal reality, external reality is just some consistent pattern pattern we or you or I feel internally as if we have less control over it than we do over our thoughts, so it feels external, whether or not reality warpers that can bend reality just as easily as you can choose to compose a naughty joke in your head exist, that's a matter for science fiction writers and philosophers and fringe bio-physics researchers.
And subtractively some people have more intrusive thoughts than controlled thoughts, some people have and other people don't have inner voices; some people have high resolution internal imaging software for pictures and sounds that they vividly hallucinate at will, other people have very delicate and subtle to no imagination capacity, if we can subtract from inner reality it makes sense to imagine that adding to it is not out of the question.
is control and perception of your limbs inner reality? yes, but does it have some small interference effect on this external reality we feel exposed to... (rather than as familiar with as a bodily or mental sensation) ...sometimes, not if you're percieving the movement of a severed or paralyzed limb though.
what about dreams, they can feel just as external as the waking world, but with this weird capacity to exist on a scale of externality to internality, a lucid dream, is basically what the external world would be like if your thoughts could reshape it at will. I find that depressing, so maybe my soul if you believe in that sort of thing cordoned off its godlike powers to enter a simulation (this place) willing so that it could feel the comfort of a world that is managed by relatively firm seeming laws, rather than one where my intrusive thoughts might erase things from history or change the people I love without their consent, maybe this "external"/"physical" universe is like a mental hospital for reality warpers who have intrusive thoughts, and we belong to some hive mind species from an external universe, but we're in therapy right now, to learn to tell the difference between concepts that are important to our ilk, and or to just be allowed to safely be ourselves without accidentally committing super powered crimes against our ilk unintentionally.
for most people under most circumstances in this world a thought does not immediately cause an action, our mind subconsciously proposes several possible actions and we analyze them come to a few conclusions pit those conclusions against eachother, and then let the winner lead us to the most victorious action/behavior chain, and then immediately after doing all of that subconsciously we become consciously aware of our behaviors, make up some random likely rationale for why we chose those behaviors, and then we sit back and enjoy the show as the consequences of our conscious and subconscious choices roll in, which we consciously and subconsciously react to and mull over to lead to hopefully better decisions in the future, or atleast that's my understanding of the gist of it.
now what if that whole automatic suggestion of possible actions we could take, which we you know, think of as a good thing, is actually a mental illness in some culture we don't know we belong to, and when combined with our mental reflexive power to warp reality, makes us basically their cultures version of violently reactive psychopaths, but because they can read minds they don't harbor ill will towards us, they just know we're not put together correctly, so they've made us a new type of external reality that neutralizes our bad nature and allows us to live with this incurable mental illness in a safe environment with the opportunity to seize happy lives for ourselves?
If our minds were wiped after the simulation box was activated around us, I mean it's just a scifi twist on the allegory of the cave, and the matrix did pretty much it similarly.
but what this does illustrate besides my urge to do creative writing, is that internal and external reality are separated by a fuzzy line, if there's even a line there at all.
Yet whilst on one hand the boundary is so ill defined it looks more like a continuum.
On the other hand the boundary is night and day.
I don't live in your fricken head, and if you live in mine you've been really respectful cos I haven't noticed ya.
and people get hurt because the way they think things works is proven wrong the hard way and it sends them to the hospital all the time.
Like oh, petting this bear is a smart decision... ...3 hours later, wakes up on the hospital bed feeling drowsy and with strange sensations in random parts of the body, nurse leans over face: "your lucky to be alive" says the nurse.
because guess what, weirdly it's obvious what's part of your reality and what's part of our reality, until you try to give a fuck, then it's nonobvious again.
circling back around, are people whom genuinely feel as though they are from alternate realities crazy? maybe.
Are they actually experiencing what it is like to be from an alternate reality? yes, absolutely, they know how strange it feels, to them it is real, their experience is valid, and their feelings matter!!
No I speculated about meta-realities a couple times here (realities that are outside "the matrix" as the kids say). but I haven't like vividly experienced a meta-reality, infact most people want "out" I want in deeper, I'm a gamer and a dreamer, I want more of the good stuff, and for me that's a machine of my own making within the machine we all call home, If I were Plato in the cave, and I escaped my shackles, I'd go spelunking for a deeper cave and a better fire, I wouldn't worry about what the sun was on about or how fresh feels superior to grimey cave air, I'd be ALL about my shadow puppets man, and differently colored fires, pretty much the only way that I'd be bothered to leave the cave, would be to get supplies to pimp out my cave. That's just my perception of myself, and it's valid.
You wanna leave, well, don't kill yourself illegally, but when you die of natural causes, for find a legally sanctioned way to off yourself under the supervision of the law and behind a lot of red tape to ensure that you are just clinically depressed and trying to fix temporary problems with permanent solutions... ...like, leave, you're not my hostage. I care. I want you to be happy. but my cave's not for everybody and I respect if you've had enough of this ride man. #love by the way please really don't kill yourself without asking your local family and municipalities for permission, suicide is like vigilante justice mixed with self harm, it might seem cool if you're emotionally stunted in some way, but Pheonix Jones ("the only real life superhero" look him up.) allegedly (and I use that word mostly to avoid being sued) allegedly turned out to be a drug dealer, that's how he got money for his cool hero cave and his bullet proof armor and stun sticks and fancy form fitting outfit and probably a lot of the stuff that made him seem cool... drug dealer... "I'm gonna save people can't swim" he says, jumping into the pool, without knowing how to swim.
Beating up people for the minor crime of being drunken assholes, meanwhile secretly a hardcore drug dealer.
Don't idolize the people who beat people up for fame, idolize the people who give food to homeless people and money to shelter programs.
Likewise don't idolize suicide, your valuable, and I know you don't know anymore about the afterlife than I do, nobody has measured it thus far so your playing bingo and Russian roulette at the same time when you die, is Shiva the master of all things? Is Santa clause? AM I GONNA BECOME AN ELF WHEN I DIE!? Who the fuck knows, it's a bad idea to fuck around and find out. So step back from that ledge my friend. maybe we're all just shopping mall mannequins who dream of being alive and each time we die we wake up paralyzed and faceless and powerless trapped in our own bodies and ignored by everyone save those whom want to vandalize us and dress us up in clothes we're not allowed to pick for ourselves, and maybe we're even telepathically subjected to the thoughts of every soul in the mall from the others like us to the selfish shoppers to the rats in the ventilation shafts, and then these moments of fleeting life our the most precious things to our existence until our plastic bodies gradually get buried beneath the earth or overgrown of abandoned malls and country dumps and thousands of years later we enter the geological cycle and are crushed and melted by the powers of the earth into unrecognizable forms and our minds will be set back to the carefree lives of amorphous inorganic formless chemical floating across the universe as we once were before some chemist in a lab trapped us into the form of a plastic press fit human sculpture... ...you don't know man... you may only get to live like us in your dreams and who knows what schedule a mannequin dreams on... most people think you're inanimate and you only get to feel the pleasures and pains of life for yourself when you have blessed dreams like these. So don't throw this dream way.
If you are in a dark place, and want to kill yourself to fix it, I find that to be a kind of paradoxical optimism. you really think that it'll be better on the outside? when has anyone ever said, "man I am so glad I have to go to work and stop playing my favorite videogame." NEVER (unless they meant in hindsight because they met their future romantic partner during an otherwise normal work day, but aside from uncommon exceptions nobody says that!) life is a game, you're stuck on a hard part right now, don't press the quit button, because the haters are invading, and the world needs more good people like you alive in it, so that other good people can live comfortable lives, and possible share that happiness with you down the road once they find out what a cool person you are!!
Now that I've gotten the "who knows what's out" the "are they really crazy" and the "please don't commit suicide willy nilly" out of the way, let's get back to wrapping things up, this is a quasi-conlang, it's like a framework that any written language can squeeze into to augment itself.
It's a graph that you can put pictures numbers petroglyphs or ideograms on, whatever is your speed.
If you write really small you can fit all of the information on the graph and then just use A FRIGGIN MAGNIFYING GLASS (or microscope honestly) to read back what you wrote to yourself, alternatively you can make citations that lead elsewhere wherehaps there is more writing space :-)
then you fill out the glyph with your maximum literary capacity, take a break, comeback, read everything again and internalize it and mentally partition it to each aspect of the Yugen Glyph, then you stand back and look at the Yugen Glyph one last time fully appreciating it by picturing all of the aspects of this particular version of the glyph, in simultaneity and symmetric juxtaposition. this isn't just the concept in some idealized platonic form, this is much much cooler than that; it's your inner world's platonic atomic unit of that concept, albeit, you're now able to reflect and express full perception that your past self had...
....and sadly as a state cannot fully observe itself without changing and thus getting caught in one of those nasty infinite polymorphic loops, the moment you fill this graph out in whatever languages of your choice... (I'm gonna mix english with my emoglyphs with this graph/wrapper because english is my native language and my emoglyphs depict other important aspects of the inner reality in great detail) ...is the moment you confront this concept in its truest form as you are currently capable of perceiving it. Some things like to change the moment you observe them. You may go, "oh wait I can add more details now..." or "oh wait, it suddenly feels different to me now that I've gotten a good look at the way I'm looking at it". and that's okay, this sort of pulls the concept out of your body.
I forgot whether it was Sophie's world (a book I read a long time ago) or an actual philosopher who gave this example, but basically rivers are always flowing, their only constant is change, humans are much the same way. When a person is standing in a river they are in sync with the river they are closely acquainted with this river, they are one with the flow and the flow has become one with them. Then when that same person steps out of the river to go dry off and get a snack, they are obviously no longer one, but when that person eventually comes back to that river, even if they stand in the same map coordinate as before, them and the river have to get reacquainted, as they have fallen out of sync, it's a new river, there are new grains of sand under this person's feet, and this person isn't quiet as young as the last person, even if they are technically "the same person" according to the memory and experiences of this new person.
These concepts are like people standing in the river of your mind, and my Yugen Glyph is like some mystical force that can eject them from you, so that you can get reacquainted with them in your own right, or distribute them to other rivers to help you propagate and introduce some concepts native to you into the public zeitgeist.
Some of these concepts are like people who have entered you by force and then become one with your flow, others are like the local wildlife that has been a part of your flow in a flowing away eversince your flow first formed, either way the intent of these Yugen Glyphs is to empower you to control the ecosystem of your flow and the flows around you better, because everything is connected and power of concepts is itself a powerful concept.
The YugenGlyph filled with placeholder text that you might need to zoom in on super closely to read in some parts... lol XD.
The Blank conceptogram for you to save and print out and draw on. If you ask me nicely, I'll make a printer friendly version, but you have to beg and make me feel like royalty XD JK lol, nah, if any body is interested in printer friendly just ask I'll simplify the design add some patterns to compensate for the lack of color (black and white no gray) and then I'll be like \"K, here, you can play with it now.\" :-)
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the end that's it you made it
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postamble: remember this is a prototype I may adopt more than one thing as my "Yugen Glyphs" before I settle on a final design.
This is MK1 of an unknown incoming number of Yugen glyphs, please offer creative stirrings to me.
I'm not really open to criticism at the moment as I'm, just doing this to get steam out and hence don't care for advice on how to do it right, it's an energy sponge project, it's here to capture my excess energy and channel it into something non-destructive and it is doing its job very well I can attest to that. if it bothers you that I don't care, no one is making you hang out with me, just leave, stop torturing yourself it encourages my evil side to laugh at you. (rightfully so since you coming here to complain would be self inflicted psychic slapstick comedy in a way)