Latest Posts by dragons-barb - Page 2
Black Holes: Seeing the Invisible!
Black holes are some of the most bizarre and fascinating objects in the cosmos. Astronomers want to study lots of them, but there’s one big problem – black holes are invisible! Since they don’t emit any light, it’s pretty tough to find them lurking in the inky void of space. Fortunately there are a few different ways we can “see” black holes indirectly by watching how they affect their surroundings.
Speedy stars
If you’ve spent some time stargazing, you know what a calm, peaceful place our universe can be. But did you know that a monster is hiding right in the heart of our Milky Way galaxy? Astronomers noticed stars zipping superfast around something we can’t see at the center of the galaxy, about 10 million miles per hour! The stars must be circling a supermassive black hole. No other object would have strong enough gravity to keep them from flying off into space.
Two astrophysicists won half of the Nobel Prize in Physics last year for revealing this dark secret. The black hole is truly monstrous, weighing about four million times as much as our Sun! And it seems our home galaxy is no exception – our Hubble Space Telescope has revealed that the hubs of most galaxies contain supermassive black holes.
Shadowy silhouettes
Technology has advanced enough that we’ve been able to spot one of these supermassive black holes in a nearby galaxy. In 2019, astronomers took the first-ever picture of a black hole in a galaxy called M87, which is about 55 million light-years away. They used an international network of radio telescopes called the Event Horizon Telescope.
In the image, we can see some light from hot gas surrounding a dark shape. While we still can’t see the black hole itself, we can see the “shadow” it casts on the bright backdrop.
Shattered stars
Black holes can come in a smaller variety, too. When a massive star runs out of the fuel it uses to shine, it collapses in on itself. These lightweight or “stellar-mass” black holes are only about 5-20 times as massive as the Sun. They’re scattered throughout the galaxy in the same places where we find stars, since that’s how they began their lives. Some of them started out with a companion star, and so far that’s been our best clue to find them.
Some black holes steal material from their companion star. As the material falls onto the black hole, it gets superhot and lights up in X-rays. The first confirmed black hole astronomers discovered, called Cygnus X-1, was found this way.
If a star comes too close to a supermassive black hole, the effect is even more dramatic! Instead of just siphoning material from the star like a smaller black hole would do, a supermassive black hole will completely tear the star apart into a stream of gas. This is called a tidal disruption event.
Making waves
But what if two companion stars both turn into black holes? They may eventually collide with each other to form a larger black hole, sending ripples through space-time – the fabric of the cosmos!
These ripples, called gravitational waves, travel across space at the speed of light. The waves that reach us are extremely weak because space-time is really stiff.
Three scientists received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for using LIGO to observe gravitational waves that were sent out from colliding stellar-mass black holes. Though gravitational waves are hard to detect, they offer a way to find black holes without having to see any light.
We’re teaming up with the European Space Agency for a mission called LISA, which stands for Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. When it launches in the 2030s, it will detect gravitational waves from merging supermassive black holes – a likely sign of colliding galaxies!
Rogue black holes
So we have a few ways to find black holes by seeing stuff that’s close to them. But astronomers think there could be 100 million black holes roaming the galaxy solo. Fortunately, our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide a way to “see” these isolated black holes, too.
Roman will find solitary black holes when they pass in front of more distant stars from our vantage point. The black hole’s gravity will warp the starlight in ways that reveal its presence. In some cases we can figure out a black hole’s mass and distance this way, and even estimate how fast it’s moving through the galaxy.
For more about black holes, check out these Tumblr posts!
⚫ Gobble Up These Black (Hole) Friday Deals!
⚫ Hubble’s 5 Weirdest Black Hole Discoveries
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.
Today is "pretend to be a time traveler day": It is December 8, 1918 and we're well-into what's being called the second wave of this deadly flu. I have one chance to travel to the future to find a cure and save mankind. But to when do I travel? There are no hints or clues to guide me. I must rely on logic and fate. For logic, I suppose a century would be sufficient time for scientists to rid the world of all that ails mankind. For fate, this is the second wave of the flu. So, 102 years into the future I boldly go.
Oh, I'm so excited!!!
Tl;dr: The heavily revised physical edition Dreams of the Dying, my novel set in the Enderal universe, is now available for pre-order via Amazon via my website. Special early bird prices are $32.99 for the hardcover with an illustrated appendix, $12.99 for the paperback, and $2.99 for the eBook. It’s a prequel featuring Jespar, but, for reasons outlined below, opens up a new canon. Amazon.de has yet to pick up the listing for the physical editions, but they are incredibly slow—I’m working to get that done.
Hey guys,
This is Nicolas, the writer of Enderal speaking. As some of you may know, I’ve been working on an Enderal novel, Dreams of the Dying. First released as a web version, I spent the past year completely rewriting and improving the book, adding and removing chapters, revising characters arcs, and improving plotting, worldbuilding, and style. In total, I rewrote the web edition three times from cover to cover. Well, it’s finally time: Dreams of the Dying is now available for pre-order on Amazon!
The English version of Dreams of the Dying will release on October 20. A German (and perhaps Russian) translation will follow as soon as possible.
Please note that this is a rendering and that the actual hardcover looks slightly different, with same format but a matte dust jacket and a matte, laminated case. A big shoutout to Dominik Derow for the cover artwork, Johanna Krünes for her cover design, and Joyce, for her tips, patience, and help with this product shot.
Jaaros Oonai, magnate, visionary, and master of coin, doesn’t muse about whether the glass is half empty or half full—only about ways to fill it.
Jespar Dal’Varek, drifter, mercenary, and master of avoidance, doesn’t muse at all. He’d rather just drink the damn wine.
Two lives that could not be more different intertwine when a strange contract leads Jespar to the tropical island empire of Kilay, the wealthiest nation of the Civilized World.
The mission turns out to be as bizarre as it is lucrative: Jaaros Oonai, the country’s merchant king, knows something that could stop a catastrophe, but he has fallen into an inexplicable coma. Together with an ex-priestess and a psychic, Jespar must enter Oonai’s dreams and find this secret.
What should have been a fresh start rapidly turns into a nightmare, as Jespar slides into a spiral of disturbing dreams, political intrigue, and clashing ideals, where not only the fate of Kilay but his own sanity are at stake. It’s not long before he learns that only a spider’s thread divides the sleeping and the awoken.
And that there’s no greater enemy than one’s own mind.
The hardcover edition comes with an appendix that includes additional lore, such as an illustrated bestiary, a guide to Kilayan fashion, illustrations of the (re-envisioned) seven Light-Born, a short guide to the Makehu language, and much more.
Even though Dreams could be considered a prequel, I didn’t write this as an expansion or fan service but rather as my debut, and a book that stands on its own. This edition differs vastly from the web version, and, though it is up to you to judge, I’m a million times happier with it.
If you’re on the fence and would like to wait for reviews—here’s hoping I get enough—I fully understand. However, if you would buy the novel, you’d do me a great favor if you considered pre-ordering. One of the biggest challenges as an indie author is exposure; since Amazon registers all pre-orders as Day 1 sales, a lot of Day 1 sales would give me a chance to climb in the novel’s category and boost visibility for readers outside the Enderal community. To make this worth it to you, the book will sell for a special early bird price of $32.99 for the hardcover with the illustrated appendix, $12.99 for the paperback, and $2.99 for the eBook, as opposed to $37, $16, and $5. Just follow the link to my website and click pre-order—it will take you right to your local Amazon marketplace.
Unfortunately, Amazon.de has yet to pick up the listing for the physical editions, but they are incredibly slow—I’m working to get that done.
I’m aware the hardcover is in the upper price range, but it uses the best materials, and the illustrated appendix cost a lot to produce. It’s also the only edition where I make a more solid revenue, so see it as a way to support my work, if you wish.
If you’re a patron and pledged $110 or more since October 2018, I’ll be in touch a few weeks before launch to send out your signed hardcover copy right away. Thanks again for your support, Dreams became a far pricier project than I anticipated, and your patronage helped me immensely in covering the cost.
Lastly, a word of warning before you pre-order: For the paperback edition, I took the drastic step to separate Dreams and all future Enderal novels from the game canon. There are two good reasons for this. First, the Vyn games were created over 17 years, the earliest one being Myar Aranath in 2003. Fascinating as this idea may be, it also means that the lore of the Vyn universe was created by a myriad of different authors (the latest and current one being me when I joined the team in 2011). As a result of this, the lore of Vyn has always felt a little disjointed and inconsistent; I initially took these differences as challenges to conquer, but the longer I wrote, the more I realized how much these inconsistencies bothered me and how hard they made it to write the story and the universe I envisioned. Let me assure you that this decision wasn’t easy and does not reflect a lack of appreciation for the work of the previous workers. I stayed faithful to the lore whenever possible.
The second reason is a trickier one: Jespar. This character has been in my mind for nine years now, and I love him with all my heart. Still, the more I immersed myself in the story of Dreams, the more I grew aware of how incredibly constraining it was to write a story where the end is already written; because Jespar is alive in 8234 a. St. (1234 P.L. in new canon lore), you all know he will never be in real danger. Again, there is undoubtedly an intriguing challenge to writing such a “safe” story, but—similar to the lore, I increasingly felt like I was writing with fetters on.
So, what does this mean? Aside from the fact that anything can now happen, the consequences aren’t that drastic. Enderal is still Enderal, and Jespar is still Jespar, albeit thirteen years younger and at another point in his life. I changed and expanded details about his backstory, but his essential conflicts are still the same, only refined. Major changes include modifications to the Light-Born (their aspects, how they came to be, when and how they disappeared, and the societal consequences of that disappearance), the time frame of the different eras, and a complete rework of the magic system. Minor changes include dates, the spelling of names and locations (Kilay, not Kilé), and others details I tweaked for consistency and worldbuilding coherence.
And that’s about it. I’m aware and grateful for the love many of you have for this world, and believe me, I did my best to honor it; I just realized I cannot tell a good story with one arm tied behind my back. If it’s any solace, I can promise you that new book canon is ironclad – I’m pathologically obsessive about consistency and cohesive worldbuilding, but without a solid framework, that’s a recipe for frustration and disaster. See it as a different but nearby eventuality: details and fates may differ, but the soul of the world remains the same.
If all that didn’t scare you off, pre-order away! I also set up a Goodreads page for the book, so you can add it to your To-Be-Reads or even recommend it to your friends – this is an indie project by all means, so I’m grateful for every bit of support. Please keep in mind that the Goodreads is for the revised edition, not the web edition, so if you’re planning to leave a low rating, I’d be grateful if you waited to read the actual book in October 20. It’s a different experience.
Last but not least, a big thank you to everyone who supported me on Patreon, created fanart for Enderal, or just let me know they enjoyed this game and were looking forward to the novel. This novel was meant to be a 6-month stint but, boy, did it turn into something more. It sounds sentimental, but this last year has been rough personally, and your support and encouragement kept me going.
I hope this story will live up to your expectations.
Best,
Nicolas
Dreams of the Dying (Revised Edition) on Goodreads
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We're Just Having Sandwiches for Dinner, So You Won't Miss Anything: Identifying Identity Through a Critical Lens
Sounds legit
Mine is “Activating forms of oppression as performance: the phenomenology of tunglr.hell.”
I cannot emphasize enough, museums/zoos/aquariums and the like are at an incredibly dangerous point right now, and it’s breaking my heart that not only is it happening, but it’s happening so much more quietly than it deserves. The main people I have seen sharing information about the crisis museums are in right now are others in the field, and while I know it’s not out of malicious ignorance, because people love these places and don’t want to see them gone, it’s scary that these places are dying with so much less fanfare than some of the other institutions threatened by the current situation in the US.
I came across an article from NPR the other day suggesting that unless something changes, ONE-THIRD of museums in the entire country (a loose term that includes certain places like aquariums as well) could be dead before the end of the year (source). A third! Can you even imagine the incalculable loss? And it goes so far beyond the services museums generally provide to the public, like field trips or a place to go on the weekends – not that those aren’t important. But museums do so much more than that. If these places die, where do their collections go? Often there’s no one else who can take them in, and as someone who has spent a significant amount of time in the bellies of museum collections, most people have no idea how many specimens or artifacts would become homeless and in danger of being lost forever. In the case of zoos and aquariums, what happens to their animals? Another friend of mine mentioned on Facebook the other day that the Aquarium of the Pacific is not only in dire need right now, but that a person they know who works with them has said that if they close, they’ll have to euthanize a significant number of their animals. And for the places that do survive, they won’t be unchanged. The science museum I used to work for isn’t in danger of permanently closing – yet – but still had make the incredibly difficult call to do a 39% reduction in staff positions, meaning that even when they reopen, the jobs that I and over a hundred and fifty people held before the pandemic – educating, running programs, engaging with visitors on an extra personal level – won’t exist anymore. Another friend of mine doing a museum studies degree has said that even the Smithsonian (the SMITHSONIAN) had to make a similar call and many of her friends doing work there are now jobless.
Your local museum isn’t getting help from the government. Museums, zoos, and aquariums have had to beg desperately for stimulus money that hasn’t manifested. These are non-profits, that rely on revenue from visitors and memberships for the most part, and as they are responsibly staying closed for everyone’s safety, they aren’t getting visitors. Without some form of help, they are going to drop off the face of the planet, or appear at the other end of this as gutted shells of their former selves.
If you want to help, you have two options: get money into the hands of these places directly, or put pressure on your representatives to offer museums and other institutions like them some kind of federal stimulus money. If you can afford it, this is a great time to get a membership to a place you love – many of them are even offering special online programming for members, so it’s more than just a donation. Or you could make a donation, if that’s a more practical amount for you to spend, because at this point anything helps. And if you can’t do that (or even if you can), yell at your senators and representatives to do something. Many places even are offering guidelines for the sorts of things to talk about, like this script from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (although repetitive scripts are less likely to have an impact than individual e-mails, something is still better than nothing, and you could even read over it to figure out how to formulate your own message).
I’m not usually one to beg people to signal boost something, but it’s breaking my heart that this issue is being ignored. Every day it feels like I have to explain these places are struggling to someone else who didn’t know it was a problem, and while I don’t blame them for not knowing, I want people to know. I want people to be aware that we are at risk of losing some of our most valuable cultural and educational institutions, not find our after all this is over that they’re gone. Please talk with people you know about what’s going on. We need our museums. And right now, they need us too.
[[This is Isaiah Hine’s high school presentation on white fragility. You’re not going to get a simpler explanation, in my opinion, so if you’re white you should really read this. Below are Isaiah’s notes on each slide.]]
—
What is White Fragility?
Robin DiAngelo is a professor at Westfield State University and author of What Does it Mean to Be White? Developing White Racial Literacy.
I’m sure you’ve all seen these ‘defensive moves’ in action before. “I didn’t mean anything by it” “I wasn’t trying to be offensive” “I have a black friend” “Not all white people”
People are often more worried about being called a racist than actually doing something racist. In America white people often don’t even have to consider race. They often think of themselves as “raceless” white is conditioned to be the norm and everyone else is considered “raced” or “colored”. White fragility allows white people to govern when and how race is discussed. White people expect to be educated on racism, and in a nice way.
—
Why Is It A Bad Thing?
White people never learn as a result and are allowed to continue saying and doing racist things. White people prefer to hear these things from other white people but because other white people don’t know enough about racism, they cycle continues. When people of color do things like the BLACKLIVESMATTER movement, many white peoples responses were “all lives matter” this is white fragility. Proclaiming that black lives matter does not inherently mean that other lives don’t. This statement is made because society continually shows us that black lives don’t matter in america and these are the lives that need the affirming. We already know that white lives matter, it doesn’t need to be stated. White people are very used to being the center of things and when they aren’t it makes them uncomfortable.
—
Why Does This Happen?
Most people don’t fully grasp the idea of systemic racism and that we live in a racist society that perpetuates racist ideas. We are socialized into white supremacy.
We are in an area loaded with rivers, so my parents would have had their pick of:
Menomonee, Kinnickinnick, Milwaukee, or the tributaries Honey or Root. I'd go with Root, personally.
The other day I learned on Twitter about a girl that was nearlly named after the river on her town. So, reblog with what your name would be if it was based on the river on your town (or the closest river)
Taaaaaj, who is "a huge indie perfume/scent nerd," defined the scents of Enderal characters. These portray the characters as well as any moodboards I've ever seen:
https://www.reddit.com/r/enderal/comments/guctke/characterinspired_scents/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down Gov. Evers stay at home order. Bars scattered around Wisconsin were open and packed.
Wisconsin: a Leader in the USA Idiocracy.
I guess we'll just let evolution sort it.
What you said...is it what you want to say, or what I want to hear?
Can't it be both?
Just had an online Dr appointment (meds check-up). Made me feel like a criminal trying to get away with something. Sheesh! If they had to deal with me off my meds, they'd be showering me with those little pills, slipping extras into my coffee, duct taping them to my arms in hopes of attaining continual baseline dosing...
Works hard for a living...that's about right.
guys what day of the week were you born on? i was born on a tuesday
Side-effect of social distancing: people have forgotten how to drive...or they've forgotten that other people may exist on the road.
Goals
So cool! An online alternative that gives back! Love the "boredom busters" section.
To my dismay, the nearest bookshop to my major metropolitan area is over 67 miles away?! Oh, the misplaced priorities!
Local Bookstores Have A New Weapon In The Fight With Amazon
In the book industry, Amazon is Goliath, the giant who overshadows everyone else. But there’s a new David on the scene, Bookshop.org.
It doesn’t expect to topple the giant, but it has launched a weapon that could make Amazon’s shadow a little smaller, and help local bookstores fight back.
Bookshop.org, a website that went live at the end of January and is still in beta mode, is designed to be an alternative to Amazon, and to generate income for independent bookstores. And, perhaps more importantly, it seeks to give book reviewers, bloggers and publications who rely on affiliate income from “Buy now” links to Amazon a different option.
Profit from books sold through Bookshop will be split three ways, with 10% of the sale price going into a pool that will be divided among participating bookstores, 10% going to the publication that triggered the sale by linking to Bookshop.org, and 10% going to Bookshop.org to support its operations.
READ MORE
And,
1) check if your store has specific hours for people in the sensitive demographic (for clarity, those over age 60, with compromised immune systems, and/or respiratory disease). If you are not, don't shop during those hours.
2) if you know of someone who is sick or otherwise unable to shop for themselves, ask them for a shopping list and get stuff for them. Do the transaction without direct-contact with them for their safety and yours.
3) if you're sick, stay home and reach out to family, friends, neighbors, the grocery store to shop for you.
Now, more than ever, clear writing matters.
Insightful and well worth the read... His TED Talk is here: https://www.ted.com/talks/larry_brilliant_my_wish_help_me_stop_pandemics?language=en
It’s COVID-19, not CORVID-19. A corvid is of the crow family.
19 crows are not gathering to kill you.
But if they are...it’s a murder.
One can only hope to have contributed to the scientific and social growth of humanity as she did.
Rest in peace after your long, fruitful life.
Question: is the anti-vaxer movement prevalent around the world or is it just Americans who are trying so hard to be dumb af?
For all the Corvid enthusiasts out there, an endearing "fuck you" from a friend.
potty mouth bird
Ket...is not that cute, really
Was screwing around with a Chibi Doll Maker and made my Enderal Prophet
Here you should also make yours and reblog with yours attached :D
You know Alok has got something planned with the grin on his face.
Also found this Doll maker thanks to @syekick-powers
How the Demon Hunts
She took a long draw off the pipe and held the smoke in. As he watched her, he found himself matching her breath… her draw… the long hold… until the edges of his vision began to fade. She finally let it all out and he breathed again, too.
“It snuck up on me” she said, snapping him back to reality. “… kind of… I mean, I knew it was coming but I couldn’t do anything about it…. you know what I mean?" She hazarded a glance at him, hoping he’d show some sign that he did. He didn’t - or maybe he just didn’t let on. She didn’t want to have to explain it.
It wasn’t that she couldn’t, but that she didn’t. Pathetic… weak, she berated herself. She sighed and passed the pipe to him, turning her attention to the cup of brandy he’d poured for her and shrugged, "I couldn’t do anything about it." It was flat, but it would have to do.
He had asked - twice now - and she wanted to tell him, but this was not something she shared readily. She would just have to push through it, remaining factual, detached, for as long as she could. She set her jaw and continued. "It came me from somewhere in the shadows. I heard it’s whispers… I could almost smell it…” her lip twitched in disgust. “After a while, I almost got used to it tracking me. I ignored it for a while.. I could handle it, right?” A crooked smile twitched on her face, but her eyes never left the rim of her cup.
“It’s whispers were almost comforting; lies, of course, but familiar ones… ones I almost wanted to believe. It would be easier that way. " A sip from her cup; a steadying breath, and she could continue. "It slowly edged closer - and I felt it coming - felt it wrap it’s tendrils around my throat and squeeze." Her hand mimicked what she described as her eyes took on that far-away look they had when he roused her from the nightmares.
"They crawl up the back of my head, cover my eyes… fill my ears… and then it pulls me backward. It pulls me where I am weakest, where I can’t fight… and all the whispers, all the lies… the lies I can’t deny…" Tears welled in her eyes, despite her best efforts. She took a swig of brandy and swallowed them back hard.
"Hey…" he tried to interject, to break her narrative. If she’d glanced at him in that moment, she’d see that he did know all too well what she was talking about; he’d seen it too, felt it’s pull, and was just as helpless against it. He wanted to shake her back to this reality, to save her from this smothering presence. Isn’t that what he’d always wished for himself when it pulled at his throat? But all those useless words just hung thickly in his chest. For the first time since he met her, he feared her. No, not her, but her proximity to that demon that seemed to hunt them both.
She stared intro nothingness for a moment longer, then drained her glass. He opened another bottle of brandy.
,.,., — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2tfqsOA
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” - A. A. Milne
This time of year can be difficult for some people. We hope all of those feeling sorrow or loss will find the support and help they need. Take a walk in nature, open up to a trusted friend, spend time doing something worthwhile. You are not alone. Photo of a gray tree frog by Rick Hansen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Best 4 minutes I’ve spent all morning!
Ask and ye shall receive.
Inn Keeper's Company
He'd seen them all: lovers, liars, dreamers, and pretenders. He'd seen the lucky and those whom luck had forsaken; winners and losers... and cheaters.
Some were here to "go somewhere"; some were here because they had nowhere to go. Some came to nourish the soul; some came to forget they had one.
Most were as ordinary as the summer day is long; a few seemed to have stepped in from another world.
This was the place where deals were struck, promises were made, and broken; where one might find a soul mate or a bed mate, or may take in the flow and tangle of voices, melodies, and bodies from a lonely corner.
None of them stayed for long, though. Dreams faded, plans faltered; the appeal lost its luster in the light of day, with strong coffee in the mug rather than ale. Perhaps some of the ambitious ones, or the lucky ones, moved on to pursue those plans and dreams. He didn't know... none ever stayed for long -- except for one, and she curled into the crook of his arm every night after cleaning up the messes.